Hi! @prarysky :

I completely understand your worrying regarding the recurrence issue of cancers - even for patients with early stages. For this reason, my PCP and I decided to check my cancer antigen value in my blood regularly. We specifically check my CA 15-3 level in a quarterly blood test to assess how cancer is responding to my active BC treatment right after the surgery that took out the mass of BC. CA 15-3 fluctuations help doctors determine whether a tumor is stable, growing, shrinking or has recurred. I am grateful that this regular blood test provides me with peace of mind confirming that my current treatment plan is working so long as the level of CA 15-3 in my blood stays within normal range or declining. We also agree that should this cancer antigen level elevated in the future, we'll bring this matter to my medical oncologist for further investigation using other scanning tools.

Please check with your physician(s) for such cancer antigen tests, for example, they may prefer to check for CA 27.29. We chose to test for CA 15-3, because in addition to breast cancer, other diseases of cancer, such as: lung cancer and ovarian cancer are also linked to increased CA 15-3 levels. Sorry for such a lengthy note, hope this helps...

Better journey ahead and enjoy life with hope, peace and love!