Brita
Hope all goes well for you.

Robin

I always get second opinions especially when I want to make sure the plan my oncologist recommends is reviewed by other highly rated doctors. My primary oncologist always encourages me to get second opinions. In fact she has given me the names of doctors she would recommend. I have stage 4 endometrial serous cancer. The Pet scan I had in December showed my response to Herceptin was not working. The prior CAT scan was ambiguous. My treatment plan was changed as a result of the findings on the PET scan. In fact the doctor at MSK recommended surgery and my doctor did not. They discussed this with each other and that discussion was shared with me. I personally think the more information you have the better it is.

Robin, wow I had no idea. Interesting. Appreciate you answering me, that is sort of shocking. Is it basically because of you have stage 4 insurance can't justify the cost of a PET Scan? Dr just said it wouldn't change our course of treatment despite me asking her several times. The last time I asked she finally went into further details about how it would not pick up anything less than 1 cm, and that it can give false positives, and CT 's are better in my case which is Stage 4b endometrial CA. So my next CT is 3 months down the road after 3 rounds of chemo/Immunotherapy (but skipping this next Immunotherapy) bc of a grade 3 rash all over my whole body that I am being treated with prednisone for. Thanks again and I hope you are doing well !

I learned after my first PET scan, that these tests are also driven by insurance approval. My PET scan was able to pick up some things that the CT did not. I have stage 4 Uterine Carcinosarcoma. At this point we are looking for stability and hopefully no new spread of the disease. My oncologist has said she can order a PET vs. a CT, but again the insurance company would need to approve and authorize it.

Second opinion always appropriate. Go where you get a comprehensive team to take a look. I don't have a team but am about to get my second opinion.

I heard the same thing from my doctor about controlling it and learning to live with it rather than a cure. That was not good enough for me. I wanted to destroy it and found some answers with integrative oncology.