Recent Diagnosis

My wife has recently been diagnosed with Fallopian Tube Cancer and is scheduled to begin the first of six chemotherapy treatments with Taxol at the end of the first week of December. We are told the long term prognosis is good but I am am frankily scared about the whole chemotherapy treatment process. Perhaps I am more scared than she is but the whole thing seems surreal and I an worried that I will not be fully prepared to be her caregiver. We are doing what the doctors have told us to do for preparation. I cannot seem to find much information on this cancer. Does anyone know where I can find any information? Kelly

Hi, I am sorry to hear of your wife's diagnosis, and I completely
understand the shock and bewilderment it bestows on you.
While I do not have fallopian cancer, I do have ovarian cancer,
and went through a very similar situation to yours just two
years ago. The two types of cancers are very similar and are
often treated the same way. Chemo, especially first line chemo,
is not as bad as it used to be. There are drugs today to help
control nausea and vomiting, and they work quite well. The
chemo itself is painless, except for getting an I.V. stuck in your
arm. She might want to look into getting a breastbone area
port installed, which many women do. The chemo also includes
pre-meds to prevent allergic reactions, and sometimes these
premeds can make you very tired or woozy. So it would be
good if someone could be there with her especially the first
time as that can feel a little scary.

Usually chemo will put you out of commission for about 5 -6
days. The first two days aren't too bad, but the next 2 - 3 are
basically flat out in bed days. Your wife should not plan
anything for about 5 days after chemo. Days 5 -7 you are
feeling better but usually very tired, so it is advisable not to
attempt to return to normal activities until about a week after
chemo. Generally she will have chemo once every three weeks.
The exception is that elderly women are often given smaller
weekly doses rather than high doses once every three weeks. It
will be important to arrange for support for your wife, and
perhaps you can ask a friend to arrange for others to bring you
meals. You should ask people not to call her a lot during the
week after chemo as she will need her rest. If she takes the anti
nausea drugs, she should not get sick at all.

She will likely lose her hair, usually 14 days after the first
chemo, so if she plans to get a wig, she should go immediately
to be fitted while she still has hair that can be matched.

In terms of a good resource for her, there is an online forum at
www.acor.org for this type of cancer. There is also an active
ovarian cancer group, and she may want to join this one as
well. This site is an invaluable source of information, but you
need to join the discussion group appropriate to her form of
cancer. Lastly, I would suggest looking for clinical trials early in
the process. There is a vaccine study going on at Roswell Park
in Buffalo, NY that accepts patients with Fallopian Tube cancer.
You may want to check and see if they will be enrolling more
patients later this year, after your wife is done her chemo. The
study doctor is Dr. Kunle Odunsi.

Best of luck to you wife, and definitely make sure she logs on
to the ACOR site and finds the discussion group. It will give her
tremendous support.

Kelly: I am so sorry that your family is going through this difficult time: a cancer diagnosis affects not only the patient, but the entire family. She is very lucky to have a supportive husband; you are going to be a big plus in her recovery. I suggest that you visit a website called Hystersisters, there is a site for women who have or scheduled to have hysterectomies, as well as a male counterpart to help spouses and partners of the patient. You can join, but it is not necessary to identify yourself to use the resources, and I think with such a rare condition, writing with those who have the disease can also be a positive
experience. I was diagnosed 20 months ago with a form of uterine cancer, which is treated different than ovarian cancer, but I have read messages from a few women who had Fall. Tube cancer. The site also have significant resources for review. I wish you and your wife the best and keep thinking positive thoughts.

LB

Thank you so much for your message. Everything you have said was right on the mark. We (my wife)completed the first chemo treatment a few days ago. It surprises me that she is doing so well (which of course makes me very happy) although she has had fatigue and a little nausea but not near what we were expecting. I fear the worst is yet to come. However, your e-mail has given me a sense of empowerment and a belief that we can get through this. Thank you very much. I hope you are doing well.
Kelly

I was diagnosed with fallopian tube cancer in August following surgery for what was thought to be ovarian cancer. I am 53 years old and had none of the symptoms before surgery that I've read about such as vaginal bleeding. I have just completed my sixth chemo treatment and will have a ct-scan in 10 days. My chemo treatments went very well in terms of mausea but I did have many minor symptoms such as facial flushing, pains in my right leg, double vision, and incontinence due to the steroid I was taking. I also had a severe allergic reaction to Taxol on the second treatment and that was replaced with Taxotere on subsequent chemo treatments. I am keeping a positive attitude and hoping for good news on the 10th.