42. Has the Disease Progressed?
Perhaps the most important part of your diagnosis is "staging" your cancer – which is a way to describe whether it has progressed to other organs from its primary site and, if so, the extent of that progression.
- Questions...
- A) Is my tumor
small enough to
be removed by
surgery?
- B) If my cancer
involves a
tumor, has it
spread anywhere
else?
- C) Is there any
way to "shrink"
my tumor,
if we cannot
remove it
surgically?
- Practical Tips...
- About 25% of those diagnosed with cancer qualify for surgery – a treatment
usually
limited to comparatively small tumors where the cancer has not metastasized. If
your cancer is "operable," that is a very good sign.
- One of the most important ways to describe someone’s cancer is with reference to
"Staging." Simply stated, most cancers are classified as being Stage 1, 2, 3 or 4 –
although sometimes it gets more refined (for example, a Stage 3a and 3b).
Your oncologist almost certainly will describe what "stage" your cancer is, although
staging also may require additional tests.
If cancer is "Stage 1" that usually is good news – because it means the disease is
very localized with a good chance the tumor can be removed by surgery. At the other
end of the scale, is "Stage 4" cancer. That means the disease has spread to distant
additional locations, and metastatic cancer is the most challenging to treat. - Thankfully, science has made great strides in using drugs (like chemo) to shrink and
contain tumors. Sometimes the tumors get small enough that surgery becomes a
viable option.