Hi ladies

I just want to wish you all a Happy and as Healthy a New Year as possible - bring on 2012.

Its good to drop in and see what others are up to - scan and more treatment (fingers crossed!) in January for me.

Best wishes

Sue x

Hello everybody, may I join you and introduce myself?  I opened a new thread on this subject the other day in the "introduce yourself" section, but I really wanted to get onto this site.  I  am 67 yo and live in Essex, UK and have recently been diagnosed as having tumours on both ovaries, plus some areas on the omentum and outer bowel.  However, my hospital MDT  wants to ascertain whether my ovaries are the primary site or secondary to breast ca I had 15 years ago before planning my treatment, so I've just had a biopsy and await results on 22nd Feb.  I found your site about a month ago and was both heartened by all your posts, and at the same time scared - not of the treatment particularly but the outcome.  Some days I feel that I won't get through this, other days I think "No, you won't get me, you (expletive deleted!)"

The last post on your site was 28th Dec, I have been checking, so I hope you are all getting along OK

Best wishes, Hazel. X

Hi Hazel,

Love the new avatar, as I said before the new wig makes you look younger. Very brave attacking the hair, I know it's a difficult thing to do.

Mary had her port fitted and chemo yesterday, we were home by 4.30 but she'd had so many meds she was away with the fairies! I had to help her to the loo in the night, when I brought her back she was trying to get into my side of the bed! Totally zapped!! She is fine again today apart from feeling like she's taken a bullet in her chest, been pottering in the garden again. I have booked a hotel saturday night so we can spend the weekend in Bournemouth, providing she is still feeling ok, it will be great to get away.

Hope everyone else feels better soon, I do get concerned when it goes quiet but I understand how you must feel.

Best wishes,

John

x

Thanks, John.

Poor Mary - why was she so zapped, did she have to have a general anaesthetic for insertion of the port?  Hope the pain has abated now.

I did my gardening again yesterday as well, great minds think alike!

Well, looks like you've picked the right weekend for a trip to Bournemouth, John, weather looks set fair, so you have a lovely time both of you - I am quite jealous!

Love to both,

Hazel xxx

Hi Hazel,

No it was a local anaesthetic but she had quite a lot I think, and it was the pre-meds for the op, then the pre-meds for the chemo, then the chemo itself.

She's fine now, texted me a little while ago saying she's done a bit more gardening and now she's sitting in the pub garden having a drink with our son! Lovely life eh? LOL

Best wishes,

John

x

Well done Mary, good for her! 

Enjoy your weekend!

Love, Hazel xxx

Hello, John,

Hope you enjoyed Bournemouth.

Is Mary due another chemo session today?  If so, wish her good luck from me xxx

To anybody else having treatment this week, as I am, or awaiting results etc, hope all goes well.

Everyone else, hope you are feeling as well as poss and able to enjoy the lovely weather.

Love to all, Hazel xxx

Dear Hazel,

Good luck with your results, when do you get them ? I have my chemo again tomor after a weeks break. It is my 4th so not many left now. Then the dreaded scan and results.

Hope Jaxkie you are doing ok after your chemo ( you are lying low so prob not too good )

Weather has been great but it was only yesterday that I actually went out and that was to my daughters for half an hour.

Love to everyone else. xxxxxx

Hello, Eileen,

I guessed you were still not too good ( maybe same as Jackie, as you say), but glad you were able to have a little trip yesterday at least.

I am having 2nd chemo session tomorrow, blood result permitting.  I'll think of you having yours while I'm having mine!  Good luck!

Love Hazel xxx

Hi Hazel and Eileen,

Yes we had a lovely sunny weekend in Bournemouth, Mary said it's just what the doctor ordered and she is still feeling pretty good. We stayed 2 nights and came back on Monday.

Mary's chemo is tomorrow too, so that's three of you. It was only Weds last week because she had the port fitted and had to go on the ward rather than the chemo suite. Next week she has a break.

It has been very quiet on here lately, I hope everyone will be feeling a bit better soon.

Best wishes,

John

x

Hi Everyone hope your all doin ok lovely weather were having makes you feel better dont it!.

well results day tomorrow for me ive got everything crossed! just been sitting here thinking

as you do i no most of us have had more then one session of chemo but how much can

we have? or is that a stupid thing to ask! im just thinking about my appointment and what

there gonna say. can you tell im a nervous wreck!!.speak to al soon

take care sharon. xxx

Hi Sharon,

I know exactly what you mean. I have 3 more chemo's then scan and results and I am worrying already. I feel for me that if this doesn't work then nothing will as it's the top one apparently. Plus I feel for myself that I don't want anymore of this feeling awful for months on end.  I know deep down that it isn't working and I am not being negative just realistic.

I will be thinking about you tomor and I pray it is good news.

Everyone else chemo day again so we will all be feeling rough over next few days....

