How Long Are You On the 'Hook' For A Recurrence?

After cancer, we always wonder ‘will it come back?’ Actually, we don’t just wonder, we obsess over this. For a long time, we think every little owie is probably cancer. We can only get our life back on the rails when we learn to cope with this. But still then every so often we still freak ourselves out about something. And life goes on.

But post cancer, every so often our doctors tell us something we don’t like and we go back on that cancer roller coaster. Time goes on. Years start to roll by…. We assume we are good because its been a decade or two….

Now I must ask the question ‘how long are you on the ‘hook’ for a cancer recurrence’?

I know that research and the past has shown that thyroid cancer has been known to recur 30 or 40 years later…. How fun. Breast cancer I always kind of thought 15 years or so you are good.

The news told us this week that Olivia Newton John has had a breast cancer recurrence. She thought she had back pain but instead it was cancer metastases. I made a point to look up how long ago was her original diagnosis. That was in 1992. You can do the math. 25 years ago.

Damn…. So my ten years out doesn’t mean that much. Damn, damn, damn…..

Caroline’s Breast Cancer Blog