Hi everyone I was diagnosed with stage 2c oc

[Jasel23]

Hey guys I’m 4 months post chemo

My doctor says I’m cured? But she says there’s a chance for a recurrence?

I’m so confused with all this.

Feeling better not 100% yet.

I feel like everything is moving too fast for me and I can’t catch up. Work is fast paced It’s very hard for me to get back into it.

[Katmal-UK]

Hi Jesel, its early days for you yet. Am I right in assuming you have had surgery as well as chemo? As time goes by and you regain strength then work will hopefully seem easier. how long have you been back? Kathy xx

[Jasel23 in reply to Katmal-UK]

Hey

Thanks for responding

I had surgery then chemo. I never left work I just had time off after each chemo, about 5 days or so.

It’s just that I was just doing office work and now I’m working crazy hrs 10 sometimes 11 hrs

[Katmal-UK in reply to Jasel23]

Wow to continue to work during standard chemo is amazing and now to be working such long hours would tire even the healthiest of ppl. You need to rest and let your body recover xx

[Cropcrop]

Hi Jewel. Your doctor has probably said there’s no evidence of disease, this disease can rear it’s ugly head again but that doesn’t necessarily mean it will, I really do understand your confusion, we’ve all been there and we all have to try to live our lives as fully as we can because we just don’t know.

I found it took me around a year following both the surgery and chemo to start to feel a bit more like my old self again, it takes a while for your energy levels to get back to anything like they were and I also found work a difficult part of the road back to normality, try not to be too hard on yourself and give yourself time to get back up to speed again, don’t expect too much too soon, you will get there.

Keep as well as you possibly can be lovely ❤️Xx Jane

[Jasel23 in reply to Cropcrop]

Thank you I’ll try to take it slow

[Maxjor]

HI Jasel--its early days and I think your doctor is just covering all bases to say you're cured and you could recur. Really, no one knows and there are stage 1s who recur and stage IVs who don't. I am sure they will watch you, you will have routine check ups and you will stay diligent. I was told by my team it can take up to a year and half to feel like my old self again after surgery/chemo. It didn't take that long but everyone is different and be good to yourself but do try to get out there and do some sort of exercise daily--even a walk--just to keep up your strength and let it build back. Wishing you luck! Judy

[Craftyclara]

Hi Jasel.

I had surgery then chemo and work reduced hours through chemo as it helped with my sanity. However after chemo finished I went back to work full time and then some almost to prove to myself that I was OKAY and NORMAL. Of course I was neither as the toll had been taken physically and mentally. About six months later I crashed and burned picking up all sorts of viruses, suffered a bout of boils (Nice!) And mentally went downhill. A colleague was furious (in a good way) with me for coming back to work so early and made sure she told our boss at every opportunity as he put pressure on me within my first week. So if I can offer some words of advice be kind to yourself and don't beat yourself up that you are not back to full speed immediately. Blimey look at what you have been through. It took me about a year after surgery to feel normal (whatever that is).

Take care and take it easy. X

[CynD]

Hi Jasel:

I was diagnosed in June 2017 With stage 3C Ovarian cancer and Colon Cancer. I had chemo (Taxil/Carbo platin), then major surgery for both cancers, then more chemo. How you are working through chemo is beyond me! I'm STILL pretty much worthless in terms of strength and energy, had a host of terrible side-effects, and it's frustrating! One of the Nurse Practitioners just told me it takes like a year to fully recover from surgery and that I just need to be good to myself and give myself the time I need. It's funny, I've been spinning so fast with the business of having 2 primary cancers that I rarely remember all the things I've had to do to survive it. I mean, I literally never think about the fact that I've had the 6 chemo treatments and 2 major surgeries. What I DO think about is all the side-effects, and I find myself wondering why I don't feel well, or what's wrong with me. I mean I know I have cancer, but usually someone has to REMIND me why I might not be feeling like my old self and then I'm like, "Oh yeah, I forgot about that." Sounds strange I know. I'm in the the 2nd 3 months of NED and while the people who totally don't get it wondering why I'm not jumping for joy every second of every day, the truth is mostly now is living a hell. Emotionally, things are MUCH harder than everything before now because instead of being too overwhelmed to think about everything that going on, it's like I actually have the time to worry, and I'm always waiting for the other shoe to drop! I'm trying to figure out how to move forward in my life 3 months at a time, in a body I don't recognize anymore, with so much physical fatigue it's tough to get out of bed, and going on a shockingly small amount of sleep day after day. I no longer know how to be in my life and I am constantly fighting the anxiety of worrying about a recurrence. I can't imagine doing chemo again. It has wrecked me. So if it DOES come back, where does that leave me? And if it doesn't, I've wasted so much time in fear that it might. I can tell you from reading the posts of other women, none of this is particularly unusual, and we all have our good days and our bad days. We all have a variety of different circumstances too. What renders us all equal is living with this terrible cancer. I wish I had some amazing insight, some life-affirming words. I can only echo the idea of slowing down and giving yourself time to heal on ALL levels. It's a bit of an irony, I know, when it's "time" we are really fighting against. But please be good to yourself - whatever that means to you. There is no "right" or "wrong" or "typical," and while statistically it's much easier to predict where we are all likely to end up and if we will have a recurrence, remember that none of us is a statistic. Each of us is a unique set of circumstances and there's no telling how it's going to play out. So, let's lean on each other and hang in there together! XO

...Cyndie

P.S. Our pics look VERY similar!

[Jasel23 in reply to CynD]

Wow you are me I just didn’t know how to express it.

I feel the same exact way

[Hidden]

Welcome to the site.

We have all wrestled with what you're trying to get your head round at the moment. Doctors can't do it right, whatever they do, I think.

I feel that mine didn't make it clear to me at the outset that the chance of recurrence is very high for OC, so when I did, I was knocked for six and found it much harder to cope with than the original diagnosis.

That said, a minority of us don't recur. The problem is that no-one really knows yet who these will be, and indeed recurrence can be a long time in the future.

So, on balance, I think your doctor was kind of trying to get it a bit more right than mine, even if not as well as could be!

A woman on here was given wise advice by her surgeon at the outset about getting on with living her life, as we never know how things are going to turn out, rather than letting the fear of cancer eat it up. I think it takes us all the time it takes us individually to get to the point of being able to do that.

It does get easier, really. You'll find many of us have been back and forth with the beast numerous times and are doing okay, and, as you get to know us better, you'll find a happy few who haven't. I'll keep my fingers crossed you turn out to be one of them.

You look very young in your photo ( and I'm impressed by the stamina you're showing with all this work you're doing).... if you really are young, as opposed to just aging beautifully, there are resources specially for younger women, both on-line and Ovacome has a younger women's group too. If you do a search on here on "younger women" you'll probably find them. xxx

[citrine]

Hi Jasel

I think I was on auto pilot when I was going through chemo, I was mainly concerned with getting through it. I asked my consultant about the chances of a recurrence and he told me that whilst no one could promise that the cancer wouldn’t come back, I should try and live my life on the assumption that it wouldn’t, otherwise I’d be paralysed. From this I took the message that as this is something I can’t control, I should not waste valuable remission time worrying about it. Every time I started to feel anxious I would repeat “Docor’s Orders“ to myself as a mantra. I know this won’t work for everyone but it did work for me.

Make some plans for treats in the future and spoil yourself rotten.

Wishing you the best of luck.

Mary