Topic: "no cure for cancer"??

Anxiousmama, my 15 year old daughter expressed a similar concern, esp. since I had to do chemo b/c of my high oncotype score.  What I told her is that they caught my cancer very early, and that by doing the chemo my chance of having it come back went down dramatically (I told her the percentages, which my onc. said for my Oncotype score was 22% chance of recurrence w/ just surgery, rads, & Tamox, but only an  8% chance of recurrence if I did the chemo, but not sure if your son would be reassured by that -- I don't think mine had learned about percentages until a little later). 

 I also told her that if, for some reason, I turn out to be one of the unlucky ladies in the 8%, it's still very possible that they may have a cure at that time (or some other new blockbuster drug that can extend my life for a long time).  All this was very reassuring to her. I just couldn't tell her that I am "cured" b/c, as many here have pointed out, there's no way to predict who will be on the "bad" side of those damn stat #s!  But I don't consider myself pessimistic b/c I can't consider myself "cured" -- quite the opposite!!  From the day I was diagnosed, I felt like I'd been given a wake-up call to enjoy life to the fullest in case this disease does some day get the best of me.  I have been doing a much better job of prioritizing the people, things, activities, and beliefs that are important in my life, and living every day to the fullest.  I don't sweat the "small stuff" any more. 

I do believe what I told my daughter about the researchers getting closer to a cure every day.  I went to a speech that my onc. gave entitled "new Discoveries in cancer" -- the section about the future of cancer research and treatment was REALLY encouraging (stuff like gene therapy, pharmacogenomics, & other stuff that went over my head).   He is the newly-elected Pres. of the American Society of Clinical Oncs. and is on the cutting edge of breast cancer research.  I never directly asked him if he thought I was "cured," but I when I asked him what my "odds" were after the treatment is done, he he didn't tell me I was cured, even though I was Stage I, had clean margins, etc.  He told me the %s from the Oncotype study that I mentioned above, and said that I could take comfort in the fact that the odds were in my favor, but that there was no way to predict who would be in that 8%.  Then he basically told me to go live my life, since there's no guarantee that any of us won't get hit by a bus tomorrow (he put it much more kindly than that, but I have chemo brain & can't remember what he said exactly).

Good luck with your son!!

I've been debating with myself on whether or not to put my two cents into this thread, but here goes...

Those of you who are making blanket, all inclusive statements insisting that breast cancer isn't curable are most definately very mistaken in your belief. It's unfortunate but true that not all breast cancers are curable and that sometimes, what many appear to be cured or "NED" early on, really isn't. But breast cancer is a very heterogenous disease and as such, some forms of it are very curable and others unfortunately are not.  I sometimes see some of those that were cured during my work in an emergency room when they present there for completely unrelated reasons. Some of these women are as much as 30-40 years out, so there is absolutely no doubt that they were CURED by whatever treatment they were given at the time of their diagnosis. Many, many breast cancer patients ( the majority, in fact) NEVER suffer a recurrence in their lifetime and die of old age or other causes.

A good point, anomdenet-although I think a dose of realism needn't necessarily equate to negativity-and is perhaps more honest than living in denial.But, to be fair, some people choose to live in denial, and if that works for them, then that is great. What does make me uncomfortable is people loudly claiming indiscriminantly that cancer can be cured, without having knowledge of the individual circumstances. That strikes me as irresponsible. 

I like-and have used-the phrases "cancer free" (as another poster used), or as you yourself have done, told my kids that "I used to have cancer". Of course, that was before I was diagnosed with mets, despite prophylactic surgery, an apparently fabulous prognosis-and yes, despite changing my lifestyle completely! But I never used the word "cured" as logically it didn't seem to me-and the medical community- to be an honest description of the situation. Seeing cancer as a chronic condition, which can often be controlled-yes, I agree with that 100%. But in the same way that people with other chronic conditions, don't consider themselves cured, why should the cancer patient be any different? A diabetic person, for example, is still diabertic when their situation is controlled, not a "cured diabetic"!

I also feel strongly for family. My kids are now in their 20s, and know the full horror of my situation. I can't/couldn't lie to myself, so I certainly wasn't going to lie them-at the time of primary diagnosis (12 years before mets), they too wanted to believe that there could be a cure-but were sufficiently aware of newsreports too, so found it hard to believe that I could be classed as cured. But they held out hope that one day a cure would be forthcoming that would ensure my safety-out of the mouths of babes, huh?

At present I'm battling on, undergoing drug trials, with no idea if they will have any success-or if I risk further progression through temporarily eschewing conventional chemo. I'm doing this in the hope of gaining some extra time (weeks, months?), but mainly in the hope of moving the research process forward a little. One day there will be a cure-I'm completely convinced that this is so-perhaps it will be a few generations away, but I'm literally putting my life on the line to inch this process closer. I may, as you said, be able to do nothing about my imminenet death-but I damn sure I'm going to do as much as I can to ensure that future generations can face a cancer diagnosis with the hope of having a succesful cure. One day it will happen.....

