Now that I’m in the middle of all this, I’ve been wondering about remission and recurrence.   You always hear about the 5 year thing.  They base the percentage on the cancer not recurring for 5 years and what stage of cancer you have. If you make it to the 5 year mark, your survival rate increases. Far as I can tell, I’m a stage 2-I’ll have to find out for sure-that means my 5 year survival rate is 86%.  But.  Apparently the cancer is gone from my system or at least it’s not detectable.  Does that increase my odds?  It was only found in the sentinel node and hadn’t spread to others.  Does that increase my odds too? Mom had her breast cancer 10 years apart, once in each breast so was she considered cured after 5? My step-dad was considered clean too, yet he died of the cancer that he was clear of, only in a different part of his body.
I guess because there is no cure for cancer, we are never really cured of it. We are only in remission. For the rest of our lives. And it can come back, in other areas of the body if it’s visited you once. I guess the aftercare is just as important as the diagnosis and treatment.