3 choices to make now after 6mos Chemo for Clear Cell. What should I do?

[Meowzer]

I had a partial Hystorectomy 2006. They left 1 ovary and cervix. December 2009 diagnosed with Clear Cell Stage 1C ovarian cancer. Had surgery to remove Ovary Dec 2008.Received Taxol/Carbo Platen Chemo every 3 weeks for 6 months. 6/10/09 Finally finished Chemo. 7/15/09 had blood work, CT scan, Xrays and pelvic exam of the cervix. All looks good, CA125 is 7, no signs of tumors. But I'm confused now. I thought I was done, but my Dr. now says I have 3 choices to make. 1.) Taxol only Chemo for 1 year every 4 weeks. 2.) Surgery to remove the Cervix. 3.) do nothing & get checkups every 3 months.
***How do I know which one is the best?****

[Meowzer]

Thanks to all of you with your comments.  You have been very helpful in helping me make my decision. I DID talk to my Dr. again & asked lots more questions. She said no matter what I do it is 50/50 chance that Clear Cell can come back because it is an aggressive cancer. My Dr. is at MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston.  It is an excellent Cancer facility & people come from all over the world to get help. I know I am being taken very good care of there. She re-reviewed my charts again & has decided that it is best that they don't do the surgery to remove my cervix since I am not showing any signs of the cancer at this time. She DID suggest I take 6 more months of Chemo (Taxol only every 4 weeks) and I can stop it at any time if I don't want to go through with the 6 treatments, or I can do nothing and get the 3 month check ups. As of 7/15/09, my CT scan shows no tumors, my CA125 is at 7.0, no sign of cancer in my cervix.  My decision is to get for 2 more rounds of Chemo (starting this Monday 7/27/09) instead of 6 and then stopping and go with the 3 month checkups from there.  Then if it comes back I know I did all that I could and I will take it day by day from there.  Since my Stage was 1C & there was no sign of cancer anywhere else except the Ovary (they removed it), then I think I can actually do nothing further and be ok. Only God knows at this point what is going to happen. I'm living healthy now with exercise & much better diet, so I think I'm going to be ok. Thank you again for all of your comments. This website is really a good one.

[crecco]

  All of the girls bring up good points. And I feel that the best one of all is to discuss this with your Dr and see what he suggests.
  We are all different as are our Dr's and their opinions. In my case I was diagnosed, went through 8 rounds of chemo, had surgery in June of 2006 during which time my cervix was also left. I have never really figured out why and when I questioned the gyn/onc he said I was begining to bleed to heavily. But there has never been anything said about removing it since. I also heard that some Drs opt to leave it in to help support what ever is left in there. In July of 06, I was started on taxol as maintenence chemo. I was supposed to be on it for 1 year, but by Dec, I has a recurrence and was switched to doxil. As I said, different Drs have different opinions. As you were diagnosed in the early stages, and everything looks fine, I think I would opt for doing nothing and going in every 3 months for a check up. You know your body and if anything new should come up, I am sure your Dr would be more than happy to see you in less than 3 months.
   Good luck in what ever choice that you make.
      Chris

[nyc lady]

I would question why he wants to remove your cervix now and why it wasn't done during the initial surgery.  I still have my cervix, I am a stage 1A survivor.  I opted to keep my cervix as I never had a bad pap test.  Cervical and Ovarian cancer are different cancers and not related.  But every doctor is different.

There are some doctors that opt for maintanence chemo and there are also many clinical trials out there for those willing to go on them.  

Speak with your doctor, get a 2nd opinion, ask questions and then deceide the best route for you.

Pam

[MinnieWM]

I asked my gyn/onc about maintenance, and he said that while it does postpone 1st time recurrence, it does nothing for long term survival.  Since you are much more likely to experience neuropathy by extending the Taxol, you need to balance out quality of life issues.  Hence, they do not recommend it.

There are also reports coming out that the use of chemo without evidence of disease may do more harm to the body than good making it less able to fight off disease of any kind, including cancer.

[Teresa222]

My ONC decided a maintenance chemo after my first 6 rounds would be a waste of time in my case.  As Marie says, the studies show that it really does little in the long term survival of this disease.  It is best to fight the cancer while it is present, so that you know you are not causing you to become immune to the other chemo's. It sounds to me that your cervix needs to be removed out of there very soon.

I hope you are using a GYN/ONC for all your surgeries and treatments.

teresa

[JC145]

I agree with Marie .... Ask your doc what he suggests ... he should have a good idea what would be best in your case.

[marie3B]

Some say maintenance chemo is very beneficial, some say not, seems to be about 50/50 for and against  from all things I have read.  I would want the cervix out if it were me.  About the taxol I might opt for that as well as the removal of the cervix.  Clear cell can be a tricky opponent.  Whatever you decide I wish you the best possible outcome.  Does your doc have a suggestion as to what is the best choice?  Marie