After our cancer has been treated we go into monitoring with scans and blood tests. One of the things that can feel baffling is if the scan shows something suspicious we may be told we have to wait for the next scan before a treatment decision is made. In medicine this is called “WATCH AND WAIT” or “WATCHFUL WAITING”.
For those of us who are patients this can feel like madness when we just want to zap whatever it is so it can’t grow.
This is something I’m going through at the moment as, after 7 years of clear scans, my latest scan has shown a small area that could be a metastasis in my lung, but it’s too small to be sure. Therefore I’m waiting for my next scan.
This happened to me a few times in the past and so I can understand the approach as on several occasions the next scan was clear. Apparently it’s normal for little lumps and bumps to appear and disappear within the body, it’s just that unless we do a scan at that point we wouldn’t know it had ever happened. These aren’t anything to do with cancer and, as they disappear naturally, it makes sense not to treat them, hence it’s better to wait.
The first couple of times this happened to me I did feel a bit frustrated to wait, but now I understand the approach.
I’m a big fan of routine scans to see what’s going on as I’d rather know if a new cancerous lump/met has appeared so that I can do something about it. A part of this that I now accept the need to watch and wait if needed.
In a way I think this is a bit like the Schroedingers Cat theory, in this a cat is placed inside a box and you don’t know if it’s alive or dead unless you open the box – in terms of quantum mechanics, the cat is considered to be both alive and dead. I think that the same sort of theory could work for “watch and wait”, what’s in my lung could be dissolving away to nothing, or actually be a little cancer met, the only way to know is to have another scan in a couple of months so I can actually see what’s happening – to open the box.
Naturally I’m hoping for a clear scan but I’m ready to zap it if it’s a met!