Metastatic Cancer

Most people have no idea what metastatic cancer means. I know I didn’t. Metastasis means cancer has spread from the location of origin to another location in the body. There is no way around it. It sucks. Just Google it and you will know what I mean. The medical experts basically tell you that you will die from cancer. They don’t actually say you will die, they say it is incurable. Stage IV and metastatic cancer are often used interchangeably but stage IV is more often referring to cancer that has already spread at the time of the original diagnosis. Metastatic cancer is usually referring to cancer that has reappeared in another location months or years after the original diagnosis. Once the cancer has spread it is considered a chronic illness that has to be managed forever. There are relatively few statistics on metastatic cancer because apparently they do not track most patients beyond 5 years. I believe this is difficult because not every person is diagnosed with metastatic disease at the same stage of disease progression. Many times, which is true in my situation, metastasis is found by accident. If I had not broken my collar bone I might still be in the dark. Unfortunately many people do not find out until strange symptoms arise and the disease has reached a late state of progression. One frustrating part for me is that cancer has become almost a culture phenomenon. Nixon was the first to declare a “war” on cancer. BILLIONs have been spent to find treatments and cures. Fundraising efforts have become huge events glorifying survivors, patients, and more money for research. The truth is the world is nowhere close to finding a cure. If you understand what cancer truly is, a cure seems unlikely. Don’t get me wrong there have been improvements but in general cancer still eludes the most educated and dedicated of our medical system. I have metastatic breast cancer. The average survival rate is listed as 3 years. 20-30% of all breast cancer patients will experience metastasis. The 5 year survival for breast metastasis is roughly 22% but no further statistics are available. I personally would like to know what happened to that 22%. I plan to be one of them! There are people who do survive past 5 years and some who apparently do achieve permanent remission because they do not end up dying from cancer. The testimonials are out there. I have read many. So why are we not researching what those people are doing? I would venture to guess most of them are not just following the standard treatment protocols. Medicine today is largely pharmaceutical based. This can partially be attributed to economics. Research and product development are influenced by funding. Pharmaceutical companies not only spend millions of dollars to create the latest and greatest drugs, they contribute heavily to medical research and they have wonderful lobbyists to make sure their interests are secure with the government and the FDA. It’s no wonder drugs, especially cancer drugs are often very expensive. Natural treatments do not offer big economic benefits. You cannot patent something that comes from nature but you can patent a new pharmaceutical formula and when that patent runs out you can create a new but similar formula to patent. That is where the big money is. Even with all of the billions of dollars spent on cancer research, very little focuses on metastatic cancer. It’s almost like once you reach that stage it’s too late so let’s focus on treating it early. The first time I was diagnosed with cancer I felt hopeful. Breast cancer is the diva of cancer. The pink ribbon campaign has helped create such a wonderful support system for women with breast cancer. At times I felt pampered. And you do feel like you are part of a special club of breast cancer survivors. When my cancer came back it was a very different feeling. The warm fuzzy world of being a breast cancer survivor suddenly does not seem so glamorous. When you “ring the bell” for your last round of chemo or march in the survivor parade you are not thinking gosh I hope I make it 5 years. You are thinking I did it! I beat cancer and I am never looking back. And now that they tell me I can’t beat cancer, I politely listen to their expertise and then make my own decisions. I don’t consider myself a rebel or this a war against cancer. I simply don’t plan on dying from cancer and I really don’t want to live my life as a cancer patient. No doubt in main stream medicine my options are few. I have chosen to pursue additional options and hope for the best. If others have found a way why not me?