Hey @colleenyoung

Met with doctor yesterday to talk about things. Long story short, it seems that scanning and waiting for something to show up is the only option available.

I've been with this doctor for nearly a year and have always enjoyed the amount of time, attention, and information he brings. With that said, there were a couple of odd things from yesterday's appointment.

First, he did not have my original cancer staging. He said it didn't exist anywhere he could find. However, I showed him my pathology report from UAR where the number was listed appropriately in the correct place. He downplayed and said the original staging was not important.

I then asked about my blood work (CEA) levels pre-op to current. He had no results from before I started seeing him. (I've only been with him from November of last year) Again, he downplayed not having/synthesizing >1 year of info from those tests as fairly unimportant to current strategy.

Next, I requested a PET scan. He actually said that PET scans were less effective than CT scans for detecting recurrence.

We spoke about tumor markers and why only CEA has been used thus far. (this part of the explanation is a blur, but I do have an audio recording to review)

At the end of it all, I requested CT/PET scan, pending insurance approval, and took more blood to check for all tumor markers and info available. The wait-and-see approach is excruciating, but it may be the best that we have?

Again, THANK YOU all for reading and following up. I will keep you posted as things progress. Looking forward to reading any thoughts/opinions that other's have to share!