Ovarian Cancer

[midsmith]

1 month ago I had surgery to remove a cyst (mass) in my abdomen. I am 58 years of age. during the surgery the surgeon discovered a tumor (cancerous) on the ovary and a full hysterectomy was performed. Tissue samples were taken for analysis including peritoneal washings and fortunately no evidence was found of cancer spreading further. All results were negative. Today I had a consultation with an Oncologist and she stated that the initial diagnosis, based upon the pathology, was that the tumor was Stage 1 Carcinosarcoma. They have scheduled a cat scan and will then make a decision as to treatment. The Oncologist thinks that they will recommend a course of chemo and radiation, but the final decision will depend on Catscan results and a group conference of other Oncologists and pathologists in the area I live (Canada).

Thinking ahead, frankly I do not want to go through chemo and all of the horrible side effects so I'm wondering if anyone has had a similar type of cancer. There appears to be conflicting evidence that chemo is required with my stage of cancer, or has any overall benefit.

Has anyone any words of wisdom or guidance? Has anyone not gone through chemo and survived.

Many thanks

M.

[beachbum32609]

I am going thru a very similar situation. I am very confused as what to do also. Per a sono, they found a rapidly growing cyst and because of some other issues I had a complete hysterectomy. A stage 1a tumor was found in the one ovary. Now the gyn onc. wants to do chemo or surgery to check lymph nodes and momentum. I am freaking out. CT tomorrow.

I wonder if your chemo would be milder, since the ca has been caught early?

I hope you don't mind if I borrow your topic :) I am very interested in the responses.

Hang in there.

Rhonda

[midsmith]

Hi Rhonda

A couple of weeks ago I met with the Oncologist again, following all of the tests including CAT scan etc. All tests were negative thank goodness. I asked the Onc. what my survival rate would be without chemo and radiation and she said 70% and with the chem and radiation she said about 10% better. Based on this I have decided to not go ahead with any of the treatments. I was very concerned that the chemo would significantly effect my immune system. I have heard of some horror storys about this. Also I have heard radiation can effect sensation in fingers and toes. As I am a musician and I didnt want to have numb fingers.

BTW she said I was stage 1c. I noted you said the Onc wanted to do surgery to check your lymph nodes and momentum. Didnt they check this when they did the hysterectomy? They took tissue samples from me during surgery and they were all negative. I specifically asked this when I met with the surgeon.

I can certainly understand that Onc's want to ensure they do everything to prevent any cancer return but the side effects freak me out. I dont know if the chemo would have been milder, but they said I would still have lost all my hair and been very weak.

I have recently heard of a homeopatic doctor who used to be an Oncologist and am going to see him today. I'm interested in seeing if there is anything else I should be doing.

I'm planning also on having a pet scan in a few months. The Onc said there was no point in having this done at this stage as it would show too many post surgical flags.

I hope everything goes well with your cat scan. Let me know how you get on and I'll report back on my visit to the homeopath.

Kind Regards

Marian

[ksuter]

Tomorrow is my mother's birthday who died of ovarian cancer in March 2002 after a 2000 diagnosis. OC is a disease with which one should take zero, Zero, ZERO risks. It seems that both of you (Rhonda and Marian) have a much better shot at surviving than my mother did (stage III). Do NOT squander this by foregoing chemo (mom did 6 rounds then another 3 then clinical trials). The worst "side effect" of ovarian cancer is death which is forever and thus outweighs ANY short term side effect of chemo.

One of the reasons women continue to die from ovarian cancer is the lack of advocacy for funding to develop early detection mechanisms. Why? Because almost all are dead. If there were a disease that killed 90% of men, we would already know what causes it, who's at risk and how to treat it.

Stay with a medical oncologist, take the chemo. Be a survivor, become a voice for the 25,000 women who will find themselves with OC this year, most of whom will be stage III and die within 2 years.

ps: I miss my mom every day.

[midsmith]

Hi Rhonda,

I had my appointment yesterday with the new Oncologist. It turned out he was not a homeopath but rather a very well qualified Oncologist who looks at alternative treatments rather than just go with the the traditional treatments. I was impressed! He still works with the Cancer agencies and if required he still recommends chemo.

In my case, he felt that I had made the right decision of being watchful and have the required tests over the next few months. Interestingly he believed that my survival rate would only have been increased by 1% if I had chemo and radiation. In fact he was TOTALLY against radiation saying there were too many issues with future health problems as a result of the radiation. He is going to examine the pathology, but feels that as I was stage I and that ALL of ther tests were negative, it is unlikely he will recommend chemo. He did say that a worse case scenario would be that he would recommend 2 or 3 treatments of Carboplatin, which has few side effects. I'm going to wait to see what he recommends. I would not have hesitated having the "full monty" if I had been stage III.

I hope the CT went well. Stay in touch and let me know the outcome. I'm not sure what part of the world you live, but I live in western Canada.

Regards

Marian

[ksuter]

Marian wrote: "He did say that a worse case scenario would be that he would recommend 2 or 3 treatments of Carboplatin."

Carboplatin won't even cause hair loss in most cases. It is the taxol that causes hair loss. It can lead to temporary numbing in fingers and hearing loss.