Cancer.

[Bagpuss]

I have worked in this area several times. Once you have had cancer the chances of it coming back are still fairly high, depends on the cancer. As some posters have said detection rates are better than they have ever been. Treatments are still fairly brutal but still better than 10 years ago.

The "All clear" is generally in remission, which is not the same as back to normal risk. With many cancers the best hope is to delay disease progression. Having said that we need to get better at prevention in this country and catching the disease at the early stages.

I'm sorry you lost your friend

[Menelaus]

Well like I was just telling Cailin...

One of my best friends had Ovarian cancer 18 months ago and had an op to remove her overies and everything else "down there".

She got the all clear after 6 months.

3 months ago she started getting pains "down there", and low and behold it had came back.

She died on Friday.

34 year old. 2 kids.


But this seems to be the norm now - I know 2 other women at the minute for who'm it has come back within 2 years (one is terminal now).
And then obviously our belovved Jade (that was a joke -but same scenario).

Do they give these "all clear" 's to make the ******* stats look better or something?

SA - I'm desperately sorry, and please accept my condolences.

34 y.o. is appallingly young to die, especially if you consider that she had two children.

From a pathological perspective (and please note, I am not a doctor nor have I been in any way involved in medicine for nearly 20 years) the cancer should be able to be staged when the tissues have been dissected post-op.

The post-op staging would also identify (as would markers in the blood) both the metastatic nature of the cancer plus, if appropriate, where it had spread to.

Not that this gives you much hope, I'm aware. Where in her body did the cancer metastasise to?

[SallyAnne]

Where in her body did the cancer metastasise to?

metastasise??? Come on man, I might be grieving, but it's still me! Do you mean spread?

I dont know actually - she wouldn't go into any details this time. Her bahaviour about the cancer when it came back was completely opposite of the first time round - she wouldn't talk about it. Wouldn't here it's name mentioned. She only ever said when she was going for treatment, and how sh*t she felt. She just wouldn't discuss the cancer itself, at all.

She just knew it had got her.

All I could get out of her was that it had came back to the ovarian region - i.e. the tissue where the ovaries used to be.

[Menelaus]

metastasise??? Come on man, I might be grieving, but it's still me! Do you mean spread?

I dont know actually - she wouldn't go into any details this time. Her bahaviour about the cancer when it came back was completely opposite of the first time round - she wouldn't talk about it. Wouldn't here it's name mentioned. She only ever said when she was going for treatment, and how sh*t she felt. She just wouldn't discuss the cancer itself, at all.

She just knew it had got her.

All I could get out of her was that it had came back to the ovarian region - i.e. the tissue where the ovaries used to be.

Suggesting that they either didn't get it all the first time or that it'd already spread. Most likely the bowel.

Again, I'm desperately sorry.

[TykeMerc]

That's very rough SA

[SallyAnne]

That's very rough SA

It's utter tulip.

I'd call god an utter ****, but that would be like calling santa one.

[DimPrawn]

It's utter tulip.

I'd call god an utter ****, but that would be like calling santa one.

Exactly. Did I get a PS3 last Christmas? Did I ****....

[SallyAnne]

Exactly. Did I get a PS3 last Christmas? Did I ****....

Beware - you're slowly esculating yourself to the top of my list!

Edit: That's my good list by the way!

[Menelaus]

Beware - you're slowly esculating yourself to the top of my list!

Edit: That's my good list by the way!

You are Kevin Bloody Wilson AICMFP.

[Lockhouse]

My wife and I are well into middle-age and we have had a lot of friends who currently have or have had cancer. It seems to be more common now than it was 30 years ago, especially breast cancer. That might be due to an increased level of awareness or screening or both. Judging from the experience we've had from people that we know who are in remission or those who have died is;

1) Catching it early is key - once it spreads it's usually game over
2) It really is the luck of the draw as to whether the cancer will re-appear but there are ways of increasing the odds in your favour
3) It's not necessarily a death sentence
4) The treatment is gruesome but won't kill you
5) If they don't know what it is, it's bad news

Sorry about your mate.