Survivor- How to count the years?

Tabatha00

Forgive my chemopause and now my full-on MENOPAUSE since I had my ovaries removed last month.  Oy vey!

When do we start counting our years out from cancer?  For example.

I was diagnosed with bc on May 22, 2009

I had my bilateral mastectomies March 1, 2010

I finished all treatments on May 24, 2010.

What date do I start counting from? 

chrissyb

Hi Tabatha, this question has been asked by many and the answer is , a lot of girls calculate from DX and others from end of treatment.  It seems to be a matter of personal choice, for me, I calculate mine from day of DX and that will be seven years next month.  Cheers!

Peace, strength, love n hugs.  chrissyb

Tabatha00

7 years....CONGRATS!!!!!!!!!  

AmyIsStrong

I don't care how you count - just KEEP STACKING UP THOSE YEARS!

(Actually I would count from dx, i.e. You had cancer in 5/09, this is 11/10 - you've been a survivor for a year and a half. If you want to get technical, I'd say I finished my treatments six months ago. (I finished then, too.)  But I really believe that as time passes, the specific differences will fade away, as in "Oh yeah, I had bc back in 2010 or so - been about 20 years now..."  That's what I'm planning to say!

Tabatha00

I was confused because I'm triple negative and they say if you can make it past the 2 or 3 year mark then the risk of recurrence drops significantly. 

I'd rather count from May 22, 2009.   ha

Lowrider54

Oh, I am so glad someone posted this question...it has always confused me too.  Found my lump late 1998, biospy April 1999, surgery June 1999, started chemo July 1999 and finished in March 2000. 

I pretty much figured that since my first 'yearly' checkup was in June of 2000 - a year from the removal of the cancerous parts - June has always been the time of year for them - the five year mark was June of 2004 and the 10 year was June of 2009 (I postponed it until August since my Marine son was coming home for the first part of the summer). 

So cancer has been in my life for 12 years 2 1/2 months- surgically removed 11 1/2 years ago, first round consumed 1 3/4 years of my life from finding the lump to end of treatment - 10 years 3 months from surgical erradication was dx'd with mets - 9 years 6 months certifiable NED (end of treatment scans confirming NED to mets dx) now 1 year 1 month and 3 weeks out from mets dx.  Good golly - what do I count?  I know now...just passed my one year metsaverisary! 

Survivor status...12 years 2 1/2 months I have been LIVING with breast cancer- active, NED and active again. 

That is how I have been explaining it all this time...nice to know I can now say 12 years 2 1/2 months and be done with it!

Thanks you guys!

Low

LJ13-2

The medical world counts from the day of diagnosis. All statistics are based on that.

Halah

I like to use the date of dx because I have been living with cancer since the day of dx. I had surgery on 8/30/2010 so I am NED but not cured. NED is a milestone but the cancer was there before that.

Anyways that is how I count it.

BMac

My ovarian onc said from date all treatments are finished, which for me was June 30, 2003 (for the ovarian) so I'm almost 7 1/2 years out and am told I've beaten the odds.  My prognosis was 50% chance of being alive in 3 years (as at August 29, 2002).

I've never asked my BC onc how she calculates it.

Raj20

I count from the day of diagnosis that was  March,2005. I had undergone breastconservative operation with a flip, 33 cycles of RD and 6 chemos completed  in Dec,2005. After that Tamixifan for 1 and half years and now  on Arimidex.  I am not sure whether I am fully cured or not as I am still reporting to my doctor for  follow up treatment on every six months.Sometimes my mind got  fully confused. But these days I stop thinking seriously as I am ready to face  whatever comes in my life.