Recurrance

[Quilter]

What are the chances of cancer coming back after3 years and a section of lung removed and 23 lymph nodes all benign?

 

[Susan Cornett]

There are so many variables at play here so I don't know a number. There are quite a few of us who have had recurrences. I'm stage IV and I had two recurrences, following a lobectomy (but it was in my lymph nodes). Another person on the blog had surgery at stage 1 and no problems until recently, but I've also known people who had no recurrences. 

[Judy M2]

Quilter, if you do have a recurrence--and I hope you don't--I'd suggest you get biomarker testing either by blood or tissue biopsy to determine if you have a new driver mutation (I don't know if you had this testing originally). Have you been monitored with regular scans since your surgery? 

[Karen_L]

Quilter, 

I'm not sure why you're asking, but if you're having some new physical occurrences that have you worried, please call your doctor. 

As Susan has said, there are so many variables involved with each individual situation that it's impossible to say.  

I am coming to see that the percentages of recurrence, life after x number of years, etc., are just...numbers. The people I know with lung cancer, and the people on lung cancer support forums like this, tell stories of living that laugh in the face of the "certainty" these numbers supposedly represent. 

Karen