New Member with a question

Hey Steve....(is there an echo in here)

Welcome to the site.

We have had many conversations on this..... To me, when I die from something else is when I know I'm cured...

Other than that - I'm getting close to the six year mark and I still sweat PSA tests....

Hi Firehawk and welcome to HW. As Steve said, we have discussed this many times with various people using "cured", "remission", "survivor", etc. I don't think there is a definitive answer.

I can just tell you that I will live my life like I am "cured" until and unless I find out otherwise...

In any case I'm sure the longer you go with those zeros the more "cured" you will feel!

Jim

Like the guys said, there's no hard and fast answer. Especially no fast answer. In general, the higher your gleason score, and the more other negative factors your doctors see, the more reluctant they will be to use the word "cure".

As a gleason 7(4+3) you are high-intermediate risk and you will probably find your doctors pretty cagey about signing on to your being "cured" any time soon. That said, you're doing great. Keep it up for a couple or five more years and your doctors will tell you they are pleased.

I have a friend at work who has his surgery 7 years ago, all his psa test were 0, his dr. says now he is cancer free after seven years of undetechable psa test......!

I was surprised when my oncologist used the word 'cured' for the first time, but I'm certainly not going to argue with him. When referring to myself, I do say that I 'had' prostate cancer. I like the sound of that.