Overian Cancer

Hi, I am so glad I found your forum on the net. My mom's name is Herminia, she is 65 and she just got diagnosed with Overian Cancer stage III advanced or IV. According to the doctor the lab found some cancer cells on the fluid that was taken from her upper back.  I am not sure how she measured on the CA-125 Test, What I know is that the doctor recommended the CAP Chemo (Cyclophosphamide, Adriamycin, and Cisplatin) every 3 weeks, she had only one treatment and is schedule for second treatment this coming week(Doctor says CAP is the standard treatment) and then he is going to operate and debunk as much as he can the tumor.  Lately I been reading alot about procedures and studies and found that when you combine the IV and IP chemos (in the vein and in the stomach) that you chances are greater of defeatign the cancer. Any comments on this???  Also why doctors need to wait for recurrence before recommending Hycamptin and Doxil treatment, why it can not be used initially???  If the chemo fails, and the operation fails, Does anybody knows how much time my mom might be around us before she dies???  Thank you and I wish you all well, my regards, God Bless,
Jay

[Barney22]

Hello Jay - I've been treated for very similar stage ovca to your mother, including ascites (pleural effusion) in my lung first time round so I recognise the description of her back.  I hesitate to question anything but I've never heard of people having CAP chemo.  Almost everyone has Taxol and Carboplatin chemo for the first round mainly because it is so effective for a high percentage of women.  It might be worth asking the doctor if there is a reason why he/she is not using taxol/carbo?  However, the big problem is recurrence for all of us which they still haven't really got good solutions for yet.  Doxil doesn't have  nearly such high response rates as Taxol/Carboplatin which is why it isn't used for first line chemo I understand.  If debulking surgery is done by a specialist gynaecological oncologist, not a general gynaecologist, it is usually successful.  You will find lots of references from women who have had this OK on this site.  The ascites is drained during the surgery - mine was and didn't come back until I relapsed.  I hope you have found a specialist gyn onc? This must all be a lot for you to deal with and very frightening.  We get a lot of support from each other on this site and many of us are being treated successfully even if not cured.  I'm sure you will get a lot of helpful comments from other people.  I hope this is helpful, Jenny.

[trickyeve]

barney22(jenny) I appreciate the words of support. I just learned that my mom is actually being treated with TAXOL, so I guess those are good news since I read that TAXOL is used as a first line of defense for advanced cases of Cancer.  What worries me and my brothers now is that the Doctor thinks they discovered a new Growth on the uterus; we are concern that it could be Uterus cancer. Is this possible?? or Could it be just that the Overian Cancer is spreading to her other parts?? We are suppose to get an answer from pathology soon.  Thank you for all your comments, my regards and blessigns, Jay.

[MARYJANE13]

AM A 29year old and 5 years ago the doctors told me that i had overian canser it was hard news i could have ever heard in my life i only have one child and i wanted more now they tell me i cant have no more that is hard