90% probability of recurrence

Dunepenge

Hi All, how do you cope with the fear of recurrence? I've been just diagnosed and treated for primary breast cancer but I know worse things are coming

YATCOMW

I am not sure how you are determining the 90% as that would only be if you chose no treatment at all.

With treatment it is much lower and is determined by each individual's type of breast cancer. I had a huge 8cm tumor with 17 nodes positive and I am still here 12 1/2 years later. It is not to say that I may never reoccur.....but the longer I hold out.....the better my chances are that I won't or that some new drug will continue to provide me more time. With all the new oncology drugs in the pipeline.....the odds are good that this can happen for me.

I am not saying that it isn't scary.......especially when you are first diagnosed. Once you have your treatment plan in place you will find that it is do-able. Once you have completed your treatment you will find that you are much stronger than maybe you thought you were. You will then finally get to what most of us call the "new normal".

Hang in there......lots of ladies here willing to help in any way they can.

Peace,

Jacqueline

sbelizabeth

Dunepenge, during the 9 months of active treatment, I had "cancer radio" playing in my head 24/7. Probably most of us do. For me, though, going to work every day and staying physically active helped a lot--distraction, exercise, and fresh air.

I'm also wondering where your 90% statistic came from; it's not at all accurate if you take into account current therapies. Just looking around our Stage III threads you'll see many of us do not recur. "Worse things are coming"? Not necessarily, unless you're referring to treatment, and that's completely do-able. Stay off Google, is my advice. BCO has very good information that's up-to-date and written in easily understood language, unlike the internet. A lot of on-line stuff is old, wrong, and just plain scary.

I know it's hard to believe right now, but better days are coming. You'll get through this. Gentle hugs.