Hi Yvonne,

Regardless of the cancer type, that particular clock starts ticking on the day of diagnosis. I’m confused by your numbers 2, 3 and 4. Staging usually goes from 0 to 4 and grading from 1 to 3.

That said, life expectancies shared with patients are always based on averages and often ignore key factors such as patient age, levels of fitness (a factor affecting whether your body can cope with side effects of chemo and/or radiotherapy), co-morbidities (a lot of folk with cancer tend to be old, obese, diabetic, have heart problems, lung problems, strokes etc. 

None of us are average and outliers (like me) are often excluded from the stats to avoid giving false hope. As an example of how accurate these prognoses can be, I was told 3 months to 2 years in 2013. I’ve also known people who were given 18 months but didn’t survive 18 weeks. It often feels like a cruel lottery. In my view, agreeing to treatment is like buying a lottery ticket.

Good luck!
Dave

I

Hi Yvonne,

Regardless of the cancer type, that particular clock starts ticking on the day of diagnosis. I’m confused by your numbers 2, 3 and 4. Staging usually goes from 0 to 4 and grading from 1 to 3.

That said, life expectancies shared with patients are always based on averages and often ignore key factors such as patient age, levels of fitness (a factor affecting whether your body can cope with side effects of chemo and/or radiotherapy), co-morbidities (a lot of folk with cancer tend to be old, obese, diabetic, have heart problems, lung problems, strokes etc. 

None of us are average and outliers (like me) are often excluded from the stats to avoid giving false hope. As an example of how accurate these prognoses can be, I was told 3 months to 2 years in 2013. I’ve also known people who were given 18 months but didn’t survive 18 weeks. It often feels like a cruel lottery. In my view, agreeing to treatment is like buying a lottery ticket.

Good luck!
Dave

I