How long after TG do you get your first scan check?

Hi

I know that some Trusts still scan, however, not all do including mine. According to new NICE guidelines scans are unnecessary and according to my team if it were to return I’d know about it, weight loss, pain that sort of thing. My bloods are checked regularly as is my weight, but that’s it, personally  I feel conflicted, I would like the reassurance of a scan but Then again I know I’d dread it coming around. 

My surgeon is confident it was all removed, I had great margins and no lymph involvement, I had some post op chemo so hopefully that is enough...doesn’t stop the fear though. 

I would speak to your Dads team, if there’s any particular concerns they can address them. 

Lou x

I believe that it varies from surgeon to surgeon, trust to trust. I know that my dad, who has private insurance had scans every three months and has recently moved to every four months, but he was diagnosed stage IV, so his TG was really pushing the bounds of what is considered possible (he had a complete response to palliative chemo). Had he been stage I-III I think he would have been on six monthly scans.

It is my personal belief that given the high recurrence rate of stomach cancer that it's important to advocate for regular scanning and above all, if anything - absolutely anything - doesn't feel right, to push for scanning ahead of the scheduled time - including if you feel you may have come down with a virus with swollen glands etc which doesn't shift in a week or two.

I personally disagree with NICE's recommendations that scans are not necessary - my father's single node recurrence after a complete response would not have been caught back in 2018 without regular scanning and we wouldn't have been able to use it to push for surgery. NICE is, after all, the body who has prevented important drugs like ramucirumab from being available on NHS.

I recognise that some people prefer not to scan and I respect that, but I think that those who want to be surveilled more thoroughly should feel comfortable pushing their surgeon and/or oncologist for more frequent scanning as it's a subject that medics have differing view on - ie - there is no one answer.

SDH xx