Mom Having Surgery Soon For Suspected Ovarian Cancer

My mom went to her regular doctor complaining of pains in her side. They did CT scans and ultrasounds and referred her to a gyn/onc for a consult. After looking at her ct scans and ultrasounds she told us it looks like ovarian cancer that has spread to her omentum area. She also has fluid in her belly. They scheduled her for surgery on June 9th to remove both ovaries, uterus, fallopian tubes, her appendix and her omentum area. The doctor guessed it to be at stage 3 and told us that about 20% of patients survive 5 years. We were in shock as my mom is only 65 and never had health issues. She also has none of the risk factors for this. No family history of any kind of cancer, she has had 5 children and breast fed every one, she has had her tubes tied and also is not overweight. We really don't know what to expect now. They expect to do chemo after the surgery. I would appreciate any information anybody could give me to help my mom, dad and siblings through this. I would love to hear from others who have been where we are now.

Hi:

I shared an office with a metabolic doctor(MD) at the www.iwchouston.com that offer Vitamin C IV injection. It works quite well with ovarian cancer...you will notice tumor marker(cancer) going down after two months of agressive treatments. Afterward a few days a month for maintenance. the doctor told me he has 75% sucess with cancer. I also work for an oncologist from MD Anderson in Houston and he said he has 35% effective rate -no cure.
The surprising thing is that the insurance company pay for the treatments for some of the patient -so it is not quackery.
I also used chinese herbs to lower the tumor marker, but VitC has better & faster result. So you got the best of both world.
goodluck,

We are located in Houston...
Mike OMD

Sounds like your mom and I have the same kind of stage 3 cancer. My CA 125 count has went up over 2,500 after the chemo. Mine is back just after 2 months. don't worry they are working on new drugs everyday. I hope to go into a new study( only 24 people) to test a new drug for OV C. The doc has to see if a protein is in my c cells in order to get into this study. When this hits you you fell so lost and hopeless. I keep thinking, I'm not going to die tomorrow and tomorrow is hope.I would love to talk with your mom or you.
Never give up hope,
HUG Carol

I'm sorry to hear your CA 125 count is up again. When were you diagnosed? What kind of chemo treatments did you have? My mom had her surgery and she will start chemo on June 26th. They are going to do Taxol on the 1st day. They will actually give it to her over a 24 hour time period. Then the next day they are doing IP chemo with Cisplatin. Then on July 3rd they are doing IP chemo again with Taxol. Then she will have 2 weeks off and start over again with this set of treatments for 6 sets. That's 18 chemo treatments! Are you seeing an GYN/ONC? If not, you should find one. I have been reading a great book called Ovarian Cancer, your guide to taking control written by Kristine Conner. It has lots of helpful information in it. I am trying to stay hopeful, but know that this cancer is very hard to fight. I will pray that you get into this study and this new drug helps your OV C. Your right about tomorrow. I am so glad that I have tomorrow with my mom. She is such an inspiration to me.

Hi Robynmarie. Are u still checking this site? I came across ur post and would love to talk to u. My mom also was dx with stage3c ovca and started IP chemo the same time as ur mom. Please reply if u see this and we can talk. Hope ur mom is doing well!

I am still checking this site regularily. My mom just finished her 3rd set of treatments, so we are half way there. She did real well until this past week. She has now felt quite nauseous and also has had diarrhea. She hasn't felt like eating either. They gave her a whole bag of hydrating fluid today through her IV port before the IP Taxol. She said she felt the best she has felt for a week after that. They have given her Compizine and Adivan for nausea so hopefully that will help. She doesn't like taking pills, so we have to convince her to take them. We also got a prescription for Lomotil (sp?) for the diarrhea, so hopefully that helps. She did get her CA 125 count done again after the 2nd round of chemo and it was down to 36.1. It was 276 when she was first diagnosed. How is your mom handling the treatments? How many has she received? Where is she getting treatment? I would love to talk to you also. It is so nice to talk to other people who's loved ones are going through this. I haven't talked to anyone going through this treatment yet. My mom is the first patient her doctor has treated with IV/IP combo treatments. Is your mom getting the 24 hour IV Taxol treatments on Day 1? My mom tried it the first time and they hooked her up to a pump. When we went back the next day for the IP Cisplatin treatment, the left over Taxol had turned white. They told us that shouldn't happen, so my mom has just received her IV Taxol treatment in the clinic over a 3 or 4 hour time period. Her doctor feels comfortable doing this, so we have to trust her. I will look forward to hearing from you and also hope your mom is doing well!!

hey! Sorry i haven't checked back on this site. I have been so busy with everything going on. My mom is gonna have her last treatment next week, as long as her numbers are okay. I'd like to talk to you more about this. Do u have an email address that I can email you at? It would be easier doing it like that. Let me know...I will check back here to see if u got this message.