Recurrences

Hello Doctor,
My Mom was diagnosed with ovca 3c 2.5 years ago, currently on her 2nd recurrence.   First recurrence in one year, and second recurrence after 7 months.  Never seen other drugs except taxotere/carbo, allergic to carbo now.  Currently doing topotecan, started 2 weeks ago.  So my question is, does this now mean that from this point on she will be on chemo off and on for the rest of her life?  This question has been bothering me for so long and being afraid of the answer I never wanted to ask.  I know there are no better drugs then the platinum drugs, so does this mean nothing will be able to put her into a lengthy remission.  Lengthy I mean 9-12 months chemo free.

Thank you
Fiana

[Annekathryn Goodman, M.D.]

Dear Fiana,
You ask such a good question. I am sure that there are variations in how different women respond to chemo and how long they stay in remission. I agree with you though. My experience has been that for women who have had several recurrences, the time between recurrences gets shorter and shorter. It is common at this point to need chemo or therapy of some type most of the time.
take care