BEATING THE ODDS?

[Lind58]

My mom was told the prognosis is about 2 year survival for her Ovarian Cancer stage 3C because it touched the liver - she has not started chemo as of yet, will start next week. Anyone beat the odds of what the doctor predicted?

[Katmal-UK]

Hi I am stage 3, was told my prognosis was not good and that I only had 2 years, well that was Oct 2007. Still here despite 2 recurrences, currently 5 years 4 months NED with CA125 below 3. My mum was stage 3, told she would be lucky to see 5 years and went over 14 with no recurrence of OC. xx

[Lind58 in reply to Katmal-UK]

Great news, what was your first line treatment? how did you deal with your first chemo? Anything I should know? Breaks my heart someone who is always helping everyone else now has to go through all this pain and suffering.

[Katmal-UK in reply to Lind58]

Hi. First treatment folllowing surgery wasnt easy, a lot of that is fear of the unknown. The effects are cumulative so by the 4th, 5th and fibal cycle I felt a lot worse and recovery time was longer but having said all that I was back working full time within 6 weeks. There is extreme fatigue, nausea (make sure yr mum gets the right antisickness meds that work for her) . Stay away from crowds if possible and dont let anyone near with any known virus or colds etc. My first line was Carboplatin, Taxol and a trial of Avastin. The taxol was stopped after cycle 4 as I developed peripheral neuropathy in my feet. I also lost all my hair. I hope your mums treatment goes well. Tell her to listen to her body and rest when she needs to. Kathy xx

[Mlowery]

This makes me so cross when medics give an expiry date. We are all individual . This disease messes with your head enough. Take each day by day. Best wishes Maureen.

[Hidden]

the doctors tell you the worst case scenario, more women are living with OC these days. I was diagnosed in 2006 and still here, I have had recurrences and challenging times. Don't google or you will get upset because the stats are out of date, I hope your Mum does well

[Yoshbosh]

I’m at almost 3 years and was diagnosed stage 3. I’m on my third bout of treatment, but I’m doing OK 😊 Unless the Doctor has a crystal ball, I don’t know how anyone can accurately predict how these things go.

[dmr24]

I’m 2 and half years NED and was given stage 3. I’ve been very lucky and have not had a recurrance. We are all individuals. Best wishes to your Mum.

Dil

[Tesla_7US]

I'm stage 3c and three years out from diagnosis. I've had one recurrence. It was on my liver and my surgeon cut it off. You might want to get a second opinion.

[Andrea63]

My doctors don’t give a prediction. If I’ve asked them they admit they don’t know.

[AnneSB]

I am stage 4. I was told 2 to 2.5 years in Feb 2015. I have just had one recurrence this year but am still going strong nearly 4 years later. At the moment I’m sitting on a cruise boat on the way back from a 12 day trip right up into the Artic Circle in Norway. Never say never! I hope your mum does as well.

Anne x

[Lind58 in reply to AnneSB]

Amazing anne!! Having an amazing holiday, and I am sure you have learned to not take any moments for granted

[AnneSB in reply to Lind58]

Certainly not; I try to live life to the full and enjoy myself but I don’t take anything for granted anymore!

[Cropcrop]

I’m 4 years NED, the doctors don’t know how we will react to treatments because we are all individuals, the treatments are improving all the time as is the knowledge out there. I have a really good friend who was diagnosed stage 4 over 4 years ago, we met at the cancer hospital and did our chemo together. She’s still NED and as well as she could hope to be so please don’t place too much store in the doctors prognosis , they work on very old statistics that are so out of date and really don’t apply any more. Please stay clear of the internet, Dr Google is very antiquated and will scare you all unnecessarily.

I hope your mum’s treatment goes well, love and hugs from across the pond ❤️Xx Jane

[bamboo89]

Statistically, what they've said to your mom may be accurate - but individually, predictions like that can't be accurately made. My senior oncologist was very frank with me - he told me that historically, they had people with a very good prognosis who died within 6 months, and others with a really bad prognosis who were still alive 10 years later - and they have no idea why. Which I think might be why, in the UK, most oncologists no longer speak in terms of how much time an individual may have left to them.

[thehusband]

I always remember an Oncologist telling my wife and I that you could have identical twins diagnosed with identical staging and identical symptoms. One could live a day and one could live forever. In other words it's virtually impossible to know how its going to work out for anyone. That said one (useless) Onc told my wife 6 months ish, she managed to get 15 ish months more than that. Good luck.

[Lily-Anne]

They don’t have a crystal Ball 🔮 you only have to look back at my posts to see they throw out their thoughts based on their experiences but we’re all different

LA xx