Love Eileen. xxxx

Hi Sharon,

I know exactly what you mean. I have 3 more chemo's then scan and results and I am worrying already. I feel for me that if this doesn't work then nothing will as it's the top one apparently. Plus I feel for myself that I don't want anymore of this feeling awful for months on end.  I know deep down that it isn't working and I am not being negative just realistic.

I will be thinking about you tomor and I pray it is good news.

Everyone else chemo day again so we will all be feeling rough over next few days....

Love Eileen. xxxx

Dearest Eileen,

I feel very upset for you, but I too am a realist, and can perfectly understand how you feel, even though I haven't been through half as much as you.  I've said this before, but after my breast ca treatment I swore I would never go through it again, and though I chickened out when it came to the crunch this time, I really do believe if I ever got too exhausted by the treatment to have any quality of life then I would stop it. 

I SO hope you are wrong and that you will get some benefit from this chemo regimen, Eileen, and that you WILL feel a bit better afterwards.  I am praying for you, darling.

I hope I haven't upset anybody, or made them lose hope - there's always hope, and of course there ARE ladies who have both quantity AND quality of life, we mustn't forget that!  This is just my personal opinion and we all have to make our own decisions about these things.

Love to all,

Hazel xxx

Hi Eileen,

Oh you do sound very down at the moment, do ask your oncologist tomorrow if he can prescribe something different to help, it's worth a try. I know I keep going on about it, but Mary swears that the metoclopramide has made a big difference for her.

I also want to ask about Apirin, as it has been in the news again lately and it seems as though we should all be taking it. Of course I would not give it to her without getting approval first.

Have a look at this thread - http://cancerchat.cancerresearchuk.org/message/48891#48891

Good luck to everyone for tomorrow,

John

x

Hi Hazel & John,

I am not down but as I said being realistic, I am ok with new tablets so sickness has gone. I had those that Mary is on but they did nothing.

The reason for my little outburst the other day is that the cancer is in my right groin and I get pain that is constantly their. So that is why I know myself that the chemo isn't working, I am also getting the pain on my right side so for me on a personal level in my heart I know that it is still their.. I will see after my 4th one if I get any better. Also because I had been in bed so long I didn't get the pain but because I have been up and about this week that the pain has started because of me walking about.That is how it started back in July and when I went to see the Dr  he said where it had come back to and it was wrapped around the veins in my groin so the pain was going down my right leg.

Anyway thank you both for your concerns but honestly I am not down...

Love to everyone and thoughts are with you all for today. xxxxxxxx

Hi All

have decided you all know me to well!!! yes I've not been feeling brilliant, abdo pain when I move, so have energy to do things but can't as it leaves me bent in half! due for porta-cath at 8 tom then 2nd lot of chemo at 11.30. however my platelet are very low so not sure if any of it will happen

Eileen I know how you feel, due to my weird symptoms I normally know a few days after the first dose that it is working, however as my muscles have not been bad this time I have no indication that it is, both the rash and the abdo pain remain unchanged. Eileen the 'top' treatment is carbo and tax, however there is really no such thing as 'top' or 'better' when one doesn't work then others (in no particular order as far as I can see) are tried until one works or your bone marrow gets to a point that it won't take anymore. That don't mean that we won't get to a point where WE have had enough and decide to stop, its a personal thing and everyone has there own limits. Are they giving you anything for pain? I have discovered that they ask your symptoms, prescribe chemo and move on without thinking 'lets leave this person in pain for 3 weeks till chemo kicks in'. Had my tele appointment today and told the nurse about my abdo pain she immediately said sounds like the tumour is sticking to things, what pain meds are you on! the onc dr made out like is was unusual (as with everything) and changed the subject! anyway she is arranging for a dr to see me to sort it out while I'm there tom. Don't forget that if you decide to stop chemo you will still be left with the symptoms, they will give strong pain killers for the pain but there is no reason why they can't give these now while you continue chemo. Hope this makes sense but as usual my brain has gone walk abouts!!!

Hope everyone does ok with there treatments today and hope the results are better than expected.

thinking of you all

Jackie xxx

Sorry John, knew I'd missed something, from what I've read about the aspirin it reduces the risk of developing cancer if taken for 2 years and reduces the risk of the cancer spreading if taken for 5 years! I've been on it for nearly 3 to be fair my tumours are well defined with no signs of spread ? aspirin ?luck ?would have happened anyway! who knows. With the ovarian cancer if its going to spread I have my doubts it will wait 5 years, and as it effects blood clotting as does chemo its not something anyone should consider without the onc input (as you also suggested). I find for about a week post chemo i have nose bleeds/bruising and my platelets are now really low (which is unusual) having said that i also take a blood thining injection! Hope this helps a tiny bit 

Hope Mary continues to do well and the maxalon works from day one follow this lot of chemo! no nausea or sickness tell her its banned!

