gosh bubbletrouble, that is such a sensible post.
Hi All
Thanks so much for your informative and sensible responses, you are all such stars!
I was given a printout but to be honest did not really look as I had made the decision to have the treatment I had and like most of you it seems, I’m sceptical of stats.
I will pass all your info and opinions on to my friend as there is a lot of sense in there.
I hope all of you still in chemo are OK - Beardie good luck with the rest of your chemo etc. Sounds like we had very similar treatment and I’m 4 years in October since finishing chemo, 3 in January since rads and 18 months left on Tamoxifen. All going well!
Sarah, congrats on your last chemo, whoo-hoo! And great to hear from all of you who are down the line and doing well too.
Thanks again all, really appreciate it.
Cecelia. x
When I was first diagnosed my breast care surgeon said he didn’t see any benefit in giving out stats, after all even if you are given a 93% chance of no return you will not care one jot if it comes back that you only had a 7% chance of that happening. It does sound as if your friend is confusing local recurrence or 10 year survival rates with general recurrence rates which are usually a bit higher than that even with treatment. Mind you if it was me, and my friend believed that, I’d probably let her go on in blissful ignorance rather than set her straight and worry her. The chances are still high that she’ll never have to face the fact that she’s misunderstood the stats.
Good advice Crawfo64, thanks very much.
I hope you’re doing well now.
Cecelia. x
Cecelia,
thanks for the kind b’day wishes 
Hope you continue to feel better, your nearing the finish line for tamoxifen, wooohoooo x
I have an appointment on Monday with my onc to find out what my prognosis % are. I have 2 tumors 1) tn and er+. I don’t want to know cos I’m being morbid, but if I have a lower than 10 yrs or a high reoccurrence rate I may not go back to my stressful job. At the moment I do one day at a time and as long as the sun is shining life is good, but I just like to know so I can plan with positive thoughts.
Good luck to all x BD
Hope you had a great day CCL!
Good philosophy BD, hope all goes well on Monday.
Cecelia. x
Hi Bluedragonfly hope your visit to hospital on Monday goes well. Know what you mean about reevaluating everything. Best wishes. Adi x
Theres only one way to go NOW i use the now clock. Everytime i wonder what time it is its always NOW…
I am stage 3 grade 3. My onc did not discuss specific % figures as she does not think they are an accurate picture. It is interesting as she is a BC survivor so I trust her judgement. Although we didn’t discuss figures i came out of the room feeling very positive that everything possible was being done to prevent a recurrence. Her words to me were Life’s for living, not for worrying. Good advice!
Great advice indeed Janipi. I hope you’re doing well now.
Cecelia. x
i think if i have to have this conversation i will ask what stats they are basing their decision on. Perhaps there is a new version of adjuvant online, but the write up i read about it said it was based on american women of a certain age range (younger than me) who went through the american health system. I do not know if it took weight into account, I have a gut feeling that americans do not eat as healthily a we do, and being overweight is a factor in BC. Or if they have the mass screening and rapid action breast cinics that we do.
Can someone tell me if this is the only stats program our doctors use? i saw a report that said something like 20% of doctors in a Hong Kong study changed their opinion on treatment plans after using the programm.
I bet if i got to this stage I too might very well say blow the stats, just throw everything you have at it. But I would probably want to know what the figures were and how valid they were when applied to me.