Making Sense of Your Breast Cancer Prognosis

A diagnosis of breast cancer brings about one question more than any other: Will I be able to beat this? Doctors answering this question may speak on the term "prognosis," which simply means what they will expect will be the outcome of your treatment. In truth, a prognosis may not be all that helpful. More than anything, it is a statistic about women your age, in your general health, with cancer similar to yours, and how likely they are to survive. Also every statistic has a margin of error. The decision about whether you want to hear your prognosis or not is up to you, but whatever you do with the information about your breast cancer diagnosis, but remember that a prognosis is only a guideline on how you are expected to do.