Is there any examples of women in their 90's being treated for ovarian cancer?

gproadrace

My 94 year old mother was unfortunate enough to suffer undiagnosed stage 3 or 4 ovarian cancer when she died. We did not know it until after death by autopsy. She had a 2.5 inch tumor in her right ovary that had spread. I would like to know of the experiences of other women in their 90's that have had surgery and chemotherapy. Of course her doctor says that she would not have survived the sugery and chemo at her age but he has litle credibility since he could not detect while she was alive. He treated her for pulmonary embolism, deep vein thrombosis(the blod clots were actually dure to the cancer) and Clostriddium difficile infection that she did not have per 3 test results. Mom spent the last 3 weeks in the hospital had 8 CT scans and her acites had bloated up to 6000ml of fluids with anoth 650ml of fluids in the lungs when she dies and those dotors still could not figure out the she had cancer. The hospital I speak of are Millard Fillmore hospital and Buffalo General Hospital in Buffalo New York. Terrible hospitals and I am very sorry that mom ended up in those facilities. Can any one in their 90's tell me what their experience is with treatment. My mother suffered extreme age discrimination even after death wih after the fact know it all doctors claming that he was too old to treat. Very annoying since my mother had a strong will and she had a right to make her own disscusions and some 90 years olds are as stong as a 65 or 70 year old and vice versa. Thanks!

poopergirl14052

Some Dr's just don't get it
I am so sorry your mom had to suffer without knowing her options. She did have the right to make her own decisions nomatter what age she was. I hate when md's act so nonchalont about us and our loved ones!!! I do work at Gates part-time on a long term/rehab floor. I have had ovca for about a year and a half and I am still undergoing chemo. It is pretty harsh and keeps me in bed 4-5 days at times. I understand your anger and frustration, but there a good people who work at gates and work very hard and care about our patients....val

Cindy54

poopergirl14052 said:

Some Dr's just don't get it
I am so sorry your mom had to suffer without knowing her options. She did have the right to make her own decisions nomatter what age she was. I hate when md's act so nonchalont about us and our loved ones!!! I do work at Gates part-time on a long term/rehab floor. I have had ovca for about a year and a half and I am still undergoing chemo. It is pretty harsh and keeps me in bed 4-5 days at times. I understand your anger and frustration, but there a good people who work at gates and work very hard and care about our patients....val

Never Too Old
My Mom was 87 when she started getting sick. In fact she celebrated her 88th birthday in the hospital. It was then they found the ovarian and sent her home to wait and see what to do next. She and her doctor then discussed what to do and they decided to go ahead with the surgery. So at age 88 she underwent 7 1/2 hours of surgery. She had 3 doctors working on her. A gyno, an onco surgeon, and a doctor from the ER who got attached to my Mom and decided to "scrub in". The gyno had wanted to close my Mom up after going in and seeing all the cancer that was there. The onco doc said no, they were going to finish the job. She had a total hysterectomy, parts of her liver removed, the omentum removed, and resection of her bowels/intestines. She ended up with a colostomy. She underwent rehab. And she came home under my care where she lived another 18 months. Some of the student docs were so taken with her strong will that they came to her funeral when she did pass. My Mom made most of the decisions herself and I followed along to make sure her wishes were granted. She was fortunate. A lot depends on the doctors. A lot depends on the facility. We are not in a large city like Buffalo, but we had large city care.

I am sorry you have had to go through this. One thing the doctors would not do...chemo. They said she was not strong enough to handle it. When Mom passed it was due to a blockage in her intestines and the cancer that had spread to her lymph system. But we still had 18 more months than we expected. Especially since the gyno doctoer had said only 2 weeks to 2 months to live.

We can always look back and see things that could have been different. But we cannot keep beating ourselves up over things we had no control over. You all did what you could at the time. And your Mom is now at peace. I wish that same feeling of peace for you also. Hugs, Cindy

Cindy Bear

Hi
I am so sorry to hear about your mom's passing. My mom passed away from uterine cancer in June 09. I know all too well how older patients are patronized... she was only 78 at time of diag. and 79 when she passed 4 months into "treatment' All of her symptoms written off as old age, arthritis.... Everyone she saw was part of the Cleveland clinic network.. in my humble opinion an organization that is too big for it's britches... We'll never know why my mom got cancer. Always very healthy, no known risk factors to speak of....there must have been some genetic factor... I absolutely agree it should have been your mom's decision regardless of her age, however, personally I do not believe at her age she would have subjected herself to chemo or radiation if she fully understood what was involved.. Just my opinion, but I think if they had known about her cancer, that the focus should have been on quality of life and comfort..
Hugs,
Cindy