When do you begin to call yourself a survivor?
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Topic: When do you begin to call yourself a survivor?
Posted By: PauldingMom
Subject: When do you begin to call yourself a survivor?
Date Posted: Feb 24 2010 at 3:49pm
| I'm done with surgery, chemo. and rads. but I know that this could still come back. My Oncologist isn't calling me a survivor until at least 5 years out. So when exactly do you consider yourself a survivor? I still feel very much like I am fighting this daily. |
Replies:
Posted By: dmwolf
Date Posted: Feb 24 2010 at 4:44pm
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We've talked about this on here before (you can search for threads if you like). You definitely do NOT have to wait 5 years to call yourself a survivor. As long as we're alive, we're survivors, say many. The whole 5 year thing doesn't really make sense. Cancer is most likely to come back in the first 5 years, but it can come back later too. That's one of the traumas of cancer - that one never knows for sure. -Denise ------------- DX 2/08@43 stg II IDC; gr2,0 nodes. Neoadj chemo, first ACx2 (fail) then CarboTaxotereX6(better). Lump, Rads done 11/08; Clodronate. False alarm queen: PetCT lung & TM marker. NED. PBM w/recon 9/10. |
Posted By: Kellyless
Date Posted: Feb 24 2010 at 4:52pm
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I was told you start counting at your surgical date - which was the first thing I did so I like that idea, I've survived a year - woot. But if you start with chemo or whatever treatment, I think you should start counting then too! You have one chemo, whoa baby you are a survivor IMO. Hell, living thru the day they tell you that you have cancer makes you a survivor. ------------- IDC, 2.2 cm, Stage IIb,lumpectomy 1/30/09 ACx4,Tx4 36 rads 6/1/16 Local recurrence same breast, same spot 1.8cm Carb.4x every 3 wks, Taxol 12x once wk. Dbl Mast. PCR!! Reconstruction fail, NED! |
Posted By: Carol (Tenn)
Date Posted: Feb 24 2010 at 5:13pm
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I was told that the day of diagnosis is the "start counting day." I believe that is what ACS says...anyway that's what I've done. I will be a 2 yr survivor June 17th. ------------- St 2 Gr 3, A/C/T, DD Radiation x35 Rec chest wall 07/09 Radiation x28 NED 10/24/11 NED 10/5/12 NED 03/15/13 |
Posted By: rena
Date Posted: Feb 24 2010 at 9:48pm
I think your oncologist is being very "stingy." I'll tell you what a nurse friend of mine tells newly-diagnosed people: "If you drive home after hearing your diagnosis without getting in an accident, you are a survivor!" That's the definition I've used.  ------------- Diagnosed 9/86. 1 cm tumor, 22 positive lymph nodes. CMFVP chemo, weekly for one year. 7 weeks radiation. BRCA2-positive. Multiple attempts at reconstruction (three's a charm) |
Posted By: hhfheidi
Date Posted: Feb 24 2010 at 9:55pm
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rena, I have always liked that definition. I have a "Survivor" ball cap... but feel like I'm jinxing myself if I wear it! Guess I'll just have to stick with the one that has a simple pink ribbon and no words. |
Posted By: HairSprayMom
Date Posted: Feb 25 2010 at 10:54am
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I consider myself a survivor since the day of my DX..which is 2 yrs and 5 months to the day tomorrow! LOL I am headed out to the Young Survivors BC Conference in Atlanta tomorrow and I am so EXCITED to be with soo many other Young Survivors! XOXo, Regina ------------- 39 yr old. DX Metaplastic Carcenoma/Triple Negative IIIb 9-26-07, bilat mod rad MX 10-1-07, 2.7cm in Chest Wall. Dense dose Chemo 11/07-03/08 AC/Tax. NED 4-09 YEA! Deconstructed 12-13-10 & Happy! |
Posted By: Autumn10182001
Date Posted: Feb 25 2010 at 11:20am
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Since the day I was diagnose, first time Feb 3, 1999. ------------- DX2/99 Stg I,ER+PR+ Chemo lumpectomy - Neg nodes,rads, tamox,femara. DX4/09, Stg IIB /III, TNBC IDC, Grade III, 2.5CM, mastectomy. 4AC DD,12 wkly taxol,BRAC1&2Neg, Right Mast 11/25/09 |
Posted By: Carol (Tenn)
Date Posted: Feb 25 2010 at 11:21am
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YEAH Autumn!!!!! ------------- St 2 Gr 3, A/C/T, DD Radiation x35 Rec chest wall 07/09 Radiation x28 NED 10/24/11 NED 10/5/12 NED 03/15/13 |
Posted By: PauldingMom
Date Posted: Feb 25 2010 at 11:55am
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I did drive myself home after STAT ultrasound. I told myself then that if I can do this I can do anything. It all seems like a blur now. When they first said TNBC I was like "Great, finally something negative!" then they explained that it wasn't so great.
