At a glance
- When your partner has these tests and which she has depends on her cancer and the treatments she is having.
- Different tests will be performed before, during and after treatments.
- The tests aim to do things like find any spread of disease, track treatment progress and ensure the treatment isn’t doing more harm than good.
- If you’re not sure what a test is for, ask.
- Ask when the results will be known and note it in your shared calendar.
- Chase for results if they aren’t provided when expected.
Right from the start, Jen had a lot of tests to be carried out. Aside from the initial biopsy, she also had to have a blood test, an MRI scan (looking for spread to other organs) and a bone scan, looking for spread to the bones. Apparently breast cancer is particularly good at spreading to bones. I have no idea why. Part of your partner’s treatment may well involve medicine that protects the bones.
If your partner is having chemotherapy, she will need blood tests before each chemo ‘cycle’ in order to establish that she’s able to tolerate it, as well as to see if anything is amiss as a result of the previous cycle. If something is amiss, the chemo dose may be modified or administered differently.
Some chemo drugs can cause heart damage – particularly the heart valves. If your partner is having one of these drugs, she will need a heart scan. It’s basically the same technology used to scan in-utero babies, so painless, but utterly fascinating.
Other tests you can perform include taking your partner’s temperature regularly during chemo (we’ll touch on that further in the chemotherapy chapter), as well as keeping an eye on her overall appearance. You’re looking for swelling, rash or skin discolouration, changes to eye colour (yellowing of the whites indicates jaundice – the liver takes a pounding during chemo) and so forth. You’ll also be monitoring her overall demeanour – listlessness, lethargy and fatigue are all facets of chemotherapy, so some stuff you just have to take in your stride, but making sure she’s conscious, alert and responsive is no bad thing. You can’t do it 24/7, but do it when you can.
The chances are you and your partner will be familiar with some or all of these tests. Some are uncomfortable, while others are just time consuming. Needless to say, they are essential in the proper diagnosis and treatment of your partner’s cancer.
The following is a non-exhaustive list of tests, with a brief description of what each is for and what to expect:
Mammogram
An x-ray of the breast, taken when the breast is compressed between two plates. Uncomfortable for some women. May be additionally uncomfortable when a tumour or cyst is involved.
Ultrasound
A painless procedure which uses ultrasound to view tissue. The same technology used to view unborn babies.
Biopsy
Several types of breast biopsies exist. Either a fine or wide bore needle is used, or tissue is taken surgically. Can be painful and distressing for your partner. Try to be with her when she has one.
CT Scan
A generally painless test that combines multiple x-ray scans to create a cross-section view of a targeted area. It can be quite daunting to the uninitiated but for those who have had them before it’s a nice lie down.
MRI
A generally painless test that uses magnetic resonance to produce highly detailed imagery of a targeted area or areas. As with the CT scan it can be quite daunting first time around. Sometimes dye is used to track fluid movement in the body.
Bone Scan
Used to detect bone abnormalities – in this context to find spread of breast cancer to the bones. A tiny quantity of nuclear medicine is injected into your partner who is then scanned by a machine called a gamma camera.
Heart Valve Scan
A painless ultrasound that looks at the opening and closing of the heart’s valves. Performed before, during and after treatment.
Blood test
Most should be familiar with these. Generally, only minimally painful, a small sample of blood is taken from an easily accessible vein. Used to detect issues that treatment may be causing, such as organ damage.
X-ray
Again, it’s hard to imagine you’ve got this far through life without knowing about x-rays. They can sometimes be used are used to detect tumours, for instance in the bones or chest.