Hi All,
I hope everybody is as well as can be. 18 months down the line from my primary and looking forward to hopefully reaching the 2 year mark! Does anyone know if the survival rate goes up after two years post dx?
Thanks,
Emily x
Hi Emily
I have read on here that if the cancer is triple negative and you get to 8 years without recurrence then they can say that it is probably “cured” but for hormone positive (which mine was)it can reapear many years later.I am 2 years on and try not to think about it comming back. I do get a bit anxious when my hospital appointment is near.I just think why worry about something I have no control over.
best wishes Mel xx
There was some retrospective research done on 10 year recurrence rates. People who had been dx over 10 years ago were followed up, and their recurrence rates were checked against their HER2 status (which hadn’t been checked at dx as herceptin treatment was not available then). For those who were HER2 negative, the recurrence rates were small but steady for each of the 10 years looked at (ie there were approximately the same number of recurrences each year). For those who were HER2 positive, they had much higher recurrence rates but they were all in the first three years, none in years 4 to 10. The sample was not big enough to say there would never be recurrences in later years, but it is obviously much less likely.
For those of us who are HER2 positive, we now get herceptin so we should get much lower recurrence rates than this study found. I have read that the most likely time for recurrence in this case is the first two years after finishing herceptin, as it is possible that prior to that all the treatment is doing is holding it all at bay.
There is no such thing as the “All Clear” as has been said several times in several threads. It is such a shame that too many people who should know better keep talking about the “All Clear” after 5 years without recurrence.
Wendy Richards (now deceased after secondary breast cancer) used to talk such nonsense and Trisha Goddard and Amanda Mealing have come in for criticism for making similar comments as if breast cancer was something they had put behind them.
The improving 5 year survival statistics only require that the patient be alive, not alive and well. I was part of the improving 5 year statistics but had secondaries.
Your prognosis will be dependent to some extent upon the results of the oestrogen and progesterone receptor tests, HER2 test and whether or not you already had some spread to the lymph nodes.
My advice is to take what action you can to protect yourself and family (e.g. wills, trust funds for children,insurances etc.) and then when you’ve done everything you can, try not to have it occupying your mind all the time?
You may be one of the lucky ones or you might not.
Even if you get local recurrence, regional recurrence or even secondaries, there are treatments available and you are not necessarily facing a quick death. Although I have secondaries, I’ve outlived median life expectancy by several years and still show no signs of dying soon (but I’m still officially terminal and not in denial).
Good luck and I mean that.
I agree with you Holeybones. A couple of years back the oncologists told me if it didn’t come back within the 5 years remission they could tell me I was classed as “technically cured” in medical speak, but if course that’s not the same as being all clear or cured from something.
I just try to get on with things as best as I possibly can, I don’t see I have any other choice as I am involved in running a business and need to earn my living. I also have a few other diversions which take my mind off things. People have told me they don’t know how I can be so matter of fact when I talk about cancer sometimes, but my view is that this is something that came into my life without warning and I have to make the best of it.
I have a saying by the Dalai Lama on the wall at the side of my desk; part of it says “do not be troubled about the future for it has not yet come” and I read it every day before I sit down to start work.
I’m going to remember that Cherub. Something for my journal. Followers of 12 step programmes such as AA use the serenity prayer.
God grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change;
courage to change the things I can;
and wisdom to know the difference.
I’m trying to make the most of every day and not waste my precious time worrying- easier said than done sometimes!