Recurrence Ovarian 3C :-(

Susan523

Hi, everyone...
I've had a 'recurrence' of cancer. My diagnosis was May 06, surgery June 1,2006, Stage 3C. I then had 6 rounds of taxo-carbo from Aug-Dec. In March I was told I was "in remission".
In August '07 my CA125 started climbing after leveling out at around 4.5 . My CA was done monthly, and steadily climbed, but in November spiked from 46.6 up to 109.9 I had also found a "lump" in/on my abdomen about 2 or 3 months ago which did not show up in my CT Scan. This Thursday I go in for an Exploratory Laperoscopy with necessary de-bulking, and also removal of a Lymphocyst which he's been watching for a while.
He's also going to install a port-a-cath on my abdomen to inject chemo there. What is that like? Is it different ?? I don't know what to expect.
I don't know what I'm asking.. I guess, has anyone ever found a "lump" that was a recurrence?
My Dr. said it's an "odd place for it to come back if it's cancer".
The hardest part of this surgery is that I don't know what they're going to find... or how long I'll be in the darn hospital. Of course, I can't think of anything else! Knot in my stomach, too. Has anyone had a recurrence this quickly after chemo? Thanks for any input you may have... I'd appreciate it, and as you know, it helps to talk about it with people who truly understand :-) ((hugs)) ~Susan

mopar

Susan:
I sure know what you must be thinking and feeling. But keep in mind that the CA125 can go up for lots of different reasons. And this could be a benign situation. At least this laparoscoopy will be minimally invasive and they will still get the answers they and you need. Usually, for this procedure you are sent home the same day, depending on your situation. The only thing that was 'uncomfortable' after the laparoscopy for me was feeling like I had pneumonia. They pump air into the diaphragm to move all the organs out of the way so they can see everything. That excess air makes you feel like you have a hard time breathing. But it is really important for you to start moving around when they say you can, to get that to move through your body and out. Just take it a little at a time.
Please let us know how everything goes. Till then, I'm sending luv, hugs and prayers your way!
Monika

floridajo

Susan,
I'm truly sorry your going through this again. I have a similar but slightly different case. After I had my debulking surgery and 6 cycles of chemo,my ca-125 was 9, and my CT scan clear. Then 2 months after I finished chemo I had a second look surgery and a colostomy reversal. The Onc could visably see more cancer areas as well as all 15 biopsies came back positive for cell, so I had 6 cycles of Doxil. I don't know if this counts as a recurrence or not,but thats what happened. So I was techinically off chemo 3 months before I had to go back on. I'll be saying prayers and I know how scary the unknown can be.(((hugz)))..Joanne

Susan523

mopar said:

Susan:
I sure know what you must be thinking and feeling. But keep in mind that the CA125 can go up for lots of different reasons. And this could be a benign situation. At least this laparoscoopy will be minimally invasive and they will still get the answers they and you need. Usually, for this procedure you are sent home the same day, depending on your situation. The only thing that was 'uncomfortable' after the laparoscopy for me was feeling like I had pneumonia. They pump air into the diaphragm to move all the organs out of the way so they can see everything. That excess air makes you feel like you have a hard time breathing. But it is really important for you to start moving around when they say you can, to get that to move through your body and out. Just take it a little at a time.
Please let us know how everything goes. Till then, I'm sending luv, hugs and prayers your way!
Monika

Hi, Monika!
Thank you so much for your reply. I did have a laperoscopy about 12 years ago, and I sure do remember that pain of having that gas trapped in my body! But this time there is also a Lymphocyst to be removed, along with that "lump" on my abdomen (it didn't show up in the CT Scan), and insertion of a port-a-cath in my abdomen. So I think I'll be there more than a day. It was a nice thought, though!! :-) Your words are very encouraging, and you're right, it could be a benign situation. I sure hope it is!
I'll check in when I get out of the hospital.
Thank you! ((Hugs & Love & Prayers coming right back at ya!)) ~Susan

