My wife was diagnosed with the most common form of ovarian cancer (high grade epithelial serous carcinoma) at the start of 2024 which had been given a stage 3C as there was a lesion of at least 2cm on the surface of her liver. She had been given six rounds of chemotherapy on a three week cycle where she had Paclitaxol on a weekly basis and Carboplatin on a three weekly basis and had also been given the immunotherapy drug Avastin. Although the first round of treatment had been a success which had inactivated all of the cancer that had been identified on various MRI and CT scans.

Since she had completed her chemotherapy treatment, she had been given the prognosis that her ongoing plan would be treatable but not curable. She has since struggled with that terminology and although this means that the cancer reoccurrence can be held at bay for years and years as the oncology doctor had described to her and would also see if it was coming back again before symptoms would had reappeared, she has refused to accept this prognosis and wants a cure.

The thing that I find really frustrating about this is that she has been given a second chance with cancer treatment (a lot of cancer patients including those with a similar ovarian cancer diagnosis like she has got are given a terminal diagnosis where they have to go into palliative care). Her mental health since this prognosis has deteriorated significantly and is now in the care of the local crisis mental health team. I have found that her problems has related to three things that she thinks that she missed the early stage symptoms and blames the doctors and her employer stating where she had an improvement plan at the time. She has also been looking on the internet for a cure and has been unable to find anything and I am at breaking point where she is impossible to live with.

She has also been in hospital several times where she has not been looking after herself after some slurred speech had started although she has not had a stroke. However, until she has the capability to accept her prognosis with both her mental health and her CBT then I don’t see anything changing.

Has anybody else had this issue with a spouse who loses their ability to do day to day activities?