"So, when do YOU finish treatment?" How to answer.

Be truthful if your incurable,  mine will be ongoing treament, if and when needed

Hi Ellie,   I find that approach works if you're talking to a person one on one, but when I've come out with  "my treatment won't end, i'm incurable" in a room full of people,  everybody goes quiet - like in Gavin & Stacy when people mention "the fishing trip"

 Well i would still tell the truth, not everyone in the chemo unit is curable,

True, Ellie x

Maybe some of the others were dreading her asking them.

I don’t have to go for treatment in a hospital this time round but if I did I think I would be honest and say ‘until it stops working, then they may be able to try something else (or not!)’. It might stop the conversation dead but otherwise people remain ignorant. I was talking in the BCN group today about how there is no information given on secondary breast cancer when you’re going through treatment for primary even though 30% of women will go onto develop it after primary. There is a lot of ignorance out there. You could always move onto another subject if it’s awkward. 
Jac x

I'm blunt so I might say "there's no scheduled end date" or "it's unknown until the review in Jan 2023".  Or just "mine is treatable but not curable" or even just "I don't know" or "no idea!".   It's difficult to say as you paint a very positive environment and nice happy chit chat (lovely) and of course that influences the reply, even for direct people like me!  On reflection "no idea" probably, as the rest is too much personal information. 

It's a bit like that question "when do you ring the bell?" or "what do think about the bell".  Mine doesn't have one, as an aside!

I like the 'no idea' then change the subject approach.

True. As you say, there's a lot of ignorance out there  x

I just didn't want to put a dampener on their happy mood by saying the wrong thing.

I like the treatable but not curable response. It also depends how you say it. You can also add - I'm okay with that - if that's how you feel.

Hi Harebellle ,, I'm one for being straight and honest. I don't think I've ever been asked that question outright but when I'm discussing it with someone I say that I have treatment every week in life and I have been taking it since March 2015. If I weren't, I wouldn't be here talking to you now. 

That's my spiel