Anyone?

Hello jack2015,

We have some interesting information on our website on cancer staging which you can read here.  I hope it will answer a lot of your questions.

Our nurses are also available on this free number 0808 800 4040, Monday to Friday from 9am to 5pm if you want to ask them anything on this.

Best wishes,

Lucie, Cancer Chat Moderator

thanks, it really does seem to be the be-all-and-end-all piece of information with this horrible disease

Hello Jack,

Good question and as always the answer is "it depends". Whether it has spread is a major factor but there are others.

It also depends on several things including how aggressive the cancer is (i.e. how fast it is growing), an individual's fitness/wellbeing (which affects how they cope with treatment) and how an individual's body and cancer react to the treatment received.

How aggressive the cancer is can often (but not always) be judged by the grading of the cancer - how different the cancer cells look compared with normal cells. The bigger the difference the faster it is likely to grow (again there are exceptions). 

Your conclusions about the staging and years to go are a bit simplistic. Some of us are diagnosed at Stage 4 but respond unusually well to our treatment and can live normal lives for far longer than average. These are the exceptions I know, but it can and does often happen. 

I hope this helps.
Dave

Hello Jack,

I am one of the information nurses and have been asked by Lucie to have a look at your post.

I agree with Dave that this isn't so straightfoward.

You are correct in saying that the stage of a cancer is an important factor in deciding on treatment and also in estimating what someone’s outlook is. But other factors are also important, for example the type and features of the cancer, if someone is well enough for treatment and what the range of options are for the particular type of cancer that someone has.  It isn’t possible to generalise for all cancer types as each is different.  A stage 3 cancer isn’t the same as one that is stage 4. So you can’t clump them together. Stage 4 cancers are often hard to cure, but it still depends on the type of cancer and the circumstances.

I hope this helps,

Best wishes,

Julia

thanks guys.

dave - have you had a diagnosis previously may i ask? what stage?

My cancer was Stage 3.   7 years ago next month I was diagnosed and surgery and chemotherapy followed.  So no stage 3 is not a 2 year survival time as I am coming up to 7 years in remission now.  For my type of cancer I think the grading of the cancer resulted in whatever treatment was needed and if necessary after surgery. 

Jack,

If you click on someone's username you are taken to their "about me" page. I don't mind you asking at all, I was diagnosed in October 2013 with Stage 4 Cancer of the Oesophagus. This was my first diagnosis of cancer, a very late diagnosis mainly because I hadn't shown the usual symptoms due to the damned thing growing outwards from the wall of my oesophagus so it didn't stop me from swallowing. Inoperable as it had grown around my aorta.

I was lucky enough to be able to physically cope with the chemo and I had an unusually positive reaction to the chemo. The cancer is still there but the Primary and the Mets shrank by about 50% and so far (three years and three months on) have remained dormant. 

Best wishes

Dave

survivor65 - my apologies, it was meant as a very rough analysis and in no way literal

davek- that's great. did the doctors initially term it as a cancer they would "manage and control" rather than "cure" ?