Law Students

You Say Tomato, I Say To-mah-to

I have been out and about more in recent weeks and as a result I have been running into people I know. I have been surprised by the number of people who, upon seeing that I look like I feel good, ask if I am ?in remission.? And maybe that is an obvious thing to ask someone who has had cancer and is now better. I have found myself telling those people that I am not in remission exactly, but that I am instead currently cancer free.

The definition of remission is the temporary or permanent disappearance of disease. Complete remission means that there are no signs of the disease present in the body. Partial remission means that although there are some signs or symptoms of the disease, there has been a decrease in cancer cells. Often people think that if someone is in complete remission, they are cured and safe. However, while complete remission can signify that the cancer has been cured, there is always the possibility that it might come back. Based on those definitions, I suppose I would probably be officially labeled as someone whose cancer is in remission.

To me, though, the word remission makes it sound like the cancer is still there somewhere, lurking just behind the scenes and waiting to make a reappearance. I am sure that is why I automatically tell people that I am not in remission, but that I am cancer free. While that may not be technically correct, I am sticking with it because I prefer to think that, after everything that I have been through, there is no cancer left in my body.

Full post as published by The Merits of the Case on November 25, 2007 (boomark / email).