sisters cancer gettig worse

[carolyns]

Hi,I havent asked a question in quite a while but this is concerning my sisters ovca. she was  never able to have surgery for debulking or hysterectomy,but started right away on chemo.we saw the dr today and i asked the reason for this, he explained that she has tumors to may places to remove.they told us that the ones on overies have gotten larger.asitites in abdomial.cancer real close to liver,and aorta,also alot of llymps nodes,she also has cancer on bowel.She was diagnosed 2 years with stage 3c and has been having chemo almost non stop since. we have had one other sister and mother die from this disease. our question is what kind of prognosis concerning amount of time she has left? she has started to lose weight with from constant diareaha and lose of appetite. Thank you in advance for your responce

[Helmar]

Cisplatin is very harsh and apparently causes terrible nausea and other side affects. I've never had it, as my Oncol. tells me that Carboplatin does just as good a job, but without the same toxicity. I had great success with Carbo/Taxotere.... could your sister try that combo? Hopefully, if the chemo works at reducing the cancer, your sister will begin to feel much better, and with that, maybe surgery could still be an option.  My Oncol. told me to take half Apirin each day to combat any possibility of blood clots while doing the chemo.It's not as risky as  Coumadin if contemplating further surgery.

[carolyns]

we asked about surgery and the dr tell us that she is to riskey for surgery because of the amount of cancer and the fact that she has a blood clot and is on couminidin. she is a very strong woman and has been fighting this for 2 1/2 years. she has been on 5 different kinds of chemo,the latest cisplatin. she became very sick on this and it keeps her magnesium low and has to have weekly magnesium iv . she ended in the hospital with bowel obstruction 2 wees ago. this week she will be starting etoposide vp-16.has anyone taken this that can tell us what to expect? love to all of you

[crecco]

Just wondering, have they ever changed the chemo med your sister is on? As the cancer could build up a tolerence to it. I too had chemo before debulking surgery, to reduce every thing as much as possible. Then has to have RFA to my liver for the tumors left in there. I'm afraid that is going to end up causing me the most problems as that is where it keeps coming back. I hope that her drs make a move soon so she doesn't get to weakened ffom the diahhrea and weight loss. The best of luck to her.  LOL Chris

[Sam_in_UK]

Hi, I agree with Helen, see if they can operate on your sister before it is too late. My mum deteriorated very quickly once she lost her appetite and eventually ended up with a bowel obstruction. It was a very rapid decline and mum was definitely too weak to have any type of surgery. I hope your sister sees some improvements very soon. Much love Sam x

[Helmar]

Hello...Just wondering if there is any possibility that they could operate on your sister, and cut out some of the bigger tumours... or at least the cancer that can be taken without putting her life in jeopardy. If they could get some of the cancer out, that would leave less for the chemo to attack. Sometimes this is done.... people have the chemo first, followed by an operation, as that allows the chemo to work at shrinking the tumours thus giving the surgeon a better chance of taking out as much cancer as possible. Don't give up on your sister yet though, as I was dx with Stage 4 back in Feb.04 and I've been pretty much on non-stop chemo too. If the Doctors can do something more, then they should, before she loses too much weight and loses her appetite. This is one horrible disease.
I wish you sister all the best and I do hope that something can be done for her soon...hugs...Helen...