A friend asked me last night what the return of rate was for 7 years. To be honest, I had no idea. I never thought about recurrence rates. I decided to investigate this. Endometrial cancer if detected early have 90 percent of survival. Recurrence rate for those who caught the cancer early on is 2-3 percent within the first five years. After that the rate goes down.
What is life like for someone who has been in remission for seven years?
Sometime cancer is like an afterthought for me.
Sometime I find myself feeling grateful for my insistence on finding someone who was wiling to look to see what was up with my painful and heavy menstruation.
I continue to struggle with survivor's guilt when I see accounts of others dying of cancer.
Whenever I feel pain in my pelvic region, I wonder if it's cancer rearing its ugly head.
I have moved forward. I recently returned to my gynecologic cancer support group at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center as they now hold all of their sessions on Zoom (thanks, COVID-19) to seek answers and support on some things I am dealing with now as I approach perimenopause. It was nice to come back after a few years and seeing familiar faces and making new connections.
A student of mine mentioned earlier this week that she knew nobody with
cancer. I told the class that once you have had cancer, you would know
many.
Another friend asked me yesterday if it was taking an emotional toll on me to support others in their cancer journeys because it seemed like it has been many times. Nope it does not. I remember when I first got diagnosed, I was desperate for information and could not find the answers I needed from my own deaf community. Now that I have information, I am happy to share. Within the deaf community, there is the shared value of reciprocity. It just comes naturally to me. But when those people who reach out to me end up dying, that is when it is so hard for me emotionally.
