Ovary/Uterus surgery and chemo, now hormones

I had posted this on the expert forum and move here (or also post here and so mark on the expert forum).

My wife was diagnosed with both Ovary and Uterus cancer and underwent surgery about 2 years ago.  The surgeon said his believed he was able to remove all the affected body material but had her undergo chemo as a precaution.  The chemo was completed in March of 2011.  Since that time she has been monitored and has regular check up visits with he Oncologist.  Last month she had the most recent CT scan and both the surgeon and Oncologist were concerned about some "new" cell activity but did not believe it was necessary to take aggressive action at this time. The Oncologist prescribed a hormone medication and said he would reevaluate in a couple of months.  She did not have a cancer marker blood test at that time, but the last one was normal, no cancer indicated.

Looking for some advice/experience from anyone who has been through a similar experience.  She and I are concerned that this new event is a set-back and that a return of active cancer.

[HVAC]

Sounds like you are a caring spouse.I was told by my Doctors my Ovarian Cancer is considered a chronic illness, something I will have to deal with the rest of my life. It sounds like the doctors are monitoring it and have her on the hormone which is good. You could always get a second opinion concerning the care if you have questions about it. I am stage IIIC Ovarian and they found something on my liver. I just finished chemo. It is too early to tell what it is so I personally do not worry about it until my Doctor tells me to worry about it. That is just the way I have to live with my disease. All of us are different. Did you ask the doctor about other treatment options?  There is a good book called Critical Decisions by Dr. Peter Ubel it is about communicating with your doctor especially oncologists. It helped me a lot. I was not asking the right questions. Each case is really individual. It all depends on where the cancer pops up and how fast it grows and what stage it is. I also have Multiple Sclerosis and I have learned no two cases of MS or Cancer are the same and doctors just can't tell you how your disease will go. They just do not know.

Alex

[HVAC]

Sounds like you are a caring spouse.I was told by my Doctors my Ovarian Cancer is considered a chronic illness, something I will have to deal with the rest of my life. It sounds like the doctors are monitoring it and have her on the hormone which is good. You could always get a second opinion concerning the care if you have questions about it. I am stage IIIC Ovarian and they found something on my liver. I just finished chemo. It is too early to tell what it is so I personally do not worry about it until my Doctor tells me to worry about it. That is just the way I have to live with my disease. All of us are different. Did you ask the doctor about other treatment options?  There is a good book called Critical Decisions by Dr. Peter Ubel it is about communicating with your doctor especially oncologists. It helped me a lot. I was not asking the right questions. Each case is really individual. It all depends on where the cancer pops up and how fast it grows and what stage it is. I also have Multiple Sclerosis and I have learned no two cases of MS or Cancer are the same and doctors just can't tell you how your disease will go. They just do not know.

Alex

[Jerry_NJ]

Thanks, I will suggest my wife read this thread.

Jerry

[Jerry_NJ]

My wife had a port installed chemo last Friday and immediately had her first treatment. It took about 3 hours because she had three different treatments (fluids feed into her system).

The good news so far is she has had much nausea, but did have some sore neck and headache two days after.  She was in to get the port surgery checked today and when she asked they told her, as said they told her following surgery, that there may be some neck and head pain from the surgery.  So that was good news, we have a reason for the neck that is healing, so it isn't some new problem.

I remain optimistic and she did well on her first 6 month chemo treatment.  That was followed by about 18 months with no signs of cancer, then this. It appears this is a cycle... I read somewhere that if a person is cancer free for 5 years it is considered cured.

My wife does volunteer work at the hospital where she gets chemo. She had planned to move to volunteer work in the chemo center once she passed their mandatory 2 year cancer-free period, so she gets to start that all over again. She like working as a volunteer in "transport" so that time was well spent in any case. She isn't strong enough to handle beds and other heavy transport work but does handle movement of patients by wheel chair.  It gave her something constructive to do with some of her time.  But that too is off now that she is back on chemo.  Not sure for how long, but no doubt long enough to put her wigs back to use.