I am not a statistic!

I wanted to write this short blog post because I don't want anyone to think I'm about to drop down dead !
As soon as you mention the words Stage 4 cancer people assume it's a death sentence.

Stage 4 Colorectal Cancer
Colorectal cancer metastasized to the ovaries
Krukenberg tumour

Type any of these terms into Google and it's pretty grim reading. Statistically the prognosis is poor ... the word terminal pops up quite frequently. The five year survival rate for metastatic colon cancer is less than 15% according to the first article that popped up. There's very little information about Krukenberg tumour and what there is, well it's dismal reading and unless you're a mathematician statistics are pretty confusing.
If everything I read was true I'd be planning my funeral by now.
That's the trouble with Googling you don't always get the full picture.  I always do it though. I can't help myself. I still do it now, trying to find that one article that tells me something in my favour.
The thing about cancer statistics is they don't take into account individual factors or specific treatments. They are based on broad numbers of people and are at least five years old. Treatments are advancing all the time. People can be cured and people can live for years with the right care. There are so many factors involved.

So it's not necessarily a death sentence. My tumours were accessible and removable. The cancer spread from my bowel to my ovaries and as far as they could tell it hadn't spread any further. I've had surgery (which I'll talk about later) which was potentially curative. They think they got it all.
So ......  maybe I am cancer free, maybe I am cured. They can't tell me I'm cured. Only time will tell but I'm hopeful.
Sod statistics!