I like to think of a stage 0 cancer as a dodged bullet. My husband is a stage 0 cancer person. He had a malignant polyp removed from his colon a few years back.
Yesterday, he had a colonoscopy (which went just fine, thanks for asking) and the nurse in charge of his prep, walked up to him and said 'you had colon cancer?' I almost replied no for him but kept my mouth zipped as he was the patient.. He said yes as he had his evil polyp.
I was kind of jolted by the question about him having cancer. It was a bit of a surprise. But yes I do agree it was cancer. I think any kind of cancer sucks. But stage 0 cancer treatment is usually just a small surgery of some sort to remove the diseased area.
There is some discussion on DCIS if it is over treated - does it really require surgery? Is it over treated? According to the latest figures from the ACS, they expect 60,000 out of 240,000 cases of breast cancer diagnosed in 2015 will be stage 0 or DCIS. That's 25% of all cases. So if screening keeps us from finding cancers before they have progressed, more power to them.
My thought is if its a cancer, take it out to preventing from it eventually causing the death of the patient.And maybe I am just hyper focused on all my ailments and don't think about his as much.
2 comments:
Dear Caroline, I'm sorry you went through this. Hope you and your husband are well. Thank you for your blog. I appreciate how inspirational and insightful it is.
Recently my closest sister was diagnosed with this type of cancer and will undergo a mastectomy soon. Unfortunately she lives four states away from parents & siblings, including me. Our parents plan to be with her during and after days to help. I really want to be present as well. Currently I have a 5 month baby and a 2 yr old that cannot be left with anyone else to care for. My thoughts are to travel to be there for maybe 1 week and bringing another sister (has a 1 yr old), keeping in mind how much rest and quiet time she will need we do plan to stay at a hotel. Are we being inconsiderate? Should this wait a couple of weeks? We want to show love and support. Your input would be greatly appreciated.
Noemi - I would ask your sister what she wants. Maybe you and your other sister could take turns staying with the children at the hotel and staying with your sister after surgery. But I would also caution you not to all show up at once so that she thinks she has to entertain you all. Maybe spread out your visit. If your parents are with her for a while, maybe you and your other sister could show up a bit later.
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