Does ovarian removal reduce recurrence rate?

ByFaith, I've had endometrial/uterine cancer (complete hysterectomy), breast cancer (lumpectomy), kidney cancer (radical nephrectomy) and several low-level skin cancers (including a large Mohs surgery for a nasty one). I manage to not worry about recurrence most of the time - sometimes I don't even remember the endometrial one unless I'm filling out a health history! Memorize what voraciousreader wrote. If you have such constant health anxiety about recurrence, please discuss it with your doctor and ask for a therapy referral. You've been living with a form of what I call Schrodinger's Cancer, letting the possibility affect you almost as much as cancer would have. Please don't let it take more years from you.

alice…that health history section…..I stopped filling in that section a long time ago! It never gave me enough space to fill in my history! My ortho procedures and broken bones left no room for, as my late mother used to say, "The biggies."

orange…not all breast cancers can be boxed into the same long term risk…the type of breast cancer AND age will determine your long term risk…the key point is that once diagnosed, on an emotional level, all of us will always be fighting the “what if"…. I often wonder, how is it that some of us can emotionally deal with “issues" while others…not so much…I would love to see research done on that subject. I often tell people, “Most of us think that Space is the last frontier…I say it is the brain."

beesie…to put everything into perspective, that graph is a good indicator for recurrence. Furthermore, the CancerMath website has a great picture graph that shows personalized cancer mortality risks vs. other causes of death over 10 or 15 years…in many instances, the risk of dying from other causes is greater than the risk of dying fromcancer, and yet, too often, patients worry more about recurrence….Health care providers need to do a better job at identifying personalized risks and then helping patients navigate the roller coaster of emotions associated with long term treatment and surveillance.

alice..i am so sorry to hear about your messy hip replacement recovery. In 2018, I had hip replacement surgery too…and aside from an unexpected blood transfusion and a few extra days in the hospital recovering….IT WAS THE BEST SURGERY I EVER HAD! Shortly after the surgery, I was pulled out of bed and told to go sit in a chair. Before the surgery, my issue was…I couldn't sit! I could walk 6 miles a day without pain and yet, sitting was painful. Following surgery, I sat down and was AMAZED. I was pain free. Then, in 2019 and 2020, I had two right hand surgeries. And, after I healed and was finally out of the casts, I fell and broke my wrist! Two weeks later, my 2 year old granddaughter stole my thunder and broke her left wrist, for a few weeks….we looked like book ends….That said….because I have Ehlers Danlos Syndrome, I am an orthopedist's dream patient. I kid you not when I say I am a bionic woman. I tell doctors, my previous surgeries start on my right foot, work their way up my right side of my body and down my left leg…I also had two life saving emergency surgeries…so I hear you when you say your cancer experiences were, relatively speaking, easier. But still, for many, cancer can suck the air out of living….