Tool
 

Anyone have thoughts about this tool online called cancermath.net? Not especially hopeful for us...

Re: Tool
 

These kinds of tools aren't really helpful for us - based on statistics that may not give weight to the newer therapies and higher survival probabilities since Herceptin for HER2+. I had two tumors and they were different in histology so I tried using the path info on each tumor. Then I played around with some made up numbers and it didn't really change much. I try to be realistic about my future (it's way easier to be realistic at 63 than it was at, say, 40) - but also don't put much faith in these calculators. I think most of the folks on this forum would feel the same.

Re: Tool
 

Mimi - I meant to add something about the 'ground glass opacity' you have in your x-rays. Has anyone mentioned something called radiation pneumonitis to you? I had bacterial pneumonia about a year ago but didn't get much better after the antibiotics cleared up the bacterial infection. Went back into the hospital and had more tests and was finally diagnosed with the pneumonits. It's good to find about it as soon as possible because if it goes as far as radiation fibrosis, the outcome is much worse. Am taking a very low dose of prednisone every other day now which keeps things under control. I did have to see a pulmonologist to get it diagnosed and treated. Don't let this go if you have other symptoms like shortness of breath, fatigue or other pneumonia-like problems.

Re: Tool
 

Don't worry about the statistics. They either give people false security or reinforce their panic mode.

Breast cancer only occurs to one in eight women of the general population. Yet all of us on this Board have got it!

Once a statistics is published, it's 'old'. A scientific paper takes a long time to get published (yes, even in this electronic age) because of the reviewing process.

I was first diagnosed in 2003 and ound the recurrence in 2007 (it's always there, but the mammogram was misread as 'scar tissue' for four years straight). Both times my oncologist had reassured me that I was 'cured'. Should I believe him again? Should I worry about the statistics?

For an optimistic person (such as myself :), it doesn't matter how bad the statistics look, he/she will always believe he/she will beat the odds. For a pessimistic person, it doesn't matter how good the statistics look, he/she will always think about the worst scenario.

Use the tool to your own advantage...

Re: Tool
 

Joni,
Thank you for the info on the lung issue. I have not heard of radiation pneumonitis. I am due for another PET scan in October at Moffitt Cancer Center. I will talk to my thoraic oncologist about it.
Thanks.
I try not to think about stats, but sometimes I just let myself get down...