Is this true?!

Is this true?

Once someone gets Stage 2 breast cancer and they go through mastectomy, lumpectomy radiation and chemotherapy, that their cancer is just in remission and will definitely come back eventually??

This can happen at any stage, not just stage 2 but stage 1 as well. Because there is no cure for cancer there is no guarantee that the treatment will rid you of it forever. However, from experience many people who survive 5 years or more without a reoccurence are less likely to have a relapse. In other words the further from treatment that you get and no cancer shows up the more likely it is that the cancer is gone for good. Some people call this 'remission' and some people just say they are 'cured'. So, no it is not definite that the cancer will come back at all. It's unknown.

Remission means that there is no evidence anywhere within the body that the cancer can be found. That does not mean that one cancer cell is not laying dormant in some part of the body . . it means that no one can see that cancer . . and there are no symptoms to treat it. The patient remains perfectly healthy until the time the cancer elects to grow again . . that might be weeks, or in some cases if the cancer is dormant . . it might take months or a few years to reappear (grow large enough to detect).

In aggressive and advanced types of cancer there are now drugs available to treat the disease as chronic. The patient probably has undetected cancer somewhere in the body, but you can't find it or see it. So, instead of waiting for it to show up again, some patients elect to take 'maintenance drugs' that will kill the cancer before it can start growing again. There are many diseases that are treatable but not curable . . diabetetics take insulin to control their disease . . and cancer patients can take low doses of chemotherapy . . some times for years and have no reoccurence of their cancer.

More and more people are living with their cancer, using low maintenance chemo, and doing well.