Are you a "survivor"?

Pinktober bothers me more than survivor. I too am Stage IV de novo since February 7, 2013 so 4 1/2 years of surviving with this ick. My life changed and my body is in survival mode so I guess it's appropriate, for me at least.

Amy

I don't think of myself as a survivor. I think of a survivor as someone who has been through a terrible experience, one that has ended, and the person has somehow managed to live though it - survived. I am still living with mbc. Granted, I am still here living my life, and I have not let MBC become the focus of my life, but there has been no end. I don't mind Pam's term of live-r since it highlights the fact that we are still living in spite of our disease, but it does remind me of my organ that happens to have mets. Lol. I have seen the term "lifer" applied to us. I kind of like it. I think of it this way. 1. I am living a full life even with mbc. 2. I will most likely have the disease for the rest of my life, so a lifer.

I think we all look at these things differently. There is no wrong or right.

Lynne

Lisa, I want to first mention Pinktober which for some dang blasted reason is starting to morph in to Pinktember. What the what???!!! My local newspaper ran a full page ad yesterday for some gawd awful soccer tournament to celebrate, commemorate or fund raise this month for that freeking pink disease. You know, its getting like Christmas, where retailers haul out the red and green decor and gifts in October for the December holiday. Now the same deal with pink starting so early.

As for the term survivor. I think of myself as an exceptional responder since I was dx stage iv de novo in 2011. As women with mets, we are usually misrepresented thru the pink month. We dont really fit into the term "survivor" which makes things complicated and messy, and the general public don't like complicated and messy. Just the sanitized version of breast cancer, please! Hollywood depictions of women with bc are often of sickly, bald females with a chemo iv in the arm. Many of us with mets appear "normal" and aren't seen by others as ill. Like you said, Animal Crackers, it is a kind of surreal existence. I appreciate that you said that.

Hi everyone-if a name has to be used to describe us, other than the strongest people anyone would have the pleasure of knowing-it's thriver. We continue to put one foot in front of the other and propell ourselves forward. That's my definition of a thriver.

Propeller sounds good to me, scoutabout. I am a survivor, if based only on elapsed time (10 years!) since mets diagnosis and progression-free survival. It is a medical term and survival definitions are used as endpoints in clinical trials even for metastatic disease. Treatment for early stagers is also getting longer, with additional years of treatment translating to longer survival.

Stefajoy, you have put my thoughts into words. I have yet to find a "word" that adequately describes this stage of my life.

I personally do not identify with the label "survivor". I didn't years ago and I certainly don't now that I'm stage IV. I felt like it was just something crappy that happened to me that I had to get through. Not sure what to consider it now.. still at the "this freaking sucks" stage.