Why I had chemo?

[Daniellafriman]

I just read your comments from other posts and lot of women said that when they had low grade, they don't ned chemo.

My cancer was dealt with surgery and I have low grade and still need to go through chemos.

Now I'm ned and eating rest of my life letrozole , my cells are hormone sensitive too.

Is it chemo useful even when others said that it's useless?

Thanks again ❤

[Sunfleury-UK]

Daniella, no one has said that chemo is useless- it is always though a balance between potential benefit and potential risk. Although many of us here have been diagnosed with ovarian cancer- there are different sub-groups, stages and grades. Women may have other variables eg BRCA types, oestrogen receptive etc etc as well as having other health issues etc etc. Understanding how best to treat is rapidly evolving... and part of that includes understanding how sometimes chemo is more or less effective for different people. It is complex though and it is important to remember that you are an individual, not a statistic...

I'm not sure where you are being treated- some countries also have slightly different treatment approaches.

It's really important to recognise that you (as all of us here) are individuals and your Oncologist will know the specifics of your own situation best. If you are in the UK, you are able to request a second opinion & I would also encourage you to ring the Ovacome nurse-led helpline as they have a great deal of knowledge and support available.

It is a scary time being diagnosed, treated and coming to terms with things. It can be useful sometimes to share these concerns with a counseller or CNS (nurse).

Best wishes, Sx

[Daniellafriman in reply to Sunfleury-UK]

Thank you so much for this reply ! So helpful

I had my treatments in Finland cause' my husband works there so we live most of the our time there. There they use very often op and chemo and radiation and offer plenty after-care medication.

I just read that in Finland they have almost the best cancer care in the world. I keep my thumbs up for that... 😁

[keeponkeepingon in reply to Daniellafriman]

I also have low grade I was treated with surgery and 6 rounds of carboplatin and taxol,this was at the Royal Marsden,professor Martin Gore told me it was worth having and if I was his wife he would want me to have it.

[Daniellafriman in reply to keeponkeepingon]

Ouh, thanks for know

[Daniellafriman in reply to keeponkeepingon]

Are you ned now? Can I ask what stage you have? 😁 and cause you have low grade do you need hormone blocker?

[Lynne65]

Hi Daniela

I am low grade (1c, 1 mucinous OC) removed by surgery and just started on 6 cycles of Carboplatin. My Oncologist said that medical opinion was divided as to whether I needed chemotherapy but she said that if she were in my shoes she would definitely have it.

I am taking all the help I can get,

Wishing you all the best 💞

Lynne

[Daniellafriman in reply to Lynne65]

Thanks, good to know !

[TinaB1]

It depends too. Chemo isn't always effective with low grade but it's often used to combat ascites. It also helped me as mine was late stage and aggressive. Xx

[Daniellafriman in reply to TinaB1]

I don't have ascites 🤔 well, have to think that I didn't take all that for nothing 😇

[TinaB1 in reply to Daniellafriman]

Hi there .. your oncologist should explain the advantages and disadvantages.. xxxx

[Daniellafriman in reply to TinaB1]

All they said was just " just for make sure every cell dies" . But thanks

[Hidden]

Chemo is not useless, I was diagnosed in 2006 and am still here after a few recurrences. It has given me the chance to see my grandson born, he is now five and a half. I dont regret having chemo for one minute and if I need it again then I will be back on the gravy train for a bit.

[Daniellafriman in reply to Hidden]

You are inspiration !! Xx

[Hidden]

i dont know about that, !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Daniellafriman in reply to Hidden]

Heh.. Can I ask what stage you was at your diagnosis in 2006?

[Hidden]

I didnt ask, all I know it hadnt spread to any organs in fact I was lucky it didnt, recurrences have always been in the same area,

[Daniellafriman in reply to Hidden]

I didn't either had anything on any organs ,couple dead cells and few lowgrade cells on omentum. Dr was happy of that.

[koffeekat99]

I don't think anyone has said that chemo is useless.

I am low grade (3b) and was told chemo was very unlikely to work for me. So I am on the 'wait and see' approach. I had debulking surgery with bits of tumour left in a couple of places that they couldn't quite get to without leaving me with a stoma. So I'd potentially qualify for further surgery but with high likelihood of coming out of it with a stoma. I also still qualify for chemo and can choose to have it if I want. However, I spoke at length with the team about it. They gave me a very detailed account of why they thought chemo was very unlikely to work in my particular case. After listening to what they said I had no reason to doubt what they said.

I think as well the team took account of things that I had said regarding my wishes about quality of life.

I've never considered myself to not 'need' chemo. Rather I correct people when they tell me I'm lucky that I don't need it. I tell them that I have been advised that it is very unlikely to work in my particular case, very different to not needing it.

But I'm also careful to point out that it's very individual and I am a rare case. My biopsy results were also unusual. So I would never suggest to anyone with OC or with low grade OC in particular that their case was the same as mine.

I have noted that most of the people on here with low grade OC have had chemo following surgery. I have reassessed my original decision but came back to the same decision that I made previously. For me, the wait and see approach was the right decision. But for another person with low grade OC it may not be the right decision.

I think there is some benefit in asking around to see what people are doing and see what kinds of options there are. But I also think that you can only use that in a small way to inform your own decision. You can't take what other people have done as the right or the wrong answer. Cancer is a lot more individual than many people realise. I doubt very much that a trained oncologist would recommend chemo if they didn't consider there to be a potential benefit in doing it.

[Daniellafriman in reply to koffeekat99]

Thanks, this is very helpful. Yes,I know that everybody is individual but most of the people say the same thing. But thanks again!