1st reccurence and a 1 year prognosis

[Worrieddaughter95]

my mum is currently tolerating her second line of chemo after a ‘significant’ reccurence just under a year after frontline.

Her oncologist has supported her medical retirement and wrote her prognosis is less than a year.

How can this possibly be

[N-A-58]

hi, can you explain what you mean by medical retirement? Is she one her 2nd line of chemo?

[Worrieddaughter95 in reply to N-A-58]

Second line of chemo, she applied for ill health retirement and although she doesn’t know this, this was written on her notes

[N-A-58 in reply to Worrieddaughter95]

Ah ok, my mum ‘retired’ at 60 when diagnosed but it wasn’t put on her notes.

No one knows but how it works generally is the remission periods get shorter after each treatment cycle and she is ‘only’ on her 2nd line. There are a few more options if she wants and can tolerate them. I would try to ignore the 12 month prognosis and concentrate on the here and now. My mum responded with an excellent result (oncologist and radiologist used the word excellent) on her 2nd line. Ca125 back down to 14. She did that Feb- May 2022 and is still here now (15 months later).

[Worrieddaughter95 in reply to N-A-58]

Which treatment did she have for 2nd line? X

[N-A-58 in reply to Worrieddaughter95]

Carbo/caelyx

[Irisisme]

Hello,

These days I think it’s unusual to get an oncologist to give any prognosis because it’s so unpredictable. There are so many new drugs coming on the market, some in trials now.

I believe the ‘one year prognosis’ may have been just to help your mum get that medical retirement she needed to help her cope with treatment. I’ve been ‘palliative only’ for the last 7 years and there are probably many here who have been surviving longer.

Please don’t believe a prognosis. Please don’t Google it - most info is out of date. It sometimes depends on how well a patient can tolerate chemo - and there are many types of chemo drug. Then there are trials if they fail.

I had Cisplatin (an older version of carboplatin) and Caelyx this year and I didn’t cope as well as when on others. Everyone is different. I expect to be on chemo again next year but I expect to still be enjoying life!

Please keep hoping,

Iris 🤗🍀

[Fluffyjumper]

Hi

I think that the one year prognosis is the terminology used to support your mum’s medical retirement and is not a ‘real’ prognosis. I have known several friends and a family member who received a 12 month prognosis to support access to pension or benefits. All are still here several years later.