Borderling Ovarian Cancer

 I am 20 year Hodkin's survivor who just had a hysterectomy 9 days ago and was told last Thurs. They found BODERLINE OVARIAN CANCER on my left ovary and it has been sent to Seattle to be Staged.  It is now Monday and I have lost my mind.  I know the words (of course, dealt with it all back when I was 20) Now at 41 I am losing my mind, I know nothing about this...what does it all mean?

Please respond,

Carrie

 

On 8/31/2009 carrieson2 wrote:

 I am 20 year Hodkin's survivor who just had a hysterectomy 9 days ago and was told last Thurs. They found BODERLINE OVARIAN CANCER on my left ovary and it has been sent to Seattle to be Staged.  It is now Monday and I have lost my mind.  I know the words (of course, dealt with it all back when I was 20) Now at 41 I am losing my mind, I know nothing about this...what does it all mean?

Please respond,

Carrie

 

Carrie,  I don't know how Hodkins affects all this, and I don't know a whole lot, but maybe I can help a little.  I am 56 and had a hysterectomy almost 8 weeks ago.  I had the surgery because they identified 2 masses on both ovaries.  At that time they felt malignancies existed because the CA125 (ovarian cancer blood test) came back at 284...normal is around 25.  At least I had a little more preparation than you.  My cancer is called serous cystadenacarcinoma.  The oncologist, who was present at the surgery, was there to judge how advanced the cancer was.  He said it is stage 1A (the lowest, least advanced progression I think), and is BORDERLINE Ovarian cancer.  He took biopsies of 16 places in my abdomen, and found there was no spread of cancer, even to the lymph nodes.  So it has not spread (hopefully) to other places.  I do not have to have chemo or radiation, and feel very lucky.

You should have the name of your cancer and the staging results back soon, I would imagine. That will tell them whether you need additional treatment (chemo or radiation).  If it is stage 1 you will probably have to go in for a baseline CA125 about 6 weeks after surgery, and every 3 months you will have to go in for another....to see if it remains low or starts to rise.

 Don't panic.  If it is borderline,  maybe it is stage 1 and you are lucky.  I have read some stories that really scared me....brave ladies who are having everything in the book thrown at them to try to stop this disease. 

You should be at a point to start feeling better (after surgery) in the next couple of days.  I was very surprised at how quickly I recovered...and I am also diabetic.  It seemed to take forever for the incision to heal...after the staples were removed part of it was still open.  Then I had an allergic reaction to the gauze tape. But all in all I feel very blessed by God.

 I feel that I am here for a reason....I might not know what it is, but I am listening and open to suggestions.

Please feel free to privately email me if you need to.  Maybe we can keep each other sane.

You are in my prayers, Noel

Hi, Sorry to hear that. But the good news is that borderline cancers grow quiet slowly, and are usually confined to the ovaries when diagnosed, which both contribute to give quiet a good prognosis for this type of cancer. There is some information on borderline tumors on this site which you might find helpful, as well as on ovarian cancer in general: http://www.ovarian-cancer-facts.com/borderline-ovarian-tumor Wish you all the best. Maria

 

On 8/31/2009 Noelle H wrote:

 

On 8/31/2009 carrieson2 wrote:

 I am 20 year Hodkin's survivor who just had a hysterectomy 9 days ago and was told last Thurs. They found BODERLINE OVARIAN CANCER on my left ovary and it has been sent to Seattle to be Staged.  It is now Monday and I have lost my mind.  I know the words (of course, dealt with it all back when I was 20) Now at 41 I am losing my mind, I know nothing about this...what does it all mean?

Please respond,

Carrie

Thanks for getting back to me so quickly but I have been really slow.  I have had a lot of dr's visits, etc.  I  was at such an early stage that just taking the Ovary out was enough.  Wow, I was really having a hard time with this and to have it taken care of like that compared to all the horrible treatments 20 years ago really was shocking.  Thank you so much for your support and good luck to you.

Carrie

Carrie,  I don't know how Hodkins affects all this, and I don't know a whole lot, but maybe I can help a little.  I am 56 and had a hysterectomy almost 8 weeks ago.  I had the surgery because they identified 2 masses on both ovaries.  At that time they felt malignancies existed because the CA125 (ovarian cancer blood test) came back at 284...normal is around 25.  At least I had a little more preparation than you.  My cancer is called serous cystadenacarcinoma.  The oncologist, who was present at the surgery, was there to judge how advanced the cancer was.  He said it is stage 1A (the lowest, least advanced progression I think), and is BORDERLINE Ovarian cancer.  He took biopsies of 16 places in my abdomen, and found there was no spread of cancer, even to the lymph nodes.  So it has not spread (hopefully) to other places.  I do not have to have chemo or radiation, and feel very lucky.

You should have the name of your cancer and the staging results back soon, I would imagine. That will tell them whether you need additional treatment (chemo or radiation).  If it is stage 1 you will probably have to go in for a baseline CA125 about 6 weeks after surgery, and every 3 months you will have to go in for another....to see if it remains low or starts to rise.

 Don't panic.  If it is borderline,  maybe it is stage 1 and you are lucky.  I have read some stories that really scared me....brave ladies who are having everything in the book thrown at them to try to stop this disease. 

You should be at a point to start feeling better (after surgery) in the next couple of days.  I was very surprised at how quickly I recovered...and I am also diabetic.  It seemed to take forever for the incision to heal...after the staples were removed part of it was still open.  Then I had an allergic reaction to the gauze tape. But all in all I feel very blessed by God.

 I feel that I am here for a reason....I might not know what it is, but I am listening and open to suggestions.

Please feel free to privately email me if you need to.  Maybe we can keep each other sane.

You are in my prayers, Noel

 

 

On 9/26/2009 mariasg wrote:

Hi, Sorry to hear that. But the good news is that borderline cancers grow quiet slowly, and are usually confined to the ovaries when diagnosed, which both contribute to give quiet a good prognosis for this type of cancer. There is some information on borderline tumors on this site which you might find helpful, as well as on ovarian cancer in general: http://www.ovarian-cancer-facts.com/borderline-ovarian-tumor Wish you all the best. Maria

Thank you for your reply, it turns out that the tumor was small and just at the very beginning of everything so that just by taking out the ovary they felt was enough.  I am very blessed to have had the hysterectomy (for other reasons) and this was found just by pure accident. I appreciate your help thank you, Carrie