Re: Question...when do we start counting survivorship?

Treecy1106
Treecy1106 Member Posts: 144 Member
in Breast Cancer #1
Is it the day we have the surgery...or the day chemo ends???? I am counting it from the day I had my mastectomy....am I wrong???

Comments

  • Findingout
    Findingout Member Posts: 132
    #2
    I think you're right. That's
    I think you're right. That's how I'm counting it, from the day it was surgically removed.
  • disneyfan2008
    disneyfan2008 Member Posts: 6,583 Member
    #3
    I think we all have our own
    I think we all have our own date or procedure. I did the big happy dance my last day of radiation (june 298,08) only date I remember...with all the dates.(diagnosis, surgery etc)

    Denise
  • cinnamonsmile
    cinnamonsmile Member Posts: 1,187 Member
    #4
    For being a "sort of"
    For being a "sort of" survivor, I count back to when I had a green discharge from my breast and the surgeon did nothing about it, and was even quite rude.
    But as I look back now, beyond that point to when I found the lump, I see myself as a survivor then,too.
    I think if you are still living, even if you have cancer, you are a survivor until you pass away, whether it be cancer or something else.
    After I got my diagnoses and started coming to different discussion boards/chatrooms for cancer, I called myself a survivor even though I hadn't had any surgery, yet. As long as I was alive, I was and am a survivor.
    I count that I am NED since the moment my BMX ended and the cancer was removed.
    Everyone has their own version of being a survivor. I have several times in my life. I do prefer that I am in remission or NED instead of a survivor. I had DCIS and in my mind, even though it is cancer, it was something nasty removed.
    What I DO consider myself a survivor of is the bilateral mastectomy and node dissection I had which caused Post Mastectomy Pain Syndrome (severe pain from nerve damage in the sentinel node removal) and LE.

    However YOU think of it, you can't be wrong. You are a survivor when you say you are.
  • SIROD
    SIROD Member Posts: 2,194 Member
    #5
    A Thriver
    I sort of like the word thriver over survivor. The way the word survivor is meant on breast cancer discussion boards, I won't survive this disease. However, my recent ct scan shows stable and I do believe for this moment in time I am a thriver.

    Wishing you well in your journey and may you always be a thriver.

    Best,

    Doris
  • Megan M
    Megan M Member Posts: 3,000
    #6
    SIROD said:

    A Thriver
    I sort of like the word thriver over survivor. The way the word survivor is meant on breast cancer discussion boards, I won't survive this disease. However, my recent ct scan shows stable and I do believe for this moment in time I am a thriver.

    Wishing you well in your journey and may you always be a thriver.

    Best,

    Doris

    We're all survivors!
    I call myself a survivor, but, I don't actually celebrate any date. The only one that that really sticks out is the day I was told I had bc.

    We are all survivors!
  • VickiSam
    VickiSam Member Posts: 9,079 Member
    #7
    Megan M said:

    We're all survivors!
    I call myself a survivor, but, I don't actually celebrate any date. The only one that that really sticks out is the day I was told I had bc.

    We are all survivors!

    ... I consider that day that I was informed by
    my breast cancer Specialist, and Oncologist after my bilateral mastectomy that
    I had no evidence of disease -- January 17th, 2010.

    I endured several surgeries, and Herceptin for a year thereafter.

    My Survivor/Thriving day is 1-17-2010 - my new re-birth day.


    Vicki Sam
  • abrub
    abrub Member Posts: 2,174 Member
    #8
    Megan M said:

    We're all survivors!
    I call myself a survivor, but, I don't actually celebrate any date. The only one that that really sticks out is the day I was told I had bc.

    We are all survivors!

    I, too, consider it my day of diagnosis
    Surgery for a "routine" hysterectomy found an unexpected tumor on my ovary - a met from an unknown appendix cancer. April 6, 2007 will stick in my mind as the first day of the rest of my life.
  • CypressCynthia
    CypressCynthia Member Posts: 4,014 Member
    #9
    I would count it from either
    I would count it from either day of mastectomy, lumpectomy or initiation of treatment. My official date is February 18, 1987-the day before our daughter's 5th birthday.

    OT: I can still remember it vividly because our daughter, Katherine, had a birthday party planned on that Saturday, but I was still in the hospital then, so my little sister, Wendy, stepped in for me and played Mom for the party.

    I also remember Katherine melting down one evening because she missed me and it was sooo hard. I tried to distract her by changing the subject and asking if her very pregnant guinea pig had had her babies. She dropped the phone to go look and then just squealed. Do you know that that dern guinea pig had 4 babies sitting there. Then she forgot all about me and we both had lighter hearts. :-)
  • JWren
    JWren Member Posts: 12
    #10
    Survivor
    I'm new to the group, but I have always thought that you become a survivor the moment you live thru the doctor telling you that you have cancer.
  • nanniebgood
    nanniebgood Member Posts: 42
    #11
    I feel its all different, my
    I feel its all different, my husband thinks of the day we knew I had breast cancer as the first of healing, my day was sept 21 2012, im still not healed from surgery but I do consider the day it was all removed as my start date, but like someone else posted everyday we are still here is a "thriver" day.
  • linpsu
    linpsu Member Posts: 747
    #12
    cinnamonsmile said:

    For being a "sort of"
    For being a "sort of" survivor, I count back to when I had a green discharge from my breast and the surgeon did nothing about it, and was even quite rude.
    But as I look back now, beyond that point to when I found the lump, I see myself as a survivor then,too.
    I think if you are still living, even if you have cancer, you are a survivor until you pass away, whether it be cancer or something else.
    After I got my diagnoses and started coming to different discussion boards/chatrooms for cancer, I called myself a survivor even though I hadn't had any surgery, yet. As long as I was alive, I was and am a survivor.
    I count that I am NED since the moment my BMX ended and the cancer was removed.
    Everyone has their own version of being a survivor. I have several times in my life. I do prefer that I am in remission or NED instead of a survivor. I had DCIS and in my mind, even though it is cancer, it was something nasty removed.
    What I DO consider myself a survivor of is the bilateral mastectomy and node dissection I had which caused Post Mastectomy Pain Syndrome (severe pain from nerve damage in the sentinel node removal) and LE.

    However YOU think of it, you can't be wrong. You are a survivor when you say you are.

    cinnamon
    Please tell me about your post mast. pain syndrome. I have severe pain going down my arm on my mastectomy side and no dr. will admit that it came from surgery or node removal. No dr. can find anything wrong based on tests, but the pain is excruciating.
    Linda
  • laughs_a_lot
    laughs_a_lot Member Posts: 1,368 Member
    #13
    survivor
    The first day I came here I did not claim the term survivor but I knew it would only be a matter of days before I considered myself a survivor. I came here a day or two after my diagnosis. I figured I became a survivor the day I began to seek information on what my journey could look like (which was like my second day here).

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