Connect
← Return to Discharged from being followed for cancer
Discussion
Discharged from being followed for cancer
Colorectal Cancer | Last Active: Sep 8 11:19am | Replies (21)Comment receiving replies
I’m still at the start of my stage 4 NED surveillance scanning (gone from 3 monthly to 4 monthly and that was difficult. Will soon be 6 monthly). I can totally understand how confronting it must be to go from yearly to zero.
I had a look on the internet and it seems screening should be done yearly, until in certain health systems a specified age when it may arbitrarily stop if normal life expectancy is not expected to be 10 years or more. Bizarre. Seems possibly to be an expense thing. Could that be why? Did you get any explanation?
Replies to "I’m still at the start of my stage 4 NED surveillance scanning (gone from 3 monthly..."
There are two reasons that I’ve heard of (I worked in imaging & was involved with the tumor board, & research). One is that different cancers grow at different rates, many driven by hormones. As we age, our hormone levels decrease, & things typically grow more slowly. This often means that although you have a cancer, it isn’t likely to be the cause of death.
The other reason is again age related, as you know, cancer treatment is extremely hard on our body/organs/blood, and the likelihood of the treatment causing death, outweighs the likelihood of it curing cancer, &/or improving quality of life.
Connect
I was just told that after 7 years he believed I was cured. Of that cancer, I am convinced. It's the others that concerns me. And I would like to live more than 10 more years, though that is not in my power.