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My sister is ready for chemo treatment #5 on July 2.  Her pre-surgery CA-125 was 1,308.  Prior to treatment #4, the tumor marker had dropped to 185.  My sister is a doctor, so I'm not as free to ask questions as I might be if the circumstances were different.  I had previously mentioned that my sister is a T-9 paraplegic.  This has become an issue during the chemo treatments because she has a major breakdown on her ankle.  I find that as we approach each round of chemo, I keep wondering what happens if her oncologist tells her the CA-125 is rising instead of falling.  His goal for her is two chemo treatments with the CA-125 <20.  So, how is she doing?  Well, she continues her gardening activities.  Earlier this month she had put up two batches of strawberry jam.  She's knitting another hat to cover her bald head.  I guess all things considered, she is doing very well.  I keep waiting for the cancer to pull the rug out from under our happy world.

[Annekathryn Goodman, M.D.]

Hi There
it is very hard to watch someone grow through what your sister is going through.  That is a great drop in her CA 125. We do like to get it down to less than 35.  Currently we do not have the technology to predict what is going to happen next.
Basically, of women with stage 3 ovarian cancer, 80 will go into remission. But 80 % will have a recurrence within 5 years and most of those recurrences are within the first two years. We do not now how to predict who will recur and who will not recur.
It is very tough for everyone
best wishes