survivorship (poll)

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  • otter
    otter Member Posts: 6,099
    edited December 2010

    First of all, I don't like the term "survivor", because it's used only for cancer patients and not for people who've "survived" all sorts of other potentially (or ultimately) deadly maladies.  When's the last time you heard of someone being called a "Parkinson's Disease survivor" or a "kidney failure survivor", or maybe a "Hashimoto's thyroiditis survivor"?  Didn't think so.

    Secondly, if we are going to be called "survivors", then every single one of us has the right to use that term, whether we were dx'd 20 years ago or just last Tuesday, and whether we had a tiny spot of IDC or extensive mets.  (I'm thinking DCIS should fit in there too.)

    So (and thirdly), I don't think it's appropriate to use the word "survivor" only in reference to those of us who (presumably) have been "cured".  The problem is that there is no specific "cure" for breast cancer, and we don't know we're "cured" until we die of something else.

    That's what I think.

    otter

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  • riley702
    riley702 Member Posts: 1,600
    edited August 2013

    Thanks, otter. I was pondering how to put how I felt without offending anyone and then you posted it better than I could. I think and hope it's gone, but I'm never going to be entirely sure. When people ask if I'm cured now that I've finished treatment (except Tamoxifen), I say cheerily, "Hope so!" and change the subject.

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  • otter
    otter Member Posts: 6,099
    edited December 2010

    riley/Carolyn, I respond exactly the same way.  When someone says, "Is it gone?" or "Did they get it all?" or "Are you cured, now?", I answer:  "I sure hope so -- but I guess we'll just have to wait and see!" and then I change the subject.

    Hugs!

    otter

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  • CoolBreeze
    CoolBreeze Member Posts: 4,668
    edited December 2010

    I am very anti-cliche.  I had the disease of invasive breast cancer.  At this time, after undergoing mastectomy, chemotherapy and a year of herceptin, there is no evidence that I still have cancer.

    I am not a survivor, I didn't fight, battle, or beat anything. I'm not a warrior.  I got sick, got treated, and I got well.  I was not brave or courageous.  I merely went to the doctor when I was supposed to and took the medicine I was supposed to take. I will be well unless I get sick again, which I don't expect to happen.  I don't mark the time, anymore than I mark the time since I had pneumonia or appendix surgery.  The word "cancerversary" really needs to be struck out of our vocabulary.

    Everybody has the right to define themselves however they like, but I find the romanticizing and "pinking" of this disease a bit self-serving.

    But, I'm crazy.  :)

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  • Ang7
    Ang7 Member Posts: 1,261
    edited December 2010

    CoolBreeze~

    I like how you think...

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