Do you know anyone who NEVER had a recurrence?
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I'm having a hard time thinking of myself as cured because of the damn tamoxifen (specifically, the side effects I'm having from it). If I actually believed I was cured, I would dump it in a hot second. It's only the fear that there are cells inside me that could metastasize that is keeping me taking it. To me, it's 'active treatment' just as much as the radiation was. Maybe I'll feel differently if I can make it through the 5-10 years, or if I manage to find a brand that doesn't impede my QOL so much.
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Beesie and AliceBastable I agree with your posts. Makes me crazy when I frequently read on these boards that there is no cure for breast cancer. I also think it scares people recently diagnosed. Many, if not most are cured by surgery alone. We may not know for sure until we die from something else but most will eventually die of something other than this disease.
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This is my mom. She's 94. About 1990, she had breast cancer twice, with mastectomies both times. I think she's cured.
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AliceBastable, I thought so but on this site (and in life in general), I've learned to never assume.
Salamandra, my DH has never had a heart attack or stroke, thankfully so. But he takes various meds in order to reduce his risk. I view my taking an AI in the same way. I don't see it to mean that I still have breast cancer cells in my body, but instead see it as a preventative to reduce the risk that something bad might happen. It's a treatment I take because I've had breast cancer (past tense) and therefore have a risk of mets.
sbelizabeth, I hope I'm just like your mom when I'm 94! Great pic
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sbelizabeth - that is awesome, thank you for sharing. She looks like an awesome lady!
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sbelizabeth Love the picture! Yes, I believe she is cured.
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Just remember, most people don't know what they're talking about. It makes it easier to a) walk away without arguing or b) pointing them to factual information (and knowing they probably won't look, and will remain just as ignorant.)
From THIS site, there are about 268,600 people expected to be diagnosed with invasive breast cancer in 2019, in the US. ALSO in the US, there are expected to be about 41,800 people die from breast cancer this year.
https://www.breastcancer.org/symptoms/understand_bc/statistics
IF everyone diagnosed either died from their initially diagnosed cancer, or from a recurrence, as many people would be dying as diagnosed. The number is still too high, but MOST people don't die from their breast cancer.
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This is such a hard topic. I think for one reason or another that some can be cured/not have a reoccurence . We will never know but I do wish we did. My doctors are going for curative intent with me despite stage four status. I imagine that means that in their minds , there is a possibility, albeit small that I can go a really long time without reoccurrence or never go through it again. I know, I so know , that it may not happen, but I refuse to believe that it can't happen. The way that I see it, is that when we are diagnosed with BC, we are all at risk for recurrence no matter what the stage, so I'm trying to lump myself in with everyone else. Currently NED on first line treatment when it had an 8% chance of working , and now only on hormone therapy at the moment. Gonna ride this wave as long as possible. Too young to let go.
Such a debatable topic and I feel like we all feel how we feel and that's okay
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I've had three major and one minor cancers. If I didn't believe I had been cured from each, I wouldn't want to get up in the morning. But I've had other surgeries for other things, and I consider myself cured from those problems post-surgery. So I don't see why cancer (at least stage 1) is different. I think the name just continues to disproportionately scare the crap out of people. There are a LOT of health issues that can't be cured, or that turn into maintenance diseases, but cancer is the one that people react the most dramatically to, like modern-day leprosy.
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I think with cancer it's the txs that such. As a stage 3 I really don't want to go through chemo and rads again and the complications I had again. Stage 4 is scary. If you don't stay on the shitty tx, games over. The txs are debilitating to say the least. That's why I freak when someone says cancer, any of them. The txs if you want to try and stay alive if you go stage 4. I'm high risk with all the numbers I have so I do think about it daily and what I may do, esp with financial constraints. Tamoxifen is free for me on my medicare plan but those stage 4 chemo pills are way out of my range.
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Interesting topic. I met a man who's wife was diagnosed stage 4 over 7 yrs ago and had surgery to remove a tumor from her spine and lung. She's been chugging along with Herceptin for over 5 yrs? 6 yrs? He showed me a picture she took of herself earlier that afternoon of her chemo line and a coffee cup ...asking him "I wonder if it's working?" At the time I thought it was silly. Her son was a toddler when diagnosed and she's still here - hair, looks healthy, working, traveling. Now from reading the posts and pondering, she may have been wondering if she still needed it or not. How nice if we could develop scanners or tests that could detect any floaters or dormant cells and cease unnecessary treatments or know when to go full throttle and not be caught napping. I had a recurrence - but NED for 3 1/2 yrs (though no big scans in 2 yrs, I wonder what's lurking sometimes). I'm just glad, proud to still be here 7 1/2 yrs after orig diagnosis and 3 1/2 yrs (I lost a year in there somewhere with treatment and surgeries - or it's my brain) after recurrence. I was devastated to hear the GYN doctor who removed my uterus and ovaries call me stage 4. I finally got the courage to ask my nurse and she said no your not or you werent (this was last year).
I thought I'd come to grips with my mortality but seeing my son graduate 4th grade and move on to middle school today and almost choking to death (literally) on stupid dry cereal the other day (my husband was a few seconds shy of giving me the heimlich).... death still scares the shit out of me. I am disgusted that FORTY THOUSAND WOMEN A YEAR have to die from this disease. Too many before they've reached a ripe old age. Why can't we vote or put something out there as a cure cancer drug = no taxes for 10 yrs for the first company to actually come up with a cure? Why is this not happening faster??? I know my son may turn out to be a ditch digger or a math whiz (right now he's in the top 1% nationally for math skills and he's an A student in science too). I hope his generation can solve this since all we've managed to do most days is drive up the cost of treatment.
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Here's a pic of me and my mom walking Island Beach State Park this past weekend. Mom is almost 78. She was diagnosed 25 years ago with stage two hormone positive bc. She had 20 nodes involved. She's definitely cured. She did her treatment and never looked back. Same here.SBElizabeth, thanks for the inspiration
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In general theory, there is no cure for cancer. Until they figure out what causes our cells to go stupid and until the number of people being diagnosed each year declines to zero, then I would not say "cured"
We are fortunate that our treatments can and do cure us.
That's how I see it. Good topic.
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I've noticed quite a few women have a reccurence just a couple years after they come off their hormone treatment. That to me is pretty scary.
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There is no general cure for any disease that hasn't been completely eradicated through vaccines or other methods. It doesn't mean individuals can't be cured. It's two completely different things.
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