Recurrent and metastatic (advanced) breast cancer – Sirkka

 

As a precaution, Sirkka's doctors decided to treat her as if her cancer had metastasized.

Transcript

I still have to see the doctor every 3 months. They suspect now that the cancer may have metastasized into my spine they don’t know for sure because I’ve had a problem with my spine before. I’ve had back aches and stuff, I’ve been seeing a chiropractor for that and long before the cancer ever came. But I had been refused the PET scan*(Positron Emission Tomography) so they can’t say for sure that the cancer is there or that it isn’t there. So they are treating me as if the cancer has metastasized but nobody can say for sure that it has. So it’s, I’m still on my medications. It’s a little over 5 years now. I don’t know how long I’ll be, I’ll still have to be on them and I’m still getting blood work and seeing the doctor every 3 months. And that’s about it …

My oncologist had requested a PET scan but the powers that be, I don’t know who they are, refused me the PET scan. I would have taken it and my oncologist requested it but I was not one of the people who would you say qualified or what you would say. But I was refused anyway. 
My oncologist said that for safety, it’s safer to treat me as if it has metastasized rather than no treatment.

*PET scan: A nuclear medicine imaging test that creates images of the body’s functions and metabolism.


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