Question about NED

Denise1966
Denise1966 Member Posts: 90
edited March 2014 in Colorectal Cancer #1
Hi everyone,

I hope everyone's enjoying their summer...here in Michigan, we haven't had too much of one so far, but It has to get better...right??? :)

I have a question about NED...When do you consider yourself NED? After your first radiation/chemo treatment? After surgery? or after chemo is finished after surgery?
I know the highest recurrence rate is within the 2 years after, but when does that start?
I'm just trying to figure this out.

Hugs,
Denise

Comments

  • shmurciakova
    shmurciakova Member Posts: 906 Member
    Wonderful NED...
    As far as I have been keeping track it is after your last treatment ends, whether that be surgery or chemo. In my case, after my lung resection in October of 2004....tick, tick, tick! Countdown to 5! On the other hand, if I started counting since my lung nodules first reared their ugly little heads, before surgery, then it already has been over 5 years. Hey, I think I like that one better!
    Cheers,
    Susan H.
  • dianetavegia
    dianetavegia Member Posts: 1,942 Member

    Wonderful NED...
    As far as I have been keeping track it is after your last treatment ends, whether that be surgery or chemo. In my case, after my lung resection in October of 2004....tick, tick, tick! Countdown to 5! On the other hand, if I started counting since my lung nodules first reared their ugly little heads, before surgery, then it already has been over 5 years. Hey, I think I like that one better!
    Cheers,
    Susan H.

    My onc replied
    Since I had no mets, he considered me NED after my surgery.
  • mom_2_3
    mom_2_3 Member Posts: 953 Member
    My oncologist
    My oncologist said that the medium time to recurrence is 14 months (half of the people that recur will recur by 14 month time frame) and that most who recur will do so in the first 2 years. So we are counting towards the 14 month timeframe first and then 2 years and then so on. I asked her specifically when the NED time started and she said at surgery. I know that different oncologists have different opinions but that's hers.
  • Denise1966
    Denise1966 Member Posts: 90
    mom_2_3 said:

    My oncologist
    My oncologist said that the medium time to recurrence is 14 months (half of the people that recur will recur by 14 month time frame) and that most who recur will do so in the first 2 years. So we are counting towards the 14 month timeframe first and then 2 years and then so on. I asked her specifically when the NED time started and she said at surgery. I know that different oncologists have different opinions but that's hers.

    Like this one
    I kind of like this answer, my surgery was last June so that puts me at 13 months out..yay!! But, I finished chemo this Feb. that would put me at 5 months :(
    I'll take being NED anytime though!!!!
  • John23
    John23 Member Posts: 2,122 Member
    Generally, it takes about
    Generally, it takes about two years for a cancer cell to grow
    to a size that can be determined to be a cancer cell.

    And also... generally speaking... if you show signs of having cancer
    (as in tumor), cancer cells are more likely than not, have spread
    throughout your body already.

    Chemotherapy (chemical therapy) may or may not kill the cells,
    since the pesticides used, only go after any cell that's splitting
    faster than other cells (that's why you lose hair first).

    The practice had always used a "five-year after initial diagnosis"
    starting point, for determining the long-term prognosis.

    I.E. If you're still alive five years the initial diagnosis, you can be
    considered "cured" by the "system" (add 1,000 points for
    Western Medicine and the pharmaceutical industry).

    Cancer does not "come back with a vengence". If it rears it's
    ugly head, it's because it never left; it had been alive and growing
    undetected.

    For those so inclined and daring, Google "TCM Cancer".

    There are better ways.