FYI--some cancers just go away

Misty3

NY Times article in health section today: 

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/25/health/25breast.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

wishiwere

Interesting..... One of my many thoughts while reading this was, it was only for few years really in the realm of breast cancer growth.  When we are told that cancer is sometimes growing for 8-10 years before being large enough to be felt with SBE or CBE, or seen on mammography.  Then presumably, some of these women's cancers were not found yet, b/c they had only tested for those several years.  A study of 20 years for those same women may have found more on the 'didn't have cancer' list to have shown cancer down the road further.  I am not sure this makes sense to as it did in my own mind, but there it is. 

There are a lot of other questions I have too, like was this DCIS they were talking about might have gone away, say after menopause when the women didn't have as much estrogen to feed it? OR ....well, too many variables that I don't see mentioned.  Ages and so on.  History of the women and what not.  Intersting, but lacking for my comfort.

I surely would NOT want to be in Mexico when this study starts and some tell me, well, it's cancer, but it will go away on its own, so let's just watch it for 10 years!  EEEKkkkkkkkk!