Two lines that seem to get to me the most which leads me to this 'philosophical' post. Some people have been saying something like, "this cancer seems to be curable" or "you'll make a full recovery." Am I overthinking things? Maybe. But those lines seem to get to me the most.
Let's start with the dictionary...
Cure: "something (such as a drug or medical treatment) that stops a disease and makes someone healthy again", "something that ends a problem or improves a bad situation," and "the act of making someone healthy again after an illness." (Source: http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/cure).
Naomi's note: healthy again. If I have a bad cold, I would take Nyquil and my cold goes away. Therefore I am cured. I still get to keep my nasal cavity.
Recovery: "the act or process of becoming healthy after an illness or injury : the act or process of recovering" and "the act or process of returning to a normal state after a period of difficulty" (Source: http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/recovery)
Naomi's note: I believe that normal state is having all body parts intact.
The way I see it... having cancer does not mean one will be fully cured or recovered. Let's go with simpler terms.
If the brake pads in my car goes out, I need new brake pads. Good as a whole again. Unfortunately, medicine has not gotten to the point that humans can be treated as cars when it comes to cancer treatments. I cannot get a new reproductive system and be 'whole again' or restored to a 'normal state'. What cancer treatments basically do is, "Go away, cancer! We hope you don't come back again." Those treatments come with a significant expense of the person's whole well-being. A breast cancer survivor was telling me yesterday about how the radiation treatments may have impacted her implants. An endometrial cancer survivor was telling me about how she has to use a vagina dilator for the rest of her life because her cancer was stage 4 and she had surgery and painful radiation/ brachytherapy treatments that impacted her vagina's structure.
Google is a tricky thing. When I told some people the news, many of them said they Googled endometrial cancer and were feeling relieved that it is curable. Ugh. Yes endometrial cancer is easily removed through surgery. Is it a cure? No, I do not think so. It may make the cancer go away. I have met women online who have had to suffer with the aftermaths of having the full hysterectomy with ovaries removed. Are they cured? No. The cancer just went away. The treatment gave them something else to deal with- the surgical menopause and life without ovaries. Another friend told me last week she met a woman who survived uterine cancer years ago and was fearing that the cancer was coming back.
I do not see cancer treatments as the cure. I do not see cancer treatments as a way to make a person fully recover. I see cancer treatments as a way to make the cancer stop haunting the person's body for a certain period of time, whether it is for life or a few years. Once the treatments are over, the cancer survivors adapt to their new lives. We have to adapt to the aftermath of the cancer treatments. I will be monitored for the rest of my life for cancer to make sure it does not come back. If it does, more treatments will be needed. It's like cancer has become a new part of my identity. It is true for many cancer survivors.
Therefore, pretty please stop saying that I will be cured or fully recovered because I won't. Instead, I will adapt and survive.
Naomi, you are a PRECIOUS example of "ADAPTING and SURVIVING"
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