Hi There,
thank you for your good question. It is quite frightening to be informed that there is some "activity" to the cancer.
It would be good to get some additiona information. As a general recommendation, you should ask for copies of all reports. It can be helpful to see exactly what it is that the doctor is concerned about.
Sometimes it is a slight change in the size of some lymph nodes and it is unclear if that is important or just some normal inflammation. Or occasionally, there is a little thickening to the lining of the abdomen but nothing definitive.
Those sorts of things maybe nothing at all or may represent the beginning of a cancer growing back.
so what to do?
it maybe that there is nothing big enough to be biopsied.
the choices are just to watch and repeat a scan or to start chemotherapy.
For something this vague, starting chemo may seem unnecessarily aggressive..
in that setting, adding an anti-growth hormone such as tamoxifen or arimidex is a good compromise. These drugs work by turning of growth and have relatively few side effects.
I hope everything works out. I know this is so stressful.
best wishes
Thank you for your helpful encouraging response.
I was present with my wife when her Oncologist discussed his evaluation of the latest CT scan. We do have a copy of the full report and can provide here some specific numbers/descriptors - I don't have them memorized and will have to discuss with my wife before disclosing more on a public forum (WWW). That said, I believe many people benefit by sharing their experiences with each other and from expert input from medical doctors when that is offered.
I am very active on heart issues which affect me personally and give me the chance to share my experience on that subject.
Sorry for the typos in the subject box.
I have posted this on the User Community side and corrected typos : )
I would have moved, but I do not have that authority. I do no object to this post being deleted.