The Numbers Game

Whenever I tell people about my diagnosis and about life the question that seems to get asked frequently or people want to ask and don't is the "How long do you have?" What a question I think and and most of the time I just ask "How long do I have until (insert appropriately normal thing) I get dinner or go to the movies". The reason being is I want the people who are asking to actually say what they mean, especially when they think they are close enough to ask "How long do you have left to live?" The thing is whether you have cancer or not, you could die from a car accident or menagerie of random things. What people want to know is how cancer effects the longevity of your life. For me personally, I didn't want to know any of that information at the beginning. I was scared and the fact that I had to face my own mortality shook my 20 something sense of invincibility. The other thing was loads of people I knew told me you had to have a positive outlook on the diagnosis/life to help cure yourself. I found it hard with that thought in my head to look at the numbers. I did look at the numbers finally and instead of the impossible dread I feared would happen it seems like some more information. The numbers are broken down by 5 year survival rates (I got this information from the American Cancer Society website http://www.cancer.org/cancer/stomachcancer/detailedguide/stomach-cancer-survival-rates)
Stage IA - 71%
Stage IB - 57%
Stage IIA - 46%
Stage IIB - 33%
Stage IIIA - 20%
Stage IIIB - 14%
Stage IIIC - 9%
Stage IV - 4%

"The overall 5 year relative survival rate of all people with stomach cancer in the United States is about 29%."

Maybe this post seems morbid and maybe some aren't ready to look at it. The truth for the people diagnosed with this disease is that 3/10 people make it to the 5 year mark. For me 5 years from now would put me at 28. Now does that resign me to live sadly until then? Do I let go and party harder than ever before? Maybe a change of perspective is needed on the 5 year thing. 5 years is 260 weeks/1,826 days/43,830 hours/2,629,800 minutes/ 157,788,000 seconds. Time to ______. When I figure that I will let you know, but time to live extraordinary.

Thanks for reading.