Stage 3 C

I'm a nurse, with a question about my mom. She had a mass, and it wa  in February, and I said, You need to go to a GYN. Ofcourse, she did not, but she went to her regular doctor, and had two MRI's and one CAT scan, until an orthopedic doctor  finally said, "Let me see the mass." And immediately, in July, she was sent for another MRI, this time, for the correct body part, not the back, and then immediately sent to a great OBGYN/Oncologist, who who scheduled her for surgery. She had surgery yesterday, and they removed the ovaries, and uterus, along with the omemtum, and said they had got all the cancer, and she is to start chemo therapy. She is doing as is expected, and had a good  cry over the diagnosis. To me, that does not sound like a death sentance, but maybe it's cause I'm a nurse. I've seen alot worse cases. Am I in reality on her condition in regaurding her Stage 3 C?
  To, me, it sounds hopeful. As if it had not spread to the liver, or lungs or other vital organs, and there is a good chance of the chemo being a shorter duration. I have a questin. If it is stage 3, does that mean it has only gone into the omemmtum? I'm sure the doctor said he got it all.

--Rhonda S.

[SimplyStar]

I only hope it all works out ok for your Mom, I too am a nurse and my daughter was dx with stage 3 July 2006, had the surgery, dr "got it all"  had chemo, recurred in 2 1/2 months,  she did a clinical trial, after 2 treatments cancer was growing and CA125 was raising, so now she is on Doxil. Everyone is different with this disease, the recurrance rate is very high. But there are so many choices now for chemo.  You might do some research on suppliments and make sure her immune system stays high to help fight it. Chemo is rough on most of the womens bodies, but they do come through it with good luck some times.  Lets just hope you Mom is one of those that it works well for and gives her a long remission.  

[rmarie]

I am also a nurse, however I have stage 3 C OC diagnosed in 9/05 and currently under treatment for my first recurrance.  I knew little about ovarian cancer until my diagnois then I went on a sharp learning curve and I have been learning ever since.  Stage 3 C means that that there is evidence of mets above in the peri aortic lympth chain or higher in the abdomen, not necessarlily the omenmtum.  The surgery consists of removal of uterus, ovaries, mass, omenmtum and about 40 biopsies.  My C was based on 1 peri aortic lymph node at the time of surgery.
The standard treatment is 6 sometimes 8 treatments of Carboplatinium and Taxol.  
That being said, there is always hope, there are some good books on OC, you should read them, this is a journey.
Thoughts are with you and your mom, keep us posted and we are here to help
Marie

[RhondaS]

Yes, the gyn/onc who she is seeing for thie (ofcourse, she is presently in the hospital and haven't started yet,), is Carboplatinuim, and Taxol, but they are checking this in a lab in Calif. I have ordered Fran drescher's book, cause I think if the first surgeon we took her to in February, would have said, "Female organs? Let's see what you have. Mass? Uh oh." I mean,I htink he's going to get a peer to peer letter about thinking beyond the MRI.If a pateint asked me about a mass in the groin, I'd make her show me, and then make arrangements for a visit to a gyn. So,i'm v ery unhappy about that first surgeon. Instead of, it's nothing, only an infection, maybe it would have been caught. It mght have already wrapped itself aroud the bladder (I was tired when I posted the first post last ngiht, and forgot to mention it was wrapped around the baldder). I don't know her CA level, but I could ask her doctor, they did find the gene in her, and they are contacting all the females on her side of the family, to get the test. I'm adopted, but I might beg for the test to, infact,I want it. I'll keep you posted.

[rmarie]

I don't know anything about Fran Drescher's book, I read a book "Living with Cancer" written by Gyn/Onc and Onc nurses at John's Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore and found it very helpful.  It discusses the disease and the different chemotherapies and other treatments that are available.  I highly recommend you read one of those, Fran had uterine cancer which is different.    Glad your mom got a good physician, one thing I have learned is to know as much as I can about this cancer I am fighting because I am in partnership with the physician.  I dropped the ball on not knowing about OC by not getting a stardard of care with my Gyn, now I trust but with knowledge.  

[alanpvegas]

Stage 3 is typical and the majority for those diag with ovca.  It goes in order of 3, 4, 2, 1 in discovery.  1's are typically diag because during other surgery or scans they saw something early.  The bulk is in 3 because that is when the symptoms become very prominant.

