Am I cancer free?

Thatgirl

I had a lumpectomy to remove the lump and no other treatment as of yet. Chemotherapy was not recommended for me. Other than rads, killing any local cells, am I cancer free? When does one get this dx ?



I read stories of people who had a local reoccurance or it appeared somewhere else, what went wrong the first time around? What was missed?

jo1955

Thatgirl - You are cancer free.  I did not have to do the chemo thing either but did go through rads.  Why some have reoccurences remains a mystery.  This cancer like all the others, it keeps us guessing and on our toes.  The best we can do is get all the recommended treatments available to us.  I not sure anything was missed the first time, unfortunately, reoccurances do happen and it seems there is nothing we can do about it.

AlaskaAngel

I haven't had a recurrence since being treated 10 years ago but do not consider myself cancer-free. Cancer cells are just cells that are abnormal and all humans have some of them at any given time. The immune system either works to keep them from taking over, or not. Some of us have more cancer cells than others do, mostly because our immune system doesn't manage to keep up with getting rid of the cancer cells fast enough. That is why things like proper exercise, proper diet, not smoking, etc. help to avoid recurrence.

AlaskaAngel

Thatgirl

Thank you all for replying. My Dr. called and said my margins were wide and clear.