Ovarian Oblation asTreatment

1life1chance

Hi, I am 23 years old with Stage IV Metastatic Breats Cancer. My Oncologist recently decided that since I am not responding to chemo treatments to try a form of something callled Ovarian Oblation. I am recieving the second shot this after noon for it. I knoe that it shuts down my ovarian function and puts me in menopause ( by the way, I am sorry to all the women who are older than me who are going through and have gone through menopause- it really sucks; hot falshes ugh!). I am also taking temoxophen (spelling) I am wondering if anyone has had this type of treatment and has it been effective. i am scared. I dont wantt o die from having a cancer that shouldnt be in the first place. i have no family history or genetic mutation. Can anyone give a little hope?- candice

Ellison

Hi Candice,

I too have stage IV breast cancer. I am starting with chemo once again. I was almost a year out from my first chemo treatment before we discovered bone mets in the pelvic. After that first treatment I too was put on tomoxifin. After the cancer matasised I was taken off that and put on Femera. After tests showed the mets were spreading I had to go back on chemo treatments. Luckly so far it has not attacked the organs.

I had my first treatment of Taxol and Avastin yesterday. Avastin is farily new, but not a chemo drug. Used along with a chemo drug my oncologist said it is promising. Using both combined it attackes the tumors in the bone two different ways. I have researched it and it sounds like they might be on to something. Sure hope I can get into a remission.

I get on a couple of web sites just for stage IV BC's. If you are interested in the webs let me know. As much as I like this one, I find much more action and info on the other sites. I think maybe us stage IV's can sometimes scare the you know what out of the ones that are just starting out. I can understand that. I was at a BC support group when I was first diagnosed with BC and this lady came I had never seen before. She was stage IV and after hearing her story I didn't want to go back. It scared the you know what out of me.

Good luck and hope you find someone with the same experience. You could also contact the ACS. Have you researched this on the web.

elli

mssue

Dear Candice,
One thing You have on Your side is that You are Young and by that I mean Your body is stronger and more agile,You probably have more to work with,than with someone older.
Some people live to be one hundred and still feel that they haven't done everything they wanted.You my dear need to live everyday with purpose,make it count!!! There are alot of different treatments out there,explore Your options,keep Your faith and n e v e r give up! I think it was on this site,the Prostate Cancer Board, there was the most amazing story there,a mans story of his battle - obviously he won - he posted it here. It is totally inspiring!

Keep us posted - Your well being is important-so take good care of Yourself-GOD BLESS YOU!

Sue

mssue

My Bad!!! It was Testiclular Cancer not Prostate. Anyway I just copied and pasted.I don't think he'd mind,reading his last line.Here goes-----

I just discovered this site so I thought I would throw my two cents in.

I was diagnosed with testicular cancer in 1977, when I was 29 years old. I was also a late Stage Four when they told me why I had so much pain. I had cancer all through my back, all through my abdoman, up my spine, I had twelve tumors in my lungs, and my entire lymph node system was infected. I was given six weeks to live, if that. The first four doctors I went to for treatment told me not to waste my time, go out and get my life in order because I was gonna DIE!

Then I found a guy working in the Cancer Research Clinic at University of California in San Francisco and he said "You Gonna DIE" but, if I was willing,I could join a clinical trial group that was testing some new drugs for testicular. I was told that none of them had worked yet, and I would probably die anyway, but currently, it was the only thing available. Well, of course, I said okay.

So I checked into the hospital on December 21, 1977 and spent the next six months going in for eight days and out for two weeks (to get my strength and blood counts back up) and in for eight days and out for two weeks, etc., etc. I was in the clinical trials of cyst platinum, bliomycin, and valban (hey - so I can't spell).

What a ****!! Especially the platinum!! I had every side effect you could possibly have - physical pain, vomiting 24/7, including going totally blind for about a week. I also got a severe case of phlebidis in my left leg due to some of my lymph nodes shrinking and had to go on heperin and some other blood thinners while on chemo.

