hello: update

amyb15

Hi everyone, this is my first post on this board. i am looking for some information. my sister age 43 passed away from colon cancer in 1/2011 so i was on the colorectal board all of the time.
i now nothing about ovarian cancer, but recently a very close friend's daughter was diagnosed with ovarian cnacer. she is 17 year old. She always semed like she had a little bit of a stomach but was very active and otherwise healthy. her mom took her to the Dr because she was having pain in her leg. it was discovered she had a huge tunor about the size of 1 1/2 basketballs. the tunor was removed and biopsy determined she has ovarian cancer, her overay was also removed. she is scheduled to have a "staging surgery" in April and will begin chemo in may. what does alll this mean? with colon cancer it was the ct scans that did the staging. Why this surgery? what does eberyone think about this? what are her chaces of survival? what kind of ovvarian cancer does this sound like to any of you/ anyone have anything similar? i know this is the best place to come for info and support,
any info would be appreciated.

thank you
Amy




UPDATE: i found out the type of cancer she has is mucisnous andenocarcinoma (spelling?) any one have that or know what it is.

poopergirl14052

welcome Amy
I am sorry to hear your sister passed from colon cancer,,my sister also passed from this in 2002. I am also sad your your friend's daughter, I am glad you came here for info. Yes surgery will stage the cancer but it sounds like your friend will be stage 1 if it did't spread to other major organs, She will probably be on Carboplantin and Taxol for six months. she is very young and healthy so she will be in remission before you know it..val

Tethys41

Staging
The surgery will determine the extent of the disease or stage. It will identify whether it spread beyond the tumor and ovary that were removed. More importantly, if there are any residual tumors left in her abdomen, they will be removed. this is called debulking and it is the standard procedure for ovarian cancer. With ovarian cancer, this is a critical piece and hopefully she has a gynecological oncologist doing this surgery. They have the training and expertise necessary for the best outcome. Her pathology will identify the type of ovarian cancer she has. Her eatimated survival is based on the staging and the success of the debulking surgery. But personally, I don't put much weight on statistics. I hope everythings works out well.

mopar

HELLO, AMY
I'm so sorry for your loss - your sister was so young. And so is your friend's daugther. Disease just doesn't seem to care how old you are anymore.

First and foremost, I would be sure that your daugther's friend have a gynecologic/oncologist do the surgery. They are very thorough, and may even take a few lymph nodes to test as well. I agree that if it was contained in the tumor, that's good, and they will probably have her get a round of chemo, too. Nonetheless, please let us know how it goes for her, then we can offer more suggestions AND MORE HOPE! She is young, she is healthy otherwise, so there are many positive factors here.

Till then, sending lots of prayers to you, your friend and her daugther.

(((HUGS)))
Monika

carolenk

mopar said:

HELLO, AMY
I'm so sorry for your loss - your sister was so young. And so is your friend's daugther. Disease just doesn't seem to care how old you are anymore.

First and foremost, I would be sure that your daugther's friend have a gynecologic/oncologist do the surgery. They are very thorough, and may even take a few lymph nodes to test as well. I agree that if it was contained in the tumor, that's good, and they will probably have her get a round of chemo, too. Nonetheless, please let us know how it goes for her, then we can offer more suggestions AND MORE HOPE! She is young, she is healthy otherwise, so there are many positive factors here.

Till then, sending lots of prayers to you, your friend and her daugther.

(((HUGS)))
Monika

Survival odds are good
Without knowing the kind of ovarian cancer (there are 13 different kinds) or the stage/grade, I would still think that your friend's daughter has a good chance of getting into remission. Her age is a big factor.

Please keep us updated.

Mwee

Welcome Amy
I'm so sorry to hear about the loss of your sister. We'll be right here to help you make sense of all of this and will be able to tell you more after what I'm assuming is the "debulking" surgery that is scheduled. This surgery is to determine the cancer has spread to any other areas and to remove any and all traces before chemotherapy. We'll be waiting to hear the results. Being young, healthy and active is a good thing!
(((HUGS))) Maria

amyb15

Mwee said:

Welcome Amy
I'm so sorry to hear about the loss of your sister. We'll be right here to help you make sense of all of this and will be able to tell you more after what I'm assuming is the "debulking" surgery that is scheduled. This surgery is to determine the cancer has spread to any other areas and to remove any and all traces before chemotherapy. We'll be waiting to hear the results. Being young, healthy and active is a good thing!
(((HUGS))) Maria

just bumping this for you
just bumping this for you guys to see the update