My Mom's surgery update

lizper

My Mom wasn`t operated AGAIN.They tried correcting the lack of patassium and magnesium from last time through IV to avoid arythmis again and it hurted like hell dosis was lightened and tolerated ok.. then she couldn't tolerate the laxatives and was vomiting all afternoon, then her blood pressure was very high! The cardiologist said they could control it, but I was very concerned with this plus the arythmias presented last time. So I talked with the surgeon and asked him if this was more risky now that these 2 things came up... he said that clearly it incremented the risk.. he sais that we could also go for giving her chemo for 3 months or cycles and evaluate her response and do surgery(which said is neccessary). I was really hopeful with the aggressive approac of debulking surgery and IP chemo during surgery which eliminates more cancer and leaves less to do for the IV chemo. I don`t know if we took a good decision, maybe I enfasized that I was too worried and the surgeon prefered the other approach. I told him this is a difficult decision, he said "If she were my Mom I would go with chemo then surgery", so I took that as my answer. He also made clear that we can be at the same place we are now, and there is a chance chemo doesn`t work. He thinks it will do to her good response last time, because this is 1st recuurance and because CA 125 is low. What I don`t know if surgery in 3 months would be an attempt to do IP or not.. but definetly debulking is necesary. Chemo chosen is Gemzar plus Carboplat one day then in a week Gemzar 2 weeks off then the same again. Can anyone comment? I would like your opinion. LIZ

floridajo

Lizper,
It sounds to me that your Mom has a very good Dr., and if it were me, I would also go with the chemo 1st, then I'd ask for a PET scan, to see just how much ovca remains at that point...maybe the chemo will shrink the masses enough that she won't need surgery...I would be very careful with surgery since she is so unstable..so hopefully she'll gain some more strength. My second surgery was 7 months from my intial debulking..and I had a rough time re-couping from it in the hopsital..I was still very weak from the debulking and chemos. I am on Gemzar only, and it is very easy to tolerate..and I'm responding well to it. I'm sending prayers and some healing roses to you and your Mom...(((hugz)))..Joanne

BonnieR

Liz, I agree with Joanne, it sounds like a your mom has a great Dr. And I think most people are treated with chemo, especially in her condition, than surgery. It takes the body a lot to come back from surgery. Sending you both lots of prayers. Bonnie

kathie687

i have just had my 6th tx of chemo and my onc says that i am now ready for surgery. it will be in 3 or 4 weeks and that they will do ip chemo if it looks like it will work based on what they find during surgery. wating for surgers has worked for me. i am stronger now that in jan. and turmor is smaller. i hope it works out well for your mother also. my daughter was with me today when i had chemo and my other daughter calls all the new time with new things she has found our about ovca so i know how much your mother appreciates all that you do for her.
god bless you both and give lots of hugs to that new baby
kathie

lizper

BonnieR said:

Liz, I agree with Joanne, it sounds like a your mom has a great Dr. And I think most people are treated with chemo, especially in her condition, than surgery. It takes the body a lot to come back from surgery. Sending you both lots of prayers. Bonnie

Hi Bonnie again. I read you response thank you. In deed you have responded to chemo but you colostomy revesal ended up in a debulking surgery wich I imagine helped a lot. My worry now is that my Mom didn`t get the surgery and I am afraid what to expect only chemo (gemzar and carboplat). Responding to your question on what size are the tumours, I don't know the Onc only said they were not to big. Liz

groundeffect

I agree that your mom's doctor sounds very good! It's easy to doubt what's going on with any cancer treatment, but one of my doctors (not an oncologist) told me (after I had expressed some doubt about my treatments) that it's as important for doctors to "win" as much as it is to anyone, so they do their best to be able to claim that "win". This gave me much more confidence in all of my doctors.

lizper

kathie687 said:

i have just had my 6th tx of chemo and my onc says that i am now ready for surgery. it will be in 3 or 4 weeks and that they will do ip chemo if it looks like it will work based on what they find during surgery. wating for surgers has worked for me. i am stronger now that in jan. and turmor is smaller. i hope it works out well for your mother also. my daughter was with me today when i had chemo and my other daughter calls all the new time with new things she has found our about ovca so i know how much your mother appreciates all that you do for her.
god bless you both and give lots of hugs to that new baby
kathie

Kathie.. is this your 1st treatment? or is this a recurrence. I ask because of the IP chemo approach they are offering you. Tks LIZ.