Take care of yourself to, being a partner is often worse than having the disease!

jackie xxx

Hi Jackie and all,

It's great to have you back

Well I should be in hospital for chemo, but my blood count was 0.4 so can't have it. I also have trouble with my picc line as they can't get blood out of it so they sent me for an x-ray which has showed it has moved but still ok to have chemo next week. I have to have 4 days of filstagrim to get my count back up. I have the pain in my groin but I think I just get used to it as I don't take pain killers.

It's strange because I have been so ill the last few weeks and my blood count has been ok. I feel the best I have for the last few days and it's low. I certainly am  very strange.

Anyway Sharon I hope your results are good ones xxxxxx

Love everyone Eileen xxxxxxx

Hi Eileen, you do like delaying your chemo don't you lol

Still think if you can't get around/do things you need pain tabs, pain tells us something is wrong, but we already know that, so there is no point putting up with it! why not try simple stuff like paracetamol or ibrufen? (stores own brands are the same and way cheaper!) if they don't do it then please discuss it with your team. Pain will make the chemo harder to deal with (and you have enough problems with it lol) but may also lead you to stop treatment cos you've had enough when getting it sorted could leave you coping for longer. Maybe I'm just feeling like that cos I'm getting very fed up being limited in what I can do! even my past walking difficulties i could struggle though but this abdo pain just leaves me sitting in a chair with feet up all day - very fustrating!

sorry to nag!

Take care

Jackie

xxx

Hi everyone,

(Restless night after LONG day of chemo)

I have only one last comment on the subject of quality of life over quantity.  I don't want to die, of course I don't, but maybe it's because I'm pushing 68 anyway and so much older than the rest of you - apart from dear Dot - that I have a slightly different view on the subject.  I still stand by what I said before - I would rather just rely on palliative care if treatment became too much.

Anyway, poor Jackie and Eileen, you seem to have more problems than the rest of us put together, and I can only admire your resilience, and hope things do improve, and that you get to have everything done today, Jackie

Incidentally, Jackie, re your suggestion to Eileen of paracetamol and ibuprofen, I have been told not to take anything like that as it could mask any infection because it lowers temperature.  My GP has given me codeine phosphate, but I've yet to prove it's efficiency as pain relief, I am waiting to see if it prevents the terrible stomach cramps like those I had after last chemo. I shall find out in the next few days!   When I am not in the "danger zone" of lowest blood levels and highest risk of infection I still sneak the odd couple of paracetamol now and then after checking my temp first to be sure.  I think paracet. is by far the best as it doesn't cause the cursed constipation! 

Sharon, hope CT  result was OK?  Fingers crossed!

John, love to Mary, hope she is still OK. 

Dot, hope your leg is getting better.  Be careful!  

Love to all, Hazel xxxxxxx

Hi all

Am now the proud wearer of a porta cath, yea no more needles!!!! Chemo has been delayed till next week cos platelets 79 and need to be over a hundred, if it happens again they will try reduced dose and if that don't resolve the problem then they will remove one of the chemos (prob carbo) and hope the other works solo.

Got given buscopan (which I had already bought yesterday lol) but have to take 2 tabs 3 times a day. Dr recons I've got bowel spasm though no explanation as to why I've got it! Not one to have suffered with bowel problems till now and not much enjoying it!

Haze, I do understand I intend to stop chemo as soon as the side effects are worse than the disease and I feel my quality is compromised. I was merely saying that chemo is also palliative and can reduce the symptoms, as pain seems to be reducing Eileen's quality, then sorting the pain should increase her quality, even if she wants to continue with or without the chemo.

I hate to say it but if you have problems with constipation be wary of anything with codeine in it! co-dydramol, co-codamol, codeine phosphate etc!!! its one of the main culprits imho.

Re temp, there is lots of evidence that if you are going to have a temp it is most likely to be at 6 in the evening! so if you take paracetamol at breakfast, lunch, post temp and night you should be fine! (that's if you need it that often) taken that often it to can cause constipation

Hope that helps a bit

Jackie

xxx

Hi my name is Helen and I am 49 years of age. I was diagnosed with Ovarian Cancer Stage 3c in August 2011. My Ca level was 1750. it came down to 41 after 6 cycles of chemo (carboplatin and paclitaxol). I have not had surgery as Doctors feel it is too risky. I have been off chemo for 3 months and it has re-activated and I started chemo again today (Friday 30th) with the possibility of having Avistan alongside the chemo. My Ca level is now 1845 and I feel distraught by all of this. I thought I was doing well, I look well and in no pain. I am a very positive person and it will not beat me as I have to be here for my amazing family and friends and my wonderful 23 year old son, who have love and support me every step of the way. However, I would like to hear from anyone in the same situation and who can offer any form of support, or just let me know how you are doing.

Look forward to hearing from you

Helen