Your opinion

I have never been debulked. Was DX Feb 06 with laparotomy stage 3. Gynae Onc not able to remove tumour as there was involvement with main artery to the bowel. Was going to do 3 rounds of carbo/taxol and then go back in. I had such a good response to the chemo they decided not to do more surgery. After i finished my chemo my Ca was 50 but was down to 12 2 months later and PET scan was clear. Unfortunately at the 6 month mark i had reoccured ca 120 and a few decent sized tumours. My gynae/onc does not want to do surgery. 6 rounds of Caelyx shrunk my tumours and lowered my markers but they went up again. Tried carbo again and had good response but had allergic reaction after 2 treatment of 2nd round. Am now on Cyclophosphomide but don't think it is doing much. I finally got an opinion on surgery from another leading gynae/onc and he says he is prepared to do the surgery as i am still young (45). He said if i was his mother/sister/daughter/wife he would take the surgery. He said it will be a big operation. I have to make my decision to operate within 2 days because of the xmas holidays. I am feeling very scared and confused as to what to do. I have always had my decisions pretty much made for me and now i have to make my own. Not sure what to do. Any advice, sugestions, opinions will be greatly appreciated. P.S both are gynae/oncs and are head of that dept in their respective hospitals.

[Annekathryn Goodman, M.D.]

Hi There,
This is a really hard decision. I would lean towards surgery as well but it is hard to really say with doing an exam and seeing the films.  In general, we think that removing the tumor surgically helps the chemotherapy to work more effectively.
please let us know what you decide to do
best wishes