We have a friend who was diagnosed with breast cancer 12 years ago. She had a "lumpectomy" for it, and has had a couple of "scares" since then. Fortunately, no cancer was found in those additional events, but she sweats it to this day. She absolutely considers herself a cancer survivor. She's also been a great source of strength and counsel for me.
Her situation is like so many here. How does one know that the cancer is actually cured, i.e. gone forever, vanquished, defeated, not going to be a threat ever again? Our friend is never sure even after 12 years, and many (most?) here seem to be in the same boat.
Maybe the issue so many have with the word "survivor" is the aspect of victory over an adverse circumstance. A survivor is considered as one who lived through a plane crash, or a fire, or a tornado, a fight, or whatever that was a definable singular event. The plane won't come back to smash them again, the fire has been put out, the storm has passed, the opponent was jailed or even killed, whatever, but the threat won't get them ever again. They survived, perfect tense, a completed status.
Surviving a complex and slippery rascal like PCa seems much tougher to define in terms of a completed action. It's more like holding a cork underwater. Sometimes it is down forever, maybe fortunate enough that the cork was completely eliminated. Sometimes it is only a matter of time until it pops up again.
I like ralph's simple definition of it. Paraphrasing, we have/had PCa, we're surviving, therefore we're survivors. I'll embrace that as a positive mindset. I intend to beat this thing!
Post Edited (Redwing57) : 7/15/2013 5:38:35 AM (GMT-6)