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    <title>Can metastatic tumors be removed?</title>
    <description>Latest messages for CancerCompass discussion</description>
    <link>http://www.cancercompass.com/message-board/message/all,31719,0.htm</link>
    <pubDate>Sun, 22 Nov 2009 00:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
    <lastBuildDate>Sun, 22 Nov 2009 00:00:00 GMT</lastBuildDate>
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      <title>Can metastatic tumors be removed?</title>
      <description>Hi, I&amp;#39;m new here, so I&amp;#39;ll try to condense my story as much as I possibly can.&amp;nbsp; I desperately want to hear from other OVCA patients about their experiences with tumors which metastasized from their inirial locations.&amp;nbsp;I was diagnosed with large fibroids in 2000, which, upon surgery, turned out to be cancer in both ovaries.&amp;nbsp; The surgeon removed everything and said that I had stage 2(a) and that hopefully, they had gotten everything, but just to be sure, they put me on four rounds of - I think it was Cisplatin which eventually brought my CA-125 level from 99 to 8.&amp;nbsp; Since anything under 35 is considered &amp;quot;normal,&amp;quot; I truly believed I was in remission.&amp;nbsp; Bottom line - I was mistaken.&amp;nbsp; It kept coming back at closer and closer intervals.&amp;nbsp;Taxol worked well, but&amp;nbsp;left me bald and very sick.&amp;nbsp; I missed a lot of treatments due to low blood counts.&amp;nbsp; Carboplatin was far easier to tolerate and didn&amp;#39;t take my hair out.&amp;nbsp; But then suddenly, it stopped working.&amp;nbsp; My CA-125 more than doubled and the pain on my left side&amp;nbsp;is &amp;nbsp;almost unbearable.&amp;nbsp; I&amp;nbsp;use the 100 mg Duragesic patch, plus morphine sulfate. but it still feels like there&amp;#39;s a knife grinding away inside my body.&amp;nbsp; I&amp;#39;ve seen three well-known surgeons who all have said that the tumor is too large to remove.&amp;nbsp; There is a protrusion almost the size of a ping-pong ball between my breasts with many smaller tumors surrounding it.&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; The CT scan shows it as rubbing against my heart on the left side and way over to my kidney on the other side.&amp;nbsp; I don&amp;#39;t care about the inside - I just want to end the pain..&amp;nbsp; I&amp;#39;ve been told I have six months to live with out chemo and perhaps a year with one of the&amp;nbsp; &amp;quot;salvage&amp;quot; drugs like Gemzar or Doxil, which my doctor isn&amp;#39;t even sure I&amp;nbsp;could&amp;nbsp;take because&amp;nbsp;my blood counts tend to go too low too fast.&amp;nbsp; I am very anxious to hear similar stories/suggestions &amp;nbsp;from others who have been through this.&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;Thanks so much for listening,Fran&amp;nbsp;Any information or </description>
      <author>hoping_for_help</author>
      <pubDate>Thu, 01 Jan 2009 00:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
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