Follow-up means the care you will have once your treatment has finished.
The aim of follow-up is to help you stay as healthy as possible. It allows the doctors to keep a close eye on you and to pick up on any problems or changes in your body caused by the effects of treatment. Follow up can also help you get used to life after cancer and help with ‘getting back to normal’ which sometimes isn’t as easy as people might think.
At first, your follow-up appointments will be quite frequent. Your doctors will tell you how often they want to see you. It varies from every week to every few months, depending on each person’s situation. As time passes and it becomes longer since your treatment finished, your appointments will be less frequent. Eventually, you’ll only need to go about once every year or so.
Remember, if you have any worries or physical changes in-between appointments, it’s important to contact your hospital and they’ll see you sooner if necessary.
at the appointment
What happens at the appointment depends on
- the type of cancer you had
- what treatment you were given
- what your doctors feel is right for you
It’s likely that you’ll be asked about your physical health and you might need to have routine tests or scans every so often. These will be the same tests and scans as the ones you had during your treatment.
Follow-up is not just about medical stuff. If you’re worried about school, college, work, relationships or anything that you think has been affected by having had cancer, it’s ok to talk about that too.
how you might feel
A lot of people find that they feel anxious, worried or nervous when it’s time for a follow up appointment. This is really common. It can trigger feelings that you had when you were first told about the cancer (maybe feelings you thought had gone away). It’s a good idea to talk about this with the people closest to you. Just let them know that you’re feeling a bit edgy because appointment time is coming up. Gradually, as the years go by you’ll get more used to it but it’s always a good idea to have some support.
You could go to the Teenage Cancer Trust Support Network meeting in your area. Not all areas have these so check with your nurses what's available for you. You get the chance to take your friends or family to meet other young people affected by cancer and their families. You'll be able to share experiences to support each other and it may help you to go back to your normal, day to day life.
