4 ms·

I imagine the joy is tempered by the lack of 100% confidence. "Your cancer is gone...but we really can't say that it won't reappear, because we can't say if AL

I imagine the joy is tempered by the lack of 100% confidence. "Your cancer is gone...but we really can't say that it won't reappear, because we can't say if ALL the cells are gone, they are just too few for our technology to see. So go forth and be joyous and I definitely won't be nervous that this all turns out to be false hope that results in you back here again, feeling doubly betrayed".

da_chicken 8y ago
This is true of any cancer treatment. You're never cured of cancer. You just go into remission. The 5 year mark has historically been the point when complete remission is deemed a cure, but that doesn't mean recurrence is impossible.
- civilitty 8y ago
  Even then, don't oncologists highly recommend an annual screening for the rest of your life?
  - da_chicken 8y ago
    Periodically, I think. I don't know how often. Unfortunately, everybody I know who has had cancer is no longer around.
  - tutanchamun 8y ago
    I don't know about other cancer types but around here they do that for non-hodgkin-lyphoma. The first two years after remisson the screening is every 3 months. Year 3-4 every 6 months and year 5+ once every year.
- tialaramex 8y ago
  At the limit though this argument works for broken legs too. Oh sure the leg seems better now, but it could break again. I think with a broken leg you'd accept that's just a different break, even if it's the same leg. I had Hodgkin's Lymphoma many years ago, in my final follow up they said the radiation damage means there's a higher than normal chance I'd get some entirely different cancer later in life, but as to Hodgkin's there's no difference from the rest of the population. If I get Hodgkin's again it isn't because the treatment stopped working, it just means the same or similar freak DNA change happened. Like if I broke the same leg again.
munificent 8y ago
There was a thread on reddit a while back asking cancer survivors what the worst part of it was. One person said that when they got diagnosed, it brought a black cloud into their family that will never leave. Even in remission, it will always be there in the back of the minds of their loved ones, forever.
- sjg007 8y ago
  I understand this personally but I temper those thought by the fact that anyone can be killed randomly by anything at anytime. So live each day regardless.
  - acou_nPlusOne_t 8y ago
    A creature can not live with this realization not supressed. You cant take credit. You cant have a loved one go on a journey alone. If you where fully aware of you mortality, you would cower in a bonker like a nomad crab in its shell. Maybe one would storm outside from time to act in fits of panic. And yes, those edgy adults, claiming to be aware of death/mortality and accpeting, usually have created lightning rods in theire conciousness for these fears. Like believe systems, that reroute this fear into believe of immortality, or in the atheist case a feeling of superiority for living your life to the max, while all those others do not. Those fully aware are in asylums
Merad 8y ago
Yep. Last year my mom's cancer returned two years after she was told she only had an 8% chance of recurrence. She's at least lucky in that it's apparently a non-aggressive type that can be treated with meds that have minimal side effects. Unlucky, however, since (barring new treatment options) she'll need to continue treatments for the rest of her life.
- abandonliberty 8y ago
  Just like a weather forecast, the prediction was right. Your mom just happened to be one of those 8 people who get it out of every hundred. Doesn't feel like it though. Best of luck to her.
  - Merad 8y ago
    Thanks. Yep, her oncologist's words were "unfortunately someone always has to be in the 8%."

da_chicken 8y ago

This is true of any cancer treatment. You're never cured of cancer. You just go into remission. The 5 year mark has historically been the point when complete remission is deemed a cure, but that doesn't mean recurrence is impossible.

civilitty 8y ago
Even then, don't oncologists highly recommend an annual screening for the rest of your life?
- da_chicken 8y ago
  Periodically, I think. I don't know how often. Unfortunately, everybody I know who has had cancer is no longer around.
- tutanchamun 8y ago
  I don't know about other cancer types but around here they do that for non-hodgkin-lyphoma. The first two years after remisson the screening is every 3 months. Year 3-4 every 6 months and year 5+ once every year.
tialaramex 8y ago
At the limit though this argument works for broken legs too. Oh sure the leg seems better now, but it could break again. I think with a broken leg you'd accept that's just a different break, even if it's the same leg. I had Hodgkin's Lymphoma many years ago, in my final follow up they said the radiation damage means there's a higher than normal chance I'd get some entirely different cancer later in life, but as to Hodgkin's there's no difference from the rest of the population. If I get Hodgkin's again it isn't because the treatment stopped working, it just means the same or similar freak DNA change happened. Like if I broke the same leg again.

munificent 8y ago

There was a thread on reddit a while back asking cancer survivors what the worst part of it was. One person said that when they got diagnosed, it brought a black cloud into their family that will never leave. Even in remission, it will always be there in the back of the minds of their loved ones, forever.

sjg007 8y ago
I understand this personally but I temper those thought by the fact that anyone can be killed randomly by anything at anytime. So live each day regardless.
- acou_nPlusOne_t 8y ago
  A creature can not live with this realization not supressed. You cant take credit. You cant have a loved one go on a journey alone. If you where fully aware of you mortality, you would cower in a bonker like a nomad crab in its shell. Maybe one would storm outside from time to act in fits of panic. And yes, those edgy adults, claiming to be aware of death/mortality and accpeting, usually have created lightning rods in theire conciousness for these fears. Like believe systems, that reroute this fear into believe of immortality, or in the atheist case a feeling of superiority for living your life to the max, while all those others do not. Those fully aware are in asylums

Merad 8y ago

Yep. Last year my mom's cancer returned two years after she was told she only had an 8% chance of recurrence. She's at least lucky in that it's apparently a non-aggressive type that can be treated with meds that have minimal side effects. Unlucky, however, since (barring new treatment options) she'll need to continue treatments for the rest of her life.

abandonliberty 8y ago
Just like a weather forecast, the prediction was right. Your mom just happened to be one of those 8 people who get it out of every hundred. Doesn't feel like it though. Best of luck to her.
- Merad 8y ago
  Thanks. Yep, her oncologist's words were "unfortunately someone always has to be in the 8%."