So, with that being said, overall survival has increased during the years for 3 and 4.  I believe it is roughly gone from about 1 year to 2 years average.  'General' survival rates for 3 is in the tens and twenties.  There is some very promising drugs on the horizon as well as researchers exploring different combinations such as Eloxatin and Doxil showing a 98% response rate (30% stable disease with 68% response) with only 2% progression.  Phenoxodil is pushing forward on phase 3 fda trials for plat resistant ovarian cancer.  They are not even trying this on those just diagnosed because they are getting ont he FDA fast track and since platinum resistance is a major problem, that helped them get it.....so it begs to ask what action it would have on those just diagnosed...probablly alot!  When it gets approved, that's something oncologists can do 'off label' which is common.

But the dark fact is that ovarian cancer is a very tough disease.  It adapts like crazy to chemo's typically and you may not be able to use it again.  And becaus of the late stages during discovery, it has metastasized to other parts in the abdominal cavity and most often the guts which cause a slew of problems on it's own.

The problem is with our FDA and approval times and their resistance to chemo's that have worked in other countries (oh yes, they have banned the import of drugs that worked such as approved chemo drugs used successfully in Japan) because they are sooooooo in the bed with the pharm. companies.

[alanpvegas]

Oh I forgot to add, here are some great links:

- For pathology and staging, cure today has this great page (be sure to click on links to see more details):  http://www.curetoday.com/backissues/v6n1/features/feature2/index.html

- Here is specific staging for ovarian cancer:  
http://www.cancer.org/docroot/CRI/content/CRI_2_4_3X_How_is_ovarian_cancer_staged_33.asp?sitearea=CRI

[YvonneS]

I hate to be bearer of bad news.  When I was first dia in 2005, my doctor told me that no one can say "they got it all".  That it is like grains of sand and if one grain is left the tumor will regrow.  Listen to Alan.  He is such a trooper and has do't so much research for us.  Good luck.  Yvonne

[jdbobo]

Hi Rhonda,

I have been doing lots of reading since my mom was diagnosed 5/07...she is currently undergoing her first line treatment of stage 3C.    Basically, I agree completely with what Alan said above...at stage 3, true cure rates with standard treatment tend to be in the10-20% range.  The standard treatment available today is pretty good at beating down the cancer and achieving remissions (no detectable disease), sometimes as long as 2-3 years, but unfortunately, it's not particularly good at producing a long term when diagnosed at this stage.

However, there are many reasons to be positive.  First, 10-20% cure rates are way better than 0%, which is the stark reality for some other cancers.  Second, although recurrences are common, there are second line treatments out there that can really slow the disease considerably even after the first recurrence...some even describe the battle as similar to managing a chronic condition.  Third, there are so many interesting drugs coming down the pipe that we really don't know what the treatment will look like for battling this beast a few years down the road.  

Never give up hope...and best of luck to you and your mom.

[Jan (Gramie)]

[Jan (Gramie)]

I had my OC surgery almost 4 years ago. I also was a stage 3C with metastasizes in the abdomen and wrapped around the aorta in three places. They had to call in a specialist to remove the aortic cancer. But...the good news is my CA125 continues to stay between 12-17 and before surgery it was 346. I am on my third year of remission with no symptoms of recurrance. I am not a very religious person, but I had people praying for me all over the world (literally)...I saw more of my siblings in that year than I'd seen in 10 years before the cancer. I believe that a positive attitude helps immensely along with a terrific surgeon and oncologist. I had 6 treatments of carbo and taxol. My oncologist suped up my first couple chemos of carboplasium....but my blood count got too low and he had to return to the normal dosage. I never talked to anyone about this before. I just suffered quietly in silence and now I realize that it really helps me and other patients to hear my story.  I pray my story gives you HOPE.

[Kimchi]

So happy to read your posting... I do agree with you about positive attitude and have been told by other cancer survivors that this is the most important thing, plus regular meditation/breathing exercise and of course a good ONC.  
Since you stopped your chemo, do you take vitamins or supplements, herbs, meditate, excercise, anything regularly that you did not do before or did do while on chemo??
Your story has given ME hope!!! Thank you