I can't speak of teratoma. I have a rare kind of Ovarian Cancer called clear cell. I read about it on the internet and it did not give a lot of hope for me. Since then I have learned people are not statistics. I thought if I was lucky I would live two years. It has been three and I am doing well. I am planning a trip to Europe this fall. No one would know I even have cancer. Also I have learned a lot of information is out dated. They have made great strides in the last 5 years for Ovarian Cancer. They now call it a chronic cancer, meaning something women live with.
Alex
Hey Alex,
That must have been devastating thinking you only had two years at best left to live. I'm glad to hear that you've out-lived that and are doing better though! :)
I agree focusing on the statistics can be kind of scary and possibly counter-productive to maintaining optimism. I go between wanting to know ALL the possibilities and their likelihoods so I can stay informed, and just focusing on my situation and ignoring the outliers.
If you don't mind me asking, did you go through chemo treatment or surgery?
I did both. I had what they call debulking. They take all the female organs and the lining of all the other internal organs. I have had four different chemos. The first was bad but the others okay. I was late stage and full of cancer. I am also BRCA 1 positive so my body makes cancer all the time.
It is normal to want to know about everything. I did. Just understand everything on the internet is true. Studies only pertain to those individuals and there is usually a small amount of people. For example I was in a study for a year. I did better than anyone and I was on the placebo.
Alex