relapse after 6 months

[anjar]

my wife had debulking surgery and 7 sessions of chimo,(last chimo july 2005)with CA125 reading at 8 in sept 05.Jan 2006 CA125 reading went up to 55 and scan showed the cancer is back.However the doctor does not want to start chimo again till after 2 months.I cant understand the logic of this? He says experience has shown that it works better that way.Should one not treat the cancer immediately?.Physically and mentally my wife is feeling very much normal.
Also Doctor says that each relapse will return in a shorter time.Does that mean that this time it returned in 6 months the next time it may return in 4 months?

[DebiR]

I don't have any answers for you but I just want to tell you that I will say a prayer for your wife and for you.

[xrayu2]

What is her staging number now versus what it was when she was first diagnosed?

[sueg]

Hello anjar,
I had my last chemo in August 2005 and by the December I was getting stomach pains and my ca125 had gone up to 191.I had a ct scan showing the cancer was back.I started chemo again at the beginning of january but because it had returned within 6 months I was unable to have carboplatin and taxol again as it was classed as 'not working'.Maybe your wife's doctor wants to hold out just that bit longer so that she can be given the platinum drugs again,and as she isn't having any pains that's why they have opted to wait a bit longer,so her body can regain even more strength ready for the chemo again.
I've no idea whether 'remissions' become shorter each time-I hope thats not true! Sue.

[Barney22]

I've had a similar experience - my consultant also delayed treatment until they were certain it was coming back - sometimes it reverses direction and also to give the chemo a better chance to work.  I think your body responds better the longer the interval and there is less chance of the cancer cells becoming resistant to the chemo.  I'm restarting taxol/carboplatin next week - I just met the 6 month interval before relapse, but they have 'strung things out' so it will be about 10 months since my last chemo.  Hope things go well - just wanted to reassure you that your wife's consultant isn't doing something peculiar.