lindachris

My wife went from May 2006 through August 2007 "in remission" when her CA-125 went up suddenly. They did inform us that CA-125s can go up for a variety of reasons, and for a while we held out hope it was not recurrence. But there are enough reasons and your numbers aren't outlandish so who knows...we all know the waiting sure is tough and can relate on that. The only thing we know to do for that knot in your stomach is pray it away. And if your general health is good so far that's good, right? You'll be strong even if you have to fight something off. And there seem to be a few people in this group that have either done that or are doing it. We'll all be sending you well wishes. My wife did have IP therapy and parts of it were okay, but parts were kind of rough. Like any chemo, it depends on the person, it seems.

kris43

Susan - I have a port in my abdomen and have cisplatin through it every 3 weeks plus taxotere through my port in my chest. The newest recommended treatment for ovarian cancer is to receive Taxol thru via IV on day 1 and Cisplatin in your abdomen on day 2 of your cycle and then taxol on day 8 in the abdomen. (IV/IP treatments) I am allergic to Taxol so they modified my treatment to the Taxotere and Cisplatin and I get both on the same day.

I had one treatment that caused side effects of severe abdominal pain and felt like I was quaking inside - this lasted 14 days and was horrible. My next treatment they gave me Lasix after treatment and it helped immensely with the abdominal pain - I am guessing it helped me get rid of the extra fluid faster. They also changed my pain meds which helped as well. My only problem with the Lasix was that it caused my potassium levels to drop dramatically and now I have to take potassium on top of everything else. No pain on treatment 2 - but severe nausea.

I will say that port placement in the abdomen is tricky because it is set up high on your ribs and the catheter is then threaded down in to the abdomen. I've had this sight opened/fixed/repositioned 4 different times since July 17th. If you happen to be large breasted, plan right now to look for some supportive sports bras or the camisoles with built in bras that you can maybe double up on because your bra might hit right at or just above the port site and irritate it. It wasn't until the 2nd time they "fixed" it that one of the nurses suggested wearing something other then a "real bra".

My doctor said that this is not an unusual problem to have, but there are 2 kind of ports they can place and one is a low profile port. I have the other kind and wish we would have tried the low profile one and maybe that would have made a difference.

I wish you well and hope you let us know how things go and what you find out. The chemo itself in your abdomen doesn't "feel" any different - so don't worry about that.

Kris

Susan523

floridajo said:

Susan,
I'm truly sorry your going through this again. I have a similar but slightly different case. After I had my debulking surgery and 6 cycles of chemo,my ca-125 was 9, and my CT scan clear. Then 2 months after I finished chemo I had a second look surgery and a colostomy reversal. The Onc could visably see more cancer areas as well as all 15 biopsies came back positive for cell, so I had 6 cycles of Doxil. I don't know if this counts as a recurrence or not,but thats what happened. So I was techinically off chemo 3 months before I had to go back on. I'll be saying prayers and I know how scary the unknown can be.(((hugz)))..Joanne

Hi, Joanne, and thank you for your reply,
I'm sorry that you had to have 2 rounds of chemo so close together. That's awful. I guess
I'm lucky to have had the past 11 months off chemo. At least I do have an appetite, and I'm pretty healthy & ready to fight it off. (Just not ready to lose my hair again yet!).
I hope that you are doing well now, and enjoying the holidays.
((Hugs))
~Susan

saundra

Will add you to my prayer list. I had a gall bladder out with laproscopy and that is certainly easier than the "debulking". I have not had the abdominal port-a-cath so I can't offer suggestions there, but know others will. The gas was the largest discomfort in the laproscopy for me. I guess they can remove a lymphosyst like they do a gall bladder thru a 1/2 inch incision. I had 2 half inch incisions and 2 quarter inch in my abdomen and they healed fine. Stay calm and fight for that second remission. Don't worry about the surgery, that worry is wasted energy and you need the energy to fight the cancer cells and beat them back, which you can! ((((Hugs)))