When do you learn you are cancer free

Hi Ella

I had six monthly then annual appointments for five years after my surgery in 2014, After which they didn’t want to see me again - unless I developed symptoms!  They never said I was cancer free.
But the truth is that the probability of recurrence decreases with time. You are more likely to be cancer free three years after surgery than you were after say one year.

The question to ask is what symptoms to look out for as most centres don’t do routine scans (though some do). At my follow up appointments they used to ask how I was, they’d comment that I looked well, felt my neck and abdomen and said “see you in six or 12 months”. Actually that’s not completely accurate as I had many useful discussions with the dietitians at those follow up appointments, about what to eat etc.

It sounds as if your husband has had a rough time, but I hope he improves with time and gets the feeding tube removed and recovers his fitness. I know someone who had a feeding tube for 12 months but is doing well now. I wasn’t well enough to manage post surgery chemo. My recovery continued for two years; my surgery was almost eight years ago.

Perhaps it’s better to regard oneself as a survivor than to wonder if you are cancer free.

Hi Ella, I'm afraid no one can say for certain that he is cancer free. None of us are born with an expiry date tattooed on our bodies, for any illness. I looked at statistics for someone of my age on cancer research UK website. Age 57 it said that I had a 20-25% chance of surviving up to 5 years. I had surgery only in October 2016 and at my first follow up appointment 6 months later I was told the same by the registrar surgeon. I chose to live life as best as I could rather than look at it like a suspended death sentence. It can take a long time to recover as it is a major surgery that he has gone through. Take each day as it comes and treasure it, hopefully his gullet will heal soon and he will be able to eat soft foods with plenty of calories and gain weight. Good luck and kind regards Frank.

Hi Ella_1, 

There's not a lot I can add to what BrentS and Zappaman  have said, but I did look up the letter I got from hospital after I had finished my treatment and had a CT scan. The phrase used was "No evidence of recurrent or metastatic disease". As far as I am concerned this means I'm in remission, a phrase never used by medical staff! 

My treatment finished in 2018, I'm still monitored annually and still in remission. 

So reasons to be positive even if the medical community cannot say we are cancer free.