Is your surgeon also an oncologist? I'm guessing no. Usually there's no need to see the surgeon again after you have healed from surgery. Somebody at the surgeon's or your primary care physician's office should have referred you to an actual oncologist before you ever had surgery or at the bare minimum right after you had surgery.

You should have been seeing an oncologist every 3 months during the past year for physical exams, medications, chemo if you needed it, blood tests, etc.

The standard of care is quarterly visits with your oncologist for the 1st two years. If all is going well then for the next year or two you would see the oncologist every 6 months. At year 5 post mastectomy if all is well you would have an annual follow up appiintment, maybe with your oncologist or otherwise with your primary care or OBG doctor.

If your cancer returns or is high risk, then you revert back to quarterly visits with the oncologist while you continue on with whatever cancer treatment(s) you need based on what type(s) of cancer you have, characteristics of your cancer, treatments you've been through, cancer stage, etc.

Deborah, my surgeon is a breast specialist, and after all the surgical follow-ups regarding healing, I was to see her every three months, same with the oncologist.
If everything went well, the second year it was every 6 months, and the third year we went to an annual check with both. I scheduled the visits so that the would not hit at the same time- so for the first year, with the doctors alternating at 3 month intervals- I saw one or the other every 6 weeks, when we moved to 6 months, I did the same, and saw one or the other every 3 months, when we went to the annual visit, it was one or the other every 6 months. Now that I am past the 5 year mark, I no longer have appointments with the oncology center- BUT still have the annual visit with the breast specialist's office (usually see her PA) for an annual check and orders for mammo, etc.

I scheduled it this way based on the advice of another bc survivor, who had warned me that anxiety will ramp up as monitoring is reduced- and by setting up the alternating schedule, it gives us more time to develop that peace of mind.

A lot of the monitoring schedule is based on the type, and grade- as well as other co-exitising conditions that may impact your healing. It's always ok to ask them- what factors do you consider in determining ...

Wishing you all the best! Hugs!

I stopped seeing my breast specialist doctor/surgeon after my mastectomy recovery and after she put in the port. I was basically told by her office that my oncologist would be my primary care physician once I started chemo. I continue to be seen by the oncologist or his NP with blood work every 3 months 2 and 1/2 years later. The NP did a breast exam yesterday and said I no longer need any imaging. So I feel no need to go back or have follow-up visits with the breast specialist doctor.

If it feels too long ask if you can be seen sooner. They may still say no but they might also say yes. Either way you not lost anything. I would hope it would matter that you want/need the reassurance. This is your life after all. The other thing you might want to check is whether your insurance will pay for sooner visits.