I contacted my Huntsman group through email today asking about my upcoming CT scan next Tuesday.  I'm a little concerned with all of the scans that my body has been through over the last year and I know that my surgeon is concerned with the frequency of the abdominal CT scans right now.  The nurse called me back and we discussed it a little.  If I decide that I don't want to have the scans every three months then I will have to drop out of the study that I am in - which means no more IV infusions of the Avastin every 3 weeks (at least not paid for by the study).  Right now it is something that I am considering.  Every time I talk to any kind of doctor and mention how often my scans are, the response is universal:  That's a lot of radiation...  I was at the kids' pediatrician yesterday and she said the same thing, which is making me question the frequency as well.  My other question for my oncologist was that if I wasn't in this study, would she recommend the same frequency of scans.  Unfortunately the nurse did not give me a satisfactory answer.  It was something to the effect of she might, but it would all depend on the status of the cancer of the body - which for me is non-detectible - if there is any...  My gut feeling is that my doctor would not prescribe this many scans for me if I wasn't in the study - the nurse is just trying to give a non-committal answer.  A few visits ago when I was at my surgeon's office I asked her what the standard treatment would be if I was at her office alone and she said that it would maybe be scans once a year at the most.  Most likely they would only order a scan if there was some other indication that the cancer was coming back - such as abdominal pain or bloating or my CA-125 number rising.

I asked the nurse what the protocol is for scans for the study I am on.  She talked to the study coordinator and found out that it is abdominal scans every 3 months for the first two years (from the date of my last chemo session).  Then it is every 6 months for the 3 years following that and then it goes to yearly.  I am free to drop out of the study at any time.  I guess the question I need to think about and decide is if I think the benefits of the tests and the Avastin outweigh any possible side-effects that may come my way.