Hi there Treehouse....I'm nearly at seven years...original diagnosis was very difficult. The breast cancer had spread throughout both lungs and liver before I even found a lump. It was so deep, and possibly soft, so I would never have found it.

It hasn't been an easy journey, but I'm not dead yet!

I know of someone else who managed ten years. But I would be surprised if there were statistics for the longer term survivors. Plus, the prognoses quoted to us are always old by their very nature - they have to be as old as the studies that produced them don't they? Have you ever read "The Median Isn't the Message" by Stephen J Gould? I have no idea of the facts, but his message was my inspiration from the start of my journey.

So, I fully intend to be part of a band of people who are living with it rather than dying of it.

I would be glad to chat about my own experiences if you like but I don't give advice as I am not qualified.

Oh...and when people used to say, "Ooo but some people live for six years!" and they'd smile and hold my hand with those sad eyes, it was SO frustrating! Made me so bad tempered!! It was like being at a party where everyone else was being offered a slice of cake and all I was allowed was a crumb. A crumb is good yes but I want the whole slice! So, onwards and upwards and I'm aiming for the full slice! I was 44 when they found it, I'm now 51 with two young grandchildren and another on the way. So, who knows what the future holds? I certainly don't!

Hope that helps x

Hi Mare

Thankyou for replying, it really is appreciated.( although sorry at the same time that you are in this situation)

I congratulate you on your attitude and hope your times ahead are as smooth as possible.

I’ve not had any direct contact with anyone in the same situation so its beena bit difficult to decipher it all.

I havent heard of the reading you mentioned but you can be sure i will be looking it up imminently!!

You make a good point about the prognosis ,i think my concern is I am not totally sure the team are being straight up with me - they seem to be saying its like a chronic illness, whereas a lot of what ive read doesnt say this at all, and i do wonder if they are just sparing my feelings, which i feel  may be giving me false hope.x

I'm afraid I tackled it head on. It wasn't easy. I would be happy to chat privately about my experiences. And yes, I felt that way too. There were so many conflicting things that were said I didn't know what to believe.

Honestly, my life has changed dramatically in the last 7 years, and for the better. There is so much more to life than the diagnosis isn't there?

I have invented a few tricks to use whenever I think I'm being fobbed off, but usually I have to say that the medics do their best. And, although I am a terribly demanding and difficult patient, in the main my doctors and nurses have worked their socks off doing their best for me.

I would love to thank them all because they're so terribly overworked!

Please keep rested and be careful and gentle with yourself. There is so much rubbish on the internet and the statistics I found were never very helpful. And nothing on Google really applied to me- I used to make myself tired trawling through info for a shred of hope when in fact I had hope with me all along. In the end I used to ask my friends to do the research to save me the heartache.

Speak to you soon,

Mare x

I'm afraid I tackled it head on. It wasn't easy. I would be happy to chat privately about my experiences. And yes, I felt that way too. There were so many conflicting things that were said I didn't know what to believe.

Honestly, my life has changed dramatically in the last 7 years, and for the better. There is so much more to life than the diagnosis isn't there?

I have invented a few tricks to use whenever I think I'm being fobbed off, but usually I have to say that the medics do their best. And, although I am a terribly demanding and difficult patient, in the main my doctors and nurses have worked their socks off doing their best for me.

I would love to thank them all because they're so terribly overworked!

Please keep rested and be careful and gentle with yourself. There is so much rubbish on the internet and the statistics I found were never very helpful. And nothing on Google really applied to me- I used to make myself tired trawling through info for a shred of hope when in fact I had hope with me all along. In the end I used to ask my friends to do the research to save me the heartache.

Speak to you soon,

Mare x

Thanks again Mare

I too, think i am going to quit the google thing now-its doing no good!

Thankyou so much for your wisdom

.....and may you, may we all, get the full slice xxxxxxx