Treatment

[OanaN]

I am stage 1a high serous ovarian cancer and I was put in the position to choose between adjuvant chemo or only observation.Feeling confused

[SuffolkJen]

Hi OanaN

I was also stage 1a although clear cell. I was strongly advised to have the adjuvant chemo as clear cell is aggressive but also doesn’t respond particularly well to chemo🤷🏻‍♀️

I decided to have the chemo because if I had a recurrence I wanted to know I’d done everything I could have at the time to prevent it.

Chemo isn’t easy it’s tough but doable.

Not an easy decision but it has to be YOUR decision once you have all the information. Unfortunately, No one has a crystal ball.

I finished chemo 2 years ago and remain NED with a low CA125 .

Good luck with whatever you decide xx Jen

[delia2]

Hi. That’s a tough decision. I probably would have refused chemo if I thought I would get away with it but that’s probably not the safest decision. Most of us are stages 3 and 4 which is a totally different situation. Can you ask your oncologist what the data says about the difference in odds of recurrence? Also ask if you could have carboplatin alone. It’s taxol that causes hair loss and neuropathy. That might be a good middle path.

[JDKPA in reply to delia2]

I agree about getting away with no chemo, but you just never know...my cancer was 3C and a very aggressive uterine serous carcinoma. I had no choice...went thru the whole gamut of surgery, chemo, radiation only to have it recur 18 months after my final treatment. My oncologist wanted to start chemo immediately but I wanted it out of me. Got a second opinion from another gynecology oncologist who said he could do "surgery with curative intent". He did and then I started the routine all over again, sandwiched. After 3 chemos and 3 radiations, I was DONE and quit because I was so horribly sick, in and out of the hospital. It was a calculated risk and that was in 2012.

best wishes to you....

[Saintgermain]

Not to scare you but stage 1's can recur I would do the chemo I have a survivor friend stage 1 did 3 chemo not the 6 that's standard for stage 3 & 4's she's 6 years no evidence of disease it will mop up any residual cancer cells if your cancer is estrogen positive I suggest a estrogen inhibitor like Letrozole

[Lynne65]

Hi, sorry you have found yourself in this situation. I had stage 1c mucinous ovarian cancer at the age of 50. I was also given this choice. My female oncologist, who was around the same age as me, said that if she were in my shoes she would have the chemo. I chose to have the chemo to give me the best possible chance of surviving for as long as I could. I have been in remission now for 8 years. As well as keeping fit and healthy, I know that I have done all I can to improve my chances of being cancer free. I had Carboplatin only. Wishing you well with whatever decision you make. 💕

[Emcee71 in reply to Lynne65]

My oncologist (also female) said the same. The difference being that if she did chemo and had to take 6 months off work, she would get sick pay and I don't!

[Emcee71]

I'm sorry you've had this diagnosis. One thing you might want to consider is - IF and only IF it were to recur, how important is it to know whether or not your individual cancer responded to chemo or not? I had not thought about this when I made my choice to have the chemo (I have a different type of diagnosis to you - Clear Cell - but with a similar low response rate). Yes, I was NED after surgery, when I was offered the same options, but that's all it meant. No evidence of disease visible to the naked eye. I did not have a baseline CT scan after my op. Only after chemo finished. Your situation may be different.

If it comes back, the suitability for people for clinical trials for new treatments here in the UK seems to me to rest on whether or not you responded to chemo and how quickly the recurrence happened after chemo ended. This isn't right in my opinion, but it does appear to be true (you'll want to check this yourself though). If you have not had chemo at all, would you qualify for any promising trials?

So perhaps that might be a factor in your decision making along with the wise things that other ladies here have said.

Doing the chemo made me sicker, no doubt. I felt amazing after surgery. Now 7-8 months on, I'm still suffering from crippling fatigue (which is also no doubt due to the menopause and a possible auto-immune condition) and kidney issue (which may or may not be due to the surgery, or the chemo, or a possible auto-immune condition!) and financial problems due to not being able to work during treatment. At times, part of me feels regret for doing the treatment particularly as I was told there was high likelihood of cure following surgery and that it was possible they were over-treating me. But I have to concede that I did the right thing, particularly if I qualify for clinical trials later down the line, if I recur, when things would not look quite so rosy. As my oncologist said 'the time to treat it is now'.

I hope you feel you can ask any questions you want to your team and get clear answers. Good Luck X