My mom's chemo stopped working. Any thoughts or experiences with this?

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Hello

My mother was diagnosed with Stage 4 Ovarian cancer in October 2011. At this point her cancer was inoperable and she was told to start with carbo/taxol. She had 2 rounds of chemo and her ca125 went from over 3000 to in the 100s. At this point, my mom had an unsuccessful debulking surgery. They gave her a complete hysterectomy but could not get the tumors that lined her mesentary. At this point she has had 2 more rounds of carbo/taxol since the surgery and her ca125 numbers began rising. Thus, the chemo is no longer working. The next course of action is to do a ct scan to see if the ct scan matches what the ca125 numbers tell us. Then if the carbo/taxol is not working they are going to put her on abraxane.

Does anyone have any similar experiences or advice? I'm so worried because abraxane only works 20% of the time as a second form of chemo treatment.

carolenk

Why Abraxane?
Abraxane is albumin bound taxol. Would the doc consider gemcitabine? It seems to be a second line chemo for a lot of women.

Hope all goes well.

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carolenk said:

Why Abraxane?
Abraxane is albumin bound taxol. Would the doc consider gemcitabine? It seems to be a second line chemo for a lot of women.

Hope all goes well.

Honestly, I am not sure why
Honestly, I am not sure why she chose abraxane as the next form of treatment. That is a good question to ask. We didn't have a lot of time in our last meeting with the Dr. to ask questions. It was sprung on us that the chemo stopped working. I will ask about that drug you mentioned. Thank you.

Pcast

carolenk said:

Why Abraxane?
Abraxane is albumin bound taxol. Would the doc consider gemcitabine? It seems to be a second line chemo for a lot of women.

Hope all goes well.

Honestly, I am not sure why
Honestly, I am not sure why she chose abraxane as the next form of treatment. That is a good question to ask. We didn't have a lot of time in our last meeting with the Dr. to ask questions. It was sprung on us that the chemo stopped working. I will ask about that drug you mentioned. Thank you.

kellyh33

Your Mