Clear Cell Cancer

This is all new to me.  My mother was recently (last week) diagnosed with cancer - we don't know the extent of the cancer just yet - it's too soon to tell.  What I do know is that the tumor was cancerous/it was ovarian and it of the clear cell kind.  It was quite large.  She also had a "lump" on the top of her uterus, although nothing was said if that was cancerous.  The performed a hyserectomy and removed her lymph nodes, we get the full extent of stage etc. In a couple of weeks.  I don't even know what to ask the doctors.  They did say chemo is a definite must.

Does anyone know about this sort of cancer?  I am at a loss and unfortunately on my own with this (no other family).  It's quite difficult as I am sure you all know. 

I guess I would like to ask as well, if anyone knows where I can get some information for my mom to read.  You see, she has already sucummed to the thought that she is dieing of cancer and that she does not have long to live. She also is unaware of how this affects me - I just get "well pardon me, but I am  dieing of cancer" etc.  She's not realising that I too am scared, I may potentially be losing my only family. 

 Rambling here... please let me know.

There are many resources available to both your Mom and yourself. Ovarian cancer is a very serious cancer and your Mom's feelings about dying are very common. There are also caregiver (family, friends) support available. I would suggest either your local cancer support agency found either through your community and/or through your Mom's oncologist/oncology nurse and also through the family physician.

ACOR is an online listserve which supports cancer patients. It can be found at: http://www.acor.org. There is an excellent group of ovarian cancer survivours/caregivers and also separate forums for caregivers. I hope this helps just a bit.

I was dx'd with clear cell ovarian cancer in 1999 and after surgery, chemo and radiation therapy have not had a recurrence. I hope this for your Mom as well. Take care.

Dear what 2 do,

I read your message and it reminded me of myself a year and a half ago, when my mother was diagnosed stage 3C OC, clear cell and another type of OC.

As I do not live in the States nor in Canada, I will not be able to provide you useful information, such as family support information, but I just tell you what I did. I hope it may help you.

The first thing I did when I knew my mother has OC, is to search on internet about the disease, and ask my doctor friend about this disease. I just tried to know everything about the disease, so I can be prepared when I had to meet the doctor.

Knowing about the disease will not be a pleasant experience, as most of the time; information is shocking. But, by knowing better, you can be prepared a little more for what may occur next and have some time to think about the next step.

I know that it is really hard to have a mother who has cancer, and not knowing what will happen next but know that you are not alone. There are many people in the same situation as yours, and trying to do the best.

Please spend as much time with your mother and talk as much as you can with her, and do as many things as you can, things that she wants to do. (ex. Going dinner, etc…) Enjoy every moment with her.

I am not telling you to scare, and everybody is reacting differently to the disease, but I am saying this because my mother passed away in December, and for 1.5 years while she was fighting against the disease, I did the above things and I do not regret doing it.

I am very sad that I lost my mother and I am alone with my sister (because my father also passed away last year, so it means that I lost both parents in the same year) but I am happy that I fulfilled everything my mother wanted to do, and could spend as much time as I could with her.

I do not know if your mother already had an operation but I hope that everything will go well and she will get better soon.

Let me start by saying that I am very sorry to hear of your mom's diagnoses. I had surgery on 12/29/08 for what the doctors thought was a large cyst.  It turned out to be clear cell ovarian cancer.  I went back in for lymph nodes and I am officially stage 1C since it did not spread to anything else.  Your Moms treatment will depend on the stage but I will tell you the very least she is looking at is 6 weeks of chemo.  It is very normal to have those, "I'm dying" moments but they will calm down. 

My doctor said that clear cell is unfortunately more aggressive than most and will be monitored closely.  I am still learning about it myself.  I will not be having any radiation treatments.. Will your Mom? I have an 18yr old daughter so I will be doing genetic testing and I hope that your mom will consider that also.    

 She will need a lot of support during the chemo which I am sure you will supply.  My best goes out to you and your mom.  Please email back to let me know.