Chemo: looking for advices

[coconut123]

Hi everyone,

I’m looking for advices on chemo. Indeed, I’m actually on adjuvant chemo following an operation during which they removed an ovarian cyst that was cancerous. The operation was sucessful but they decided to prescribe adjuvant chemo (6 treatments) to prevent the apparition of any cancerous cells.

I have now completed my fourth chemo and given that I’m getting reallly tired and can’t do much anymore, I was wondering if, in some case or following anyone’s experience, it sometimes happens that they cut down the chemo to 5 treatments given that the last scan, which was done after my third treatment, was totally clear? I guess what I am trying to say is that given it is an adjuvant or preventive chemo, that my scan was clear and that I’m starting to be really down because of the chemo side effects, is it possible that there would be more payoff stoping it after 5 treatments?

Thanks for your time😉

[BeeWild]

Hi lovely, chemo is hard and the effects are cumulative but generally your docs will want you to complete the course to make sure the beast is well and truly beaten!

This disease is a sneaky pest and can come back and bite you again so think that’s why they want you to have the whole course. It’s worth asking your oncologist though

Did they say which stage and what type of ovarian cancer you have?

[Seasun36-uk]

Hi Coconut,

I agree with BeeWild (to continue with the chemo) - the Oncologists follow a carefully researched protocol that has taken many years to perfect.

So stick with it....knowing that every infusion is destroying any invisible rouge cells!

Best wishes, Linda xx

[coksd]

I was feeling like that 4,5 & 6 build up on your system and become more potent but to be honest when I finished 6 about a week later I was fine I did start yoga to help with energy I practice the sun salutation daily and started nutritional therapy when I got my taste back. I met my oncologist at the start of session 5 and said I can't take this anymore its awful he offered to drop taxol and continue with carbo but I had lost all my hair and suffered the bad days I didn't want to quit then, I couldn't have surgery as my cancer is advanced so I stuck with it. Good luck hope you can get through the last few sessions. Clare xx

[Lily-Anne]

I had adjuvant chemo but not a full course. There are trials at the moment looking at the effectiveness of 3. Versus the trade off of side effects.

My oncologist at the time gave me the choice so I took the discontue option. That was in 2012. But it seems all oncologists behave differently

LA

[Di16]

I'vehad chemo, though it wasn't adjuvant. I remember sitting in the car waiting for my husband to take me to the hospital for my 4th Carboplatin. When he sat down beside me, I was feeling so fed up with chemo & its effects, I said "S-- the chemo, I'm not going." I really didn't want to put myself through any more. But then, after us both sitting there for a few minutes, I decided to go anyway, thinking that as I'd got halfway through the course anyway, I might as well finish & hopefully give myself a better chance of it having an effect. But we are all different, with different circumstances, so your oncologist is the best one to discuss your. Options with. Di

[Coxsar]

I had 5 adjuvant carbo as my consultant gave me the choice and I decided not to have the last one. Like you I was so fed up of feeling low and no energy. 14 months later I have a recurrence and now the cancer is in my upper stomach and pelvis,peritoneal and I have acites.

Please really think about it although maybe the last one won’t have made much difference in my story but I will never know .

Good luck

[bamboo89]

I've a friend who had adjuvant chemo - she was supposed to have 6 treatments, but they stopped after 4 because she was so ill, it did something or other to her blood that made it too risky to continue, but her cancer was not OC, and she has been on tablets since for 15 years to keep it at bay. That's not uncommon with chemo, for people not to have all the treatments because of health issues it causes. And I know a very few oncologists give as little chemo as possible, and may only offer 3 or 4 treatments if the response is good... but most just follow the prescribed route of 6 treatments.

In the end, you have to make the decision yourself, based on whatever information you can gather. There are plenty of people around who have a recurrence even if they had all 6 treatments with chemo, but on the other hand, you've already got 4 treatments under your belt, so you're nearly there, with only two left... and if it came back and you'd stopped at 4, would you always think 'if only I'd had those last two treatments'...

In case you're wondering, I didn't have any, I refused it, so no personal experience of it at all I'm afraid.

[Maus123]

Hiya. I'm in a simular situation in that I'm undergoing chemo following successful surgery (only in my case for low grade serous OC recurrence) , and I contemplated stopping after no 4 or 5 too. Especially since chemo seems to have no impact on my ca125 which still hovers around 100.

Still, I chose to finish the course, because I want no remaining doubt, in case of another recurrence, that I at least tried.

All the best with your chemo and wishing you a long remission. Maus

[Kkaren]

I find the comments interesting ladies. I am due to start chemo next week. Surgery was a big success so chemo just a mop up exercise. Very anxious about it. Initially I misunderstood and thought I was getting four cycles which turned out to be six. You’ve no idea the difference the two made! The way I am getting my head round it is by telling myself that if it is too awful then I don’t need to do it - simple. However having read some of your comments then perhaps it’s not quite that simple after all. Bit like mastermind “I’ve started so I’ll finish”. Wish me luck folks