I was diagnosed with Cancer in March and although we knew it was Cancer its still a shock to be told it. I have had 2 chemo cycles now and have my 3rd at the end of the month. I would love to chat about the chemo side affects to anyone..
I know that this must be a worry for you, but I think that Eileen's (redlizzie) advice is good. My wife Mary also had no symptoms as such, apart from the discomfort of a fast growing ovarian cyst. I hope that your diagnosis is not as bad as expected, let us know how you get on.
@Eileen - So pleased to hear your good news, but very sorry to hear the bad. Hang on to that good news though, your health is the most important thing, if your partner feels he cannot support you anymore, then he is clearly not the right guy for you. You seem like a very nice lady, I'm sure that things will work out well for you.
@Sarah - I am so sorry you are having a bad time of it again, it sounds terrible! What does your oncologist say about this? Can he make any adjustments or try you on something else? I hope you are feeling a little better by now, hang in there!
Mary had a slight setback last Thursday, they refused to give her treatment because she had an infection in her arm. She seems to get this reaction a few days after having carboplatin, even though she has the hickman line now the chemo seems to find the old canula points and that where it gets infected. So it's a course of antibiotics then back for her weekly Taxol this week hopefully.
We celebrated our 29th anniversary yesterday, and of course it was mother's day too so she had a good day, I guess it helped a little missing the Taxol last week, looking on the bright side
Hi John, thank you for your kind words. I just dread the thought of going through it for the third time, if it is cancer. I remember my oncologist saying to me the first time round that the ovaries are the route that breast cancer might take and a friend with breast cancer saying that she wished she had had her ovaries taken out, I wish I had too but I guess that hindsight is a good thing, will see the Consultant this Thursday evening and have tests either Monday or Tuesday next week, with the results on Thursday, if I don't get a phone call beforehand, it might be nothing but with my history I am not so sure, my stomach is very swollen, I have indegestion and am going to the toilet a lot more, the thing I don't have is fatigue, which plagued me the first time round, love to you and your wife,
If it's any consolation, my understanding of ovarian cancer is that most experience little or no symptoms at all, that is the very thing that we found so scary. Maybe my understanding is wrong, but Mary certainly felt perfectly fit and well prior to her diagnosis and surgery.
I wish you all the best with your appointment and tests over the next week, try to stay positive.
2nd cycle of chemo over and done with and i'm back at work till it starts all over again next week! My hair's all gone now - its actually a relief to get it over with and quite liberating somehow, got a wig and lots of scarfs etc. Feeling a bit tired and having the runs gets you down but hey ho could be worse.
I'm sorry I don't seem to post as much as everyone else,I never seem to know what to say but enjoy keeping up with everybody is at with their treatment and its good to know you're not alone in all this and that other people understand. I wish all of you the very best and John I don't mind a man posting on here either.
Thanks for that, I do feel that I'm imposing on a girlie chat sometimes, but then again I know that we are all here to try and help each other in some way.
Great that you're managing to work, I thought that Mary was responding well to chemo but there's no way she would go back at the moment. Glad that you're coping well with the hair loss too, and don't worry about how often you post, just chip in whenever you want to.
@Everyone - Great news today! Although Mary missed treatment last week (cycle 4b) because of an infection, she went for cycle 4c today and also had a blood test and saw the doctor (normally only has bloods and clinic at the start of each cycle i.e 4a, 5a). She had told her consultant at the start that she wasn't interested in hearing stats etc, just tell her what she needed to do and when she needed to do it. The doctor today clearly knew nothing about this, and told her that her CA-125 levels just after surgery were 677! Today they were 48, and the normal level is 35!! Wow! I know we shouldn't be too complacent about it, but that was really good to hear and has given Mary and all of our family a real sense of optimism. The doctor also said it didn't matter about missing last weeks treatment as she was doing so well.
Funny thing was Mary said to me "why didn't they tell me this before?" clearly forgetting that she had opted not to be told!
I kind of feel bad talking about how well Mary is responding when I know some of you are having a bad time. Even while she was having treatment today she saw two ladies having an immediate bad reaction, very scary! So we know she is very fortunate.
Hello to you all-ladies and gents. I have been reading your posts and wanted to wish you all the very best and pass on my admiration. I have been recently diagnosed with a granulosa cell tumour- a type of ovarian cancer which like me is slow growing and lazy- luckily! I have had a TAH and ovaries removed which ends this phase of treatment so all I need is monitoring every 3 months. Now comes the shameful bit... I have been grumpy, miserable and full of self pity. I could blame it on losing both parents in the last 18 months but I think I also lost perspective so thanks for the reality check and your bravery. Good luck and best wishes.xx
Welcome to the forum and thank you for your kind words.
It seems to me like you have been through a lot, so please do not feel shameful about being so down, anyone would feel the same. I hope that having a chat with others on here will help you in some way, it certainly has been helpful for Mary and I. I don't know anything about granulosa cell tumours, do you have to take any meds? are they planning to give you any treatment? Or is it all dependant on your 3 monthly checks?
I hope it all goes well for you, and that you keep us updated.
Best wishes,
John
PS - Sorry for taking so long to respond, I have been waffling quite a bit lately and was trying to give one of the ladies a chance to speak. But I think some of them may be having a hard time with side effects at the moment.
