I had 4 chemos prior to my debulking surgery on January 7th this year. After the surgery I was told there was no cancer left, not even at microscopic level. I was due to start the final two 'washup' chemos in March and April but due to stomach pains (I was told this was post operative pain) I missed the March chemo, and was in hospital and diagnosed with cancer before the second chemo. Yesterday I had the first of the new series of chemo, my consultant has said that it is possible that the same thing will happen after this set of chemos - does anyone know anything about any connection?
Thak you, Phia x
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phia
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Hi there. It hasnt happened to me but I'm a bit unsure about your post. If you still had two chemos to go it might have been a residue?? I'd investigate more with your team to put your mind at rest. Sending you the best of wishes - Trish
Yes, I still had two chemos to go, but these were delayed with the agreement of the oncologist as we went away for a rest. I was given such clear information that every last cell had been removed, that I had no worries about delaying. Ni I/ve been told this was partly the reason for it having spread. Phia x
I too would ask more of your team that there wasn't some residue post op? of course it's not going to help you now with what treatment you have but it might out your mind at rest to know for sure. I know that in your shoes that I would feel 'happier' knowing that it was left over growing as opposed to new cancer coming to the fore, does that make sense? Each time I've recurred it's because there's been some post chemo blighters hanging on in there.
Take care and don't firget there's lots of different treatments out there and if you have been unlucky with your result on this first one, there's lots of. others that could be more effective
I think there is a difference between the surgeons having removed everything they can see and actually having a clear scan..as Trish says getting some clarification from your team would help and maybe ask them more about their decision to offer further chemo now?
All the best...I know you must be worried but knowledge is power!
My surgeon told me after surgery that he had removed everything he saw but that he could not rule out "micro mets" which don't show on a CT either. I'm not sure in your case how they could say there was nothing left even on a microscopic level, I was told they didn't know . Hence the chemo. He also took an ungodly number of lymph nodes and said that was correlated with better outcome (even if the nodes didn't have obvious cancer because again there could be these dastardly micromets - couldn't they see them with a microscope???). He also said a few things that didn't make total sense to me. I asked if stray cancer cells "fell off" the tumors (and mine ruptured) if they would seed and he said they couldn't exist on their own and would die off. But then how does the disease spread? Bottom line, sad to say I don't think they've figured out a lot about the mechanisms of OC. I wish you well with 2nd line, hopefully this will do the trick.
Thank you so much Martina, your reply just goes to show, as you say, the 'experts' really haven't got this horrible disease figured out yet. xx
I would agree with the other ladies and go back and ask questions, like is it residualOC they are dealing with now. Have you had a ct scan and bloods. Sometimes treatment is stopped before surgery and then restarted so this may be the case. I think they did not make themselves too clear, so back to the team with your list of questions and you can also ring the Ovacome Nurse here for advice.
Hi, i had my surgery first, prior to any chemo. My surgeon told me he had managed to get all visible disease. My chemo started 4 weeks later and I had CT scan day before it started. This scan showed cancer cells had started to regrow. My chemo got rid of it. Good luck. Ann x
I'm apalled at your doctors statement of being cancer free w/o a ct scan. CA 125, ct scan and finally histopathology, all of them play a role in determining malignancy. All the best and here's praying that the residue will be washed away with the remaining treatment, which I am sure it will.
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