After taking ALL the chemo they could possibly give me, I went in for another CT Scan and still found active cancer. SO . . . . .they gave me more of the three chemos. After that, they put me through another CT Scan and STILL found active cancer. So, after a consultation with my family (all there was was my sister and me) we went in to surgery and I had 117 lymph nodes removed. Ten hours on the table and 30 days waiting for the results. They told me if the surgery didn't work, I should go to Mexico and drink as much tequila as I possibly could 'cause I wasn't going to be around much longer.

Well . . . .when we got the results from the lab, I was in total remission. Everything was dead. I actually was one of the first to go into total remission with these new drugs.

Well, since they finally had a live one, they weren't going to let me go, so . . . . I was put on TWO YEARS of maintanance chemotherapy - just the Valban, but, what a ****!!! for two years I had one lousy week, one bad week, one sort of fair week, and one good week. Then I'd get another dose and do it all over again.

After two years of additional chemo, I was finally diagnosed to be in remission and clean.

That was almost 25 years ago.

Having cancer at such a young age was certainly an eye opener for me. I had already been to Vietnam (22 months in country) and had been through college and had a career - but certainly the experience of all the pain and the stress of the expereince teaches you a lot. Once a cancer patient (survivor) always a cancer patient.

Even after 25 years I still get involved with talking with current patients. Two summers ago, I was reading in the local paper about Lance Armstrong and how he had won his fifth Tour de France, and all he went through. I read that he had said, sometime in 1997 or so, that "some guy, 20 years ago, went through an awful lot of pain and suffering so that I could live". Well, I didn't know it for 25 years, but that guy was me, and a few others in my trial group. Lance had the same Chemo I did but didn't have to go through all the other stuff.

It's been 25 years and I have had a life that I wasn't suppose to have. Although I've been sterile the whole time because of the chemo and surgerys, and I've had some physical challenges the entire time because of the cancer, it's a small price to pay to be able to live a little longer, help other people, live in this beautiful Country, and leave the World a little bit better place.

So if any of you reading this are challenged by cancer or anythng else,

have a positive mental attitude (that's REAL important),

get yourself some good doctors and trust them, and when you're over it and healthy again, say thanks every day by practising senseless, random acts of kindness to all the people around you, family and strangers alike.

Share what you learned by bringing smiles to people's faces.

Maeve0102

I was diagnosed with left breast cancer in 2003 and right breast cancer in 2004. I had a double mastectomy last year. Since I had regular mammograms the cancer was caught in the early stages and had not gone into the lymph nodes. As a result, I didn't need chemo or radiation. I was put on Tamoxifen for five years. I wasn't told when I was placed on Tamoxifen that it puts you into early menopause (which I was already in anyway) but more importantly, I wasn't told that Tamoxifen can cause vaginal bleeding. I went about 9 months post Tamoxifen without any periods and thought I was period-free forever until March of 2005 when I had a period that would not stop. I was told that I could bleed to death because of this and I was given medication to take to slow down the bleeding if it occurred again. However, the bleeding came but not like before. I bled a little most every day for months. I got an endometrial biopsy (the most painful thing I have ever experienced) to see if there was an cancer growing in my uterus. It was negative but the bleeding kept coming. I sought another medical opinion and explained my fears to the ob/gyn. He told me that Tamoxifen can cause bleeding. But, he said an endometrial biopsy takes only a small sample of my uterus. He said I could have a polyp somewhere else in the uterus which was causing the bleeding. I could not afford to get genetic testing which would tell you whether or not you had the type of breast cancer that can cause ovarian cancer. Since I could not afford the testing and was fearful of the cause of the bleeding, I asked my ob/gyn and oncologist if I could have ovarian ablation. They said it wasn't an unreasonable request, and, as a matter of fact, I have had other physicians tell me that most women with breast cancer have their ovaries removed. I went into surgery three weeks ago today. I had a laparoscopy where they can make a small incision and there is a camera to show them what to remove. For about three days after the operation I was sore from the operation. I have an incision in my navel, one just below the bikini line(about an inch) and another incision over the right ovary area (about 1/4"). I was very tired and slept the first five days but after that I was up and around. The wounds are still in the healing stages but no more bleeding, no more hot flashes and most important no worries anymore. It's not a scary procedure and it happens all the time. You'll do just fine. I hope this helps.