Marie-Kelley - I don't disagree that many women are cured of breast cancer.  The problem, as I see it, is that no one knows if they are a member of the "cured" bunch or not.  (At least, not until they die of old age or something else!)  I've been quoted everything from 5% to 24% odds of recurrence.  For the sake of simplicity, let's say I've been given a 10% lifetime chance of recurrence.  Meaning - 90% chance of no recurrence, ever!  As far as anyone knows, I am cancer-free right now.  But I won't know if I was "cured" until I die of something else, having had no recurrence.  I'm doing everything I know to do (diet, exercise, supplements) to keep my risk as low as possible.  But in the final analysis, it is not something over which I have complete control.  Unless I have a recurrence, I will never know (while alive!) if I'm in the 10% or the 90% group for lifetime risk.  So I cannot say I am "cured."

For what it's worth...

Linda

My onc told me that unofficially in the medical world they are considering a person cured of bc after 16 consecutive years of NED. Officially they will not say that you are cured until you die of a different cause and at the time of death you are NED.

I hate to tell you ladies who insist there is no cure for early stage breast cancer this, but you do not know better than my oncologists.  If you want to persist in believing that no breast cancer is curable, go ahead, but do the person who posted this thread a favor and stop misinforming them.  All of the information about DCIS is on the web - I suggest you do some more reading on it before you go around telling everyone that breast cancer can "always come back."  That is absolutely untrue if it is caught in its very early stages, particluarly if it is DCIS.  An incidence of DCIS with no recurrence is considered cured after three years of NED.  If you get breast cancer again, it is considered to be completely unrelated to the original tumor.

All this business about "no self-respecting oncologist would say 'cured'" - I'm not talking about just one oncologist, I'm talking about four oncologists, some of the best in the country.   There's plenty to back that up on the Internet as well.

http://www.lbbc.org/content/news/dcis-real-breast-cancer-and-highly-curable.asp?section_tag=G

http://www.imaginis.com/breasthealth/news/news12.22.99a.asp

Maybe YOUR cancer isn't curable, and if that's the case, I'm sorry to hear that.  But women with DCIS have nearly a 100% survival rate now.  And if the cancer is going to recur in someone with DCIS, it will happen within three years.   That's not to say it's impossible to get breast cancer AGAIN, but it didn't "come back" if you're over three years out.  I'm 7 years out.

Hello ladies, 

I, too, would like to chime in on this interesting yet controversial topic.  Is their a cure for cancer???  Well, I think we all no the answer to that.  Although some cancers are more treatable and some cancers have a better prognosis.......cureable.........no cure yet.  We are getting closer to treating different types of breast cancer (and others) though by targeted  therapies (getting to the source of the cancer) i.e. herceptin...tamoxifan and other things.  Finding what makes cancer cells grow and why is the key to stopping it in their tracks and for some cancers they have figured out PART of the reasons.  Many times there are more components to a cancer cell than just 1 part.  Confusing......OH MY GOSH YES!  If it weren't so, they would have a cure by now.

As far as DCIS goes...yes, that is definitely more treatable and the prognosis better because the cancer is still confined to the ducts and hasn't become an invasive cancer.  That is always more treatable.  But, that being said, DCIS can come back as any other type can.  They look for a recurrence in the 1st 2 years for most of our cancers and once we make it past that point things are looking a bit better.  Three years is a very crucial mark.  My oncologist just told me at our last visit that making it to your 6 year mark (through year 5) is what they are really looking at HOWEVER he did say that is NOT to say the cancer can not recur in year 7, 8, 9 or 10 ALTHOUGH way more unlikely.  A newscaster in our area had her cancer recur (same breast cancer as unbelievable as they may sound) to her lung and brain after 13 years from her orginal breast cancer that was treated with mastectomy, chemo and radiation. 

So, definitely not to sound as if I'm concentrating on the negative here (because I surely am not) but to say there are cures for any type of cancer is just not true.  Treatable....preventable types most definitely - breast and colon to name a few - but cureable , no.  BUT, on that note....is there anything we can guarantee 100 percent will not happen to us.  Even if they do come up with a cure for cancer there will be something out their than can happen to each of us.  None of us will get out of this life alive. 

I am 4 years NED and going strong......one day at a time is my mantra.......and praying for the day there truly is a cure or a way to prevent this stuff from invading our lives.

Do what you have to do to treat the disease - take good care of yourself - and live your life as it is the last day of your life EVERYDAY.

God's Blessings and Peace to each of you,

Mary Jo