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Posted By: SusanE1104
Date Posted: Feb 25 2010 at 1:29pm
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I've always wondered what the big deal was about the word survivor. Who cares what date you start counting from? I think the old five year rule doesn't apply anymore. I was dx 23 years ago and was cancer free until Jan. of 09. Now I'm stage IV, and I don't even remember what day in Jan. got the news. I'm living with cancer. The survivor label means nothing to me. ------------- Susan 62 1987 Stage 1 1/09 Stage IV bilat. mast. liver mets BRCA1+ Taxol & Avastin 8/09 NED 12/09 liver mets Taxol/Avastin 4/10 liver mets 11/22 Parp Car/gem parp failed 2/2011 Ixempra |
Posted By: Lillie
Date Posted: Feb 27 2010 at 4:49pm
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Survivor is a word with many meanings.
The industrial accident Survivor sustained 3rd burns over 73% of his/her body. He'll be scarred for life. The auto accident Survivor had a broken leg and multiple internal injuries. He/she will be living with some life long scars from that accident. The cancer Survivor has been in remission for five years... Maybe permanently...Yeah! The cancer Survivor has been fighting her/his battle for ten years.... Yeah! I met a 10 year SURVIVOR of breast cancer (not TN - but breast cancer) yesterday in the oncology center. "Debbie" was in remission for 2 years after diagnosis and is on her 4th round of treatments since then. She is able to sustain remission for a period of time after each round of treatments before relapsing, but she is surviving/living with cancer. She still teaches school and has a positive attitude and loves life. She looks good and feels pretty good most of the time. She has lost her hair again, but looks lovely in her hats. She is married and has seen her children finish school and go on to college. She talked about when the treatments cease to work anymore. She gives God the Glory for everything... I guess seeing someone like "Debbie" lets me know that there can be life with or after cancer. To me the word survivor fits as long as we are still alive and kicking. Love in Christ, Lillie ------------- Dx 6/06 age 65,IDC-TNBC Stage IIb,Gr3,2cm,BRCA- 6/06 L/Mast/w/SNB,1of3 Nodes+ 6/06 Axl. 9 nodes- 8/8 thru 11/15 Chemo (Clin-Trial) DD A/Cx4 -- DD taxol+gemzar x4 No Rads. No RECON - 11/2018-12 yrs NED |
Posted By: scared
Date Posted: Feb 28 2010 at 1:35am
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Hello Paulding mom, Today I noticed a women that had a scar above her breast (she was wearing a loose top) and I asked her if I could ask her a personal question, and she replied yes. I asked her if she had a port, and she said yes, that she had been ten years cancer free and now it has come back in her other breast. She told me that she too was triple negative and she said to not give up hope and to be strong, I thanked her and told her that I would pray for her, she thanked me and left. I posted the question on another forum if it was the same cancer or another and I got this reply from a retired oncologist, "Probably a new primary breast carcinoma in the other breast Dave. We don't think breast carcinomas spread to the opposite breast. This one may have very different receptors compared to the one ten years ago. Hopefully an early stage and curable." Source(s):MD medical oncologist So, for ten years she was a survivor and she still is. I asked our oncologist, Dr. Kristine Rinn out of the Swedish Cancer Clinic in Seattle when do you count the time you are a survivor and she said the minute of your diagnosis. I think it is important because the longer you are NED, the better it is that it might not return. From my post in the other forum, it sounds like a new cancer tumor, I could see the strength this women had, very powerful and determined and I know (I am a good judge of character that she has it in her to beat this cancer too, like she did the first one). Dave ------------- Wife diagnosed 7/08 stage 2B 4.78cm with 3 nodes. 15 weeks of Adriamycin and Cytoxin, Mastectomy, 12 weeks of Taxol, and 6.5 weeks of radiation. |
Posted By: Carol (Tenn)
Date Posted: Feb 28 2010 at 8:09am
Dave ,
What they told me when I had my recurrence was that if the tumor was to return it would be in the same area as the primary. Mine came back on the chest wall right under the incision scar.
I really don't do a lot of posting about things like this because there are so many here that know a lot more than I do. So if I'm wrong, somebody please correct me.  ------------- St 2 Gr 3, A/C/T, DD Radiation x35 Rec chest wall 07/09 Radiation x28 NED 10/24/11 NED 10/5/12 NED 03/15/13 |