Never hearing the word Cured!!!!

Faithfulheart!  Indeed some of these posts are discouraging at best!  I do believe in the cure word.  It is a word widely used in my oncologist's office and I was told I would be cured!  I do believe with all my heart and mind that I am cured.  There were miracles in the time of the Bible, so why not now?  Miracles can and do still happen.

I have a very dear friend who is 13 years cancer free and she did it totally holistically after having surgery.  There are so many options out there to negate estrogen in our bodies and  to create a healthy body, mind and spirit.

I would highly suggest some research and reading.  I found Beating Cancer With Nutrition by Dr. Patrick Quillon to be very informational, also the Anti Cancer diet by Dr. David Serbin Schreiber.  You Can Heal Your Life by Louise Hay.

I do believe cancer can be cured!   Do your research and trust that the right information will come to you.  We are all going to die someday.  It is just a fact of life.  Meanwhile, live life to the fullest.  Enjoy everything and everyone you encounter and cherish your family.

Interesting...I never heard that stage 3 grade 1 were the most like to reoccur after 5 years....but either I will or I won't...I am coming up on 5 years in 3 weeks....Longevity runs on my mother's side of the family...both my great grandmother and grandmother lived to be 88 or 89...till BC I always believed that I would to be a ripe old age....My mother is 76 and healthy.....I know that I am NED...but I don't believe that I will leave to be old....don't know how old I think I will live to, but definitely not in my 80's!!!  I refuse to give up my red wine or other things that I enjoy...I think its a matter of moderation and live a basically healthy life...the rest is out of our hands

lago ~ I, like Sherry, go into denial about percentages.  I remember when I was first diagnosed and so overwhelmed with the thought of chemo/rads, and all the ongoing treatment, my onc told me that without treatment, I had a 50 to 70 percent of a recurrance.  Knowing what I know now I wish I could have asked more questions.  At the time,  he said to me I needed to be totally committed to this.  I nodded my head up and down, and said "yes, ok, I am"......  As of now, I feel like I want more quality of life and just get off this Tomoxifen that he changed me from Arimidex.  But,  I don't know,  I'm just conflicted right now.

Barb

Judy, he should be using the term NED, no evidence of disease. That is the official term for a breast cancer patient that is not showing cancer anywhere in their body. Breast cancer can NOT be cured. Doesn't mean you will die of it. It just means that once you have it, it can come back at any time. But I think of it like I'm NED now, so it's "gone". If it comes back, it's like getting it for the first time....again.

Read some of the posts from ladies who are angry that they were falsely led to believe they were cured only to have it come back.

Life is full of uncertainties.  I call myself a BC survivor and will until the day I die.  I walked the Susan G 2 weeks after my last chemo.  I have a pic standing under the under 1 year survivor sign bald head and all.  The 40+ year survivors were way down the road on the survivor walk.  My RO has told me I am at a high risk of returning, 55%, due to size of tumor and lymph nodes affected.  I am not going to let that worry me.  I have my faith, loving DH and DS, strong support group at church, friends who are walking the walk with me and you all.  That is what gets me though day after day.  I have been told I inspire people because of the way I have handled myself, (they haven't seen me cry in the shower, or my one or two meltdowns), but I am glad.  I just want to be an advocate of yearly check ups and mamos, if I help one other person get through this that is my reward.  My DH had a co worker who had learned of my BC, all he said was make sure you get your check ups.  She did in December and they found a tumor and she is scheduled for surgery and treatments. 

I expect to see my DS graduate, got to college, marry and have children.  All I can say is Live, Laugh, Love.

Jessie

This is my first post. I have been a "thread stalker" for awhile... just want to say that my grandmother has had BC x3, my mother BC x2 (double MX) and now me X1 at age 48... here is the good news - my grandmother is 96 and still with us... by mother is 72 and still with us... and 1 year post surgery, chemo, rads and tamox - I'm still here too.

Faithful... be true to your name - faithful each day to walk in courage and joy - and someday your grandchild, like me, will find hope in your story.  Gentle hugs to all of you for your courage and compassionate posts... I have needed to read them almost daily to make it through this year.

