Thank you for the new thread, Leslie.
Waving to all.
For those new, might be worth a hopefully-cheering update on one of the common cancers - breast cancer.
Found a lump or other signs of possible cancer in the breast? For most of us, that was the scariest moment (and couple of weeks) of our lives...the waiting bit. The unknown. It is with just about any cancer diagnosis or tests, of course.
But...teams are improving treatments all the time. Certainly in the five years since I was first diagnosed with breast cancer. Mine was one of the aggressive sorts. [Technical notes: HER2+, grade 3, stage 2, not ER+, not PR+,] and I wasn't able to take much Herceptin, which normally keeps my sort under control. I got zapped with everything they could zap it with. 4 lots of FEC chemo. 4 lots of Tax chemo. Surgery. Radiotherapy. A bit of Herceptin until they had to stop it.
In three months, it'll be six years since the diagnosis. Still here. 95% of people now will be still here, 5+ years from now.
Found a lump? 9 out of 10 will be benign.
Found out it's breast cancer? 19 out of 20 will be just in the boob. And can now be removed/zapped/poisoned successfully.
Found out it's breast cancer that has spread beyond boob and armpit? If it's in just one other place, we're seeing results where 80% of those can still be zapped/surgeried/poisoned and it works.
If it's in more than one other place, e.g. liver, bones, lungs, then teams can give up to seven different forms of 'holding treatment' for many sorts. That means that it converts it to a long-term nuisance, similar to living with diabetes or similar. Annoying, certainly.
There are no guarantees. Some will have a sort that is truly tricky. We'll never deny that.
But, for most, your chances of seeing your children grow up are pretty much as good as anyone else's chances, now.
No-one here will promise that treatment is fun and easy. It's getting easier. Teams are working out more of who doesn't need chemo, who doesn't need radiotherapy, who doesn't need mastectomy. So, for a good number, it's kinder than it was. It's doable.
Here, many good people to ask and share the journey with. There's usually someone who knows what's what. And people at all stages of this.
There's that strange meme online that says, "All that cancer patients want is a cure for cancer". Well, for sure, we do hope someone finds cures for the various sorts. But we want the same stuff as everyone else. We just have some cancer treatment, at some point. We still go to the pub. We still go on holiday. We still go to work. We still have a right old laugh. And we're still hoping to be here in another 20,30,40 years.
So, definitely no guarantees. Lots of reasonable news, though.
Top tip? Stay Off Google. No, really. The stuff on there is 99% rubbish from the ancient times before modern treatments. You'll frighten yourself into hyperventilating for no reason.
Another top tip? Watch out for 'woo'. Woo being 'if you have a coffee enema, it's so much more effective than chemotherapy', etc. Listen to your team. Respect what they say. By all means ask if other things can also help, but do listen to the main specialists.
Things that aren't 'woo'? Pretty good research happening around sensible amounts of cheery exercise, e.g. brisk walk every day. A glass or two of red wine now and again. Vitamin D. Curcumin and black pepper supplement. Lactoferrin supplement. Avoiding bright white/blue light at night as much as possible. Having a cheery social network. The oncology journals are reporting the findings on these. Talk to your teams about what they think might help.
And hoping that everyone here finds the right things to go on to live for many more years x