Two years after being diagnosed, I'm a bit embarrassed to admit I did not have a full understanding of the word survivor. I found this link from MDA that made their definition clear. Thoughts?
http://www.mdanderson.org/patient-a...on/cancer-topics/survivorship/index.html
Don, my thoughts agree with yours that you should be embarrassed. It is very clear to me.
I don't know if I buy into different stages, much like grief, as there are no clearly defined stages that we progress to. They may all happen, just not in any specific cancer and we don't get to stop one stage and go to another.
So do both of you agree that survivorship starts at the very beginning?
I believe in the different areas of surviving and that they can happen over and over again if that is what your cancer does...
I survived the diagnosis
I survived the surgery
I survived the radiation
I'm surviving the healing and uncertainty
I AM A SURVIVOR
Why embarrassed?!
I'm in the medical field and know that I don't know the answer and I'm definitely not embarrassed to know I'm not the only one with the question.
Thank you!
Cathy 💜
I believe that the term 'cancer survivor' came into common usage as more positive alternative to 'cancer victim' about 20-30 years ago. Words have a lot of power, and survivor beats the heck out of victim as a descriptor. I believe our friend Cathy has the right approach.
Maria
How I interpret the term now is the moment you get cancer, certainly before you know it and diagnosed, you are surviving the disease. From that moment on the battle begins, your body tries to fight it off but is losing the battle. As long as you are alive you are surviving the experience.
On the other end of the time spectrum, you can forever wear the badge that says survivor.
This has been in effect for a few years that a cancer survivor is from the date of cancer diagnosis as opposed to other cancer survivor dates. I wonder if this also had an effect to show increases in survival rates, even if for several months. Anyway, I go by my first diagnosis date, and do not say survivor. I'm a cancer fighter from day one, and always will be. I didn't survive anything, I fought for everything.
I don't understand the significance or benefit of categorising the stages. Survivors are breathing, non-survivors are not. We may still have cancer, detected or not. It may come back, we may get it somewhere else in the future. But I'll share one thing I've learned from my experience.
I do not wait for the next checkup, the next PET. I do not wait for a doctor to tell me its ok to live for another 3 months until I see him again. I don't know if I'll get sick again, but I will never look back from a hospital bed at days like these when I'm healthy and wish I had done something more. I make a conscious effort not to waste days and I'm grateful for being here. That attitude does wonders for shaking off Mondayitis, because there were so many Mondays I would have given anything to be well enough to see my friends at work.
It's an interesting topic donfoo, how they've defined the stages. I feel like I am in a limbo stage now having just completed treatment but having no idea if it worked or not and won't know for several weeks. Does that make me a limbo survivor, doing the dance with a great back bend to get under the pole? I'm not that flexible but I will try anyway and likely fall down and get up again with your help, dust myself off and try again. Maybe I better practice some yoga this time? I'm joking around but I'm with all of the above it that I am both a survivor and a fighter.
No way should anyone be embarrassed about not understanding newly made up stages of survivorship. I've in a different stage with each of these cancers so it's confusing for me. I'm hoping for more research and more cures so that more of us can live good lives while grateful for everything that's been done that has helped us all.
yeah. my main takeaway is you become a survivor the moment cancer starts its attack in your body. Whether you are surviving or survived, you are forever a survivor. keep it simple. :-)