Definitive answer? When does the clock start ticking

[schoolteacher]

Coolbreeze,

I will be 53 in July. Cancer has really changed my perspective about life. I cherish every day, even when things are really rotten.

I was told that recurrence can typically occur around 22 to 26 months from the date of surgery.

I had my masectomy on April 16, 2008, and a suspicious nodule showed up on scans during February 2010. I had it biopsied, and it was found not to be anything, and I truly wonder if they missed the spot. July 2010, I was scanned again, and it was felt that I did have cancer in my lung. I came off Herceptin for a five week wash out period, and places grew while I was off the Herceptin. When I went on the EMELIE trial taking Xeloda and Tykerb, the spot shrank and one spot disappeared.

If I have correctly counted, the first possible nodule appeared right at 22 months, then it was confirmed right at 27 months.

Everyone is different, but this is what occurred with me.

Amelia