I didn't refer to response to treatment, I was just talking about the time to recurrence SHOULD it come back. I read an interview in CURE magazine a few years ago with a medical doctor who was also an ILC patient. She's the one who commented on ILC being slow growing, and so any recurrence was also more likely to be slower to show up.

This study, from back in 2005, talks more about response to chemo and long-term prognosis.

http://jco.ascopubs.org/content/23/1/41.full

The one thing to remember in all of these studies (hence all of the stats): they aren't taking into account the participants' overall health. They don't factor in whether someone consumes too much alcohol, is under way too much stress, doesn't exercise, etc. In other words, they aren't looking at what the 'healthiest' ones are doing differently than the ones who have a recurrence.

We can't control all the factors. If we could, we'd know what causes this disease. But I believe that living a healthful lifestyle helps. And it also helps to be our own best advocate: always staying on top of the research so that we can take action as warranted.

I don't live in fear, but it is in the back of my mind....I am living each day as best I can...which is pretty good, but not where I was before BC...but I work part-time, and I'm a wife and mother...I think the stats are what keeps me seeing my onc every 3 months (his protocol) and made me endure AI's for 3 1/2 years....I skipped my PS appt this past fall and did not see my BS last year and probably won't this year...it just seems silly to see her when I see my onc every 3 months...I ended up seeing her within weeks of onc....and PS would just look at the implants to see if they were staying put....my way for moving on is to eliminate as many doctor appts as I can!!!  Physically my health is pretty good....its the psycho-social/emotional that has paid a price with this all.....but I think it is getting better and I'm cutting back on my meds   
May we all live to be cranky old ladies!!!

Faithful, the other thing to add to Sherri, is that a lot of women go by the "2 week rule". If pain persists or increases over a 2 week period enough, then it's time to mention it to your doctor. Remember as well, though, that you are getting older through all this too! We all freak out at every new ache, no matter what stage we are. The stage IV gals freak out just as much as the stage 0 DCIS ones do.

One of the toughest things my onc said to me (besides saying that I had "slipped between the cracks" -her words!) was that if I get mets, the speed at which they are diagnosed has no bearing on the treatment or survival rate. She actually said "It doesn't make a difference." Now, I beg to differ on something like brain mets, wouldn't you??? But bone mets you may not know for years and as some oncs say, it's almost better that you don't know until you are symptomatic, which is why a lot of docs don't do screening tests, but only upon symptoms.

Barbe - I had to laugh because I had the exact same thought when my onc told me he doesn't test in the absence of symptons because it makes no difference in how long you survive.  I don't like scans and if I'm going to recur, I'd just as soon not know for as long as possible, so that plan works for me!

it's all too depressing. i just ignore stats, the idea of cured, and avoid too much detail. i throw my focus on daily acts of hope - yoga, improved diet, no alcohol - and pray like hell i'm here to at least see my little guy (9yo) finish college.

whenever i try to discuss this with my husband, he gets that look and says tersely, "you're going to be here. don't worry about it."

sometimes i don't know who i feel worse for, him and or me.

i should add his terseness isn't a lack of compassion, but a refusal to consider anything else. it's a bit of a lifepreserver for me, emotionally, but today i'm just feeling sad for him and the kids. and me!

I'm echoing Sherri and barbe1958.  The pain you are experiencing  could be caused by the hormonals you're on.  I've learned that there's a whole "new normal" now after treatment.  My pain in my back and in my hip and legs and joints was so severe during the end of the Summer, I thought I had bone mets.  My onc took it seriously and ordered a week of scans.  They came out nothing more than some "bone edema" in my clavicle, and some degenerative tissue and little bone cyst on my right hip.  So now I have a love affair with my heating pad when I'm really uncomfortable.  Also the hormonals deplete any remaining estrogen so without estrogen in your body the joints loose that moist cushioning and , also the fatique.  I find if I'm physically active with long walks and working out, I'm less stiff and in pain, but sometimes I also wonder if there might be a little fibromyalgia going on with me too,....

Barb