TO HAVE CHEMO OR NOT

Not sure if this is a stupid question or not..but here goes......my wife has stage 3c ovarian cancer...she has recently had surgery and apart from some remaining flecks of cancer/tumour ....it was a success.

She is due to start chemo in Feb,,,,my question is 'Does anyone have experience of not having chemo following surgery' and 'is there any stats that show the survival rate of those that dont have chemo, compared to those that do'

Reason for my question is i dont want to see her go through all the chemo does to her for the sake of a few weeks...now this is not me being pessimistic cos of course i know that she has a 1 in 3 chance of beating this, its really to find out if anyone has gone down this route and if so how did you get on

Any feedback is appreciated

[gls2824]

I don't know anyone other than those with 1A or borderline who skipped chemo.  I would think at stage 3C, especially since there are "flecks," chemo would be strongly indicated.  Maybe someone else will post a different experience.

[dian07]

I agree completely......chemo is definitely indicated.  I was IC and my gyn/oncologist said it was not negotiable.
Peace.
dian

[ireneo]

And not all chemo treatments are the same. Some are quite tolerable, just not desirable. My friend has been fighting her ovca for 8 years now and is back on chemo. She still has pretty good energy and all her hair. Just depends on how aggressive they need to be. But if there are residual cancer spots, I think a few weeks of discomfort is much better than letting those things blossom into something worse.

[Laurence1505]

Thanks for your responses.   Having looked into it a bit more i think i kinda jumped the gun here.  I had read an article about recurring cancer and whether it is best to have chemo once it returns or once you start to feel ill because of it.

Think it is right that my wife has chemo asap (starts 1st week of Feb) and touch wood the side effects on her will be minimal and the overall result excellent.

Thanks and good luck to all

[ireneo]

I do hope she does well with the chemo. And if this one doesn't seem to be helping as much as you wish, remember they have many other medications to try. Each case responds a bit differently. Don't give up yet. It's early in the process. Give her some hugs from us.