Odds scary, but attitude can help in cancer fight
Published: July 14, 2006
First you get the cancer.
Then you do the math.
It’s a grim bit of calculus, but every survivor has to come up with his or her own solution.
What is my life expectancy? What are the chances of a recurrence? What are the probabilities of remission? The likelihood that I’ll have to go through all this again?
These are questions you don’t really want to ask. Some people don’t. But I’ve always been kind of a numbers guy, so it’s hard for me not to ask.
I have to admit, I didn’t like what I heard. But that’s probably pretty common, too.
It turns out I’ve officially got what amounts to a coin-flip chance of the darned stuff coming back in the next five years. All this chemotherapy only moves the statistical needle about 5 to 10 percentage points, according to the numbers.
The probabilities that doctors give you in a prognosis are derived from a series of studies about other patients with the same type and stage of cancer.
The thing to remember — you can call it a rationalization if you want — is that not one of those other patients is you.
Or me.
Are they non-smokers? Do they exercise as much as I do? Do they watch their diet and weight? Do they sing as much? Love their kids as much? Want to live as much? Ask questions as much? Grasp at straws as much?
No, they don’t, damn it. They’re different people.
As it says on the Lance Armstrong Foundation Web site: “Everyone responds to treatment differently, and it’s impossible to determine exactly how the treatment you received for cancer will affect you during your survivorship.”
The National Cancer Institute Web site says: “Survival rates are based on large groups of people. They cannot be used to predict what will happen to a particular patient. No two patients are exactly alike, and treatment and responses to treatment vary greatly.”
That’s the kind of thing I want to hear. Every individual is unique and our futures are not written in stone. And yet, the number sits there, gaining significance with each passing thought. A 50-50 chance, even odds. It just doesn’t sound all that good to someone who’s never been much of gambler. I want to do something to improve my chances, but what?
My oncologist says all we can do is be vigilant. Get the CAT scans regularly, watch and wait. There are clinical trials that are looking at prevention, he says, but there is no conclusion as to whether they do any good.
Note to self: Find ways to cheat these odds. You’re a reporter, so start reporting on the options.
Everyone seems to think it really helps to have a good attitude about this. So, OK, I’m pretty good at good attitude.
Besides, it would be a criminal waste of perfectly good life to spend it with a bad attitude. It makes no sense and does no one any good to spend the time worrying about what’s to come.
I don’t want to seem like some fool whistling past the graveyard. I want to know the facts. But when the real facts of my prognosis are essentially unknowable, I’m going to polish that future up and make it shine!
So here’s my solution to this cancer math: I’m not a smoker, I exercise like crazy and live a healthy lifestyle. My chances are much better than 50-50, and I’m gonna beat this.
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