@briarrose my oncologist has been doing tumor markers from the start. Have read a lot about them (there are many) and that some doctors won’t use them because don’t feel they’re accurate. Mine went down after surgery, chemo, radiation but never to normal range. Then it suddenly started to go back up about 3 months into ai therapy till within 3 points of where we started. At that point he ordered pet scan and brain imaging (luckily both negative). It has dropped back down and has now been stable (but still not normal) for about 10 months. So will continue to monitor but to me, it means I stay on ai therapy because no one knows why some of us may never go “normal”. He’s still monitoring every 3-6 months.

Hi! @briarrose:

I am so sorry to learn that your medical oncologist would not perform cancer markers checking for their patients with early stage BC. However, you may express your concern for the recurrence/metastasis issue of BC with your primary care physician, for early detection is the key to treat any cancers. My PCP sets up quarterly blood work for me to check various tumor markers and carcinoembryonic antigens in my blood, such as: CA 15-3, CA 19-9, etc., based on my overall health concern. Due to the fact that I declined the radiation treatment for fear of its potential long term effect at my old age, I dared not to ask my team of oncologists for any extra blood work. My PCP and I agree that we'll continue doing quarterly blood tests, so long as these tumor markers stay consistently low we'll have the peace of mind knowing that the aromatase inhibitors medication that I've been taking is doing its job. Should any of these tumor markers be elevated suddenly, we'll then bring it to the attention of my team of oncologists and ask for imaging scans such as: MRI or PET scan depending on which tumor markers appear to be in question.

Wishing everyone a better journey ahead with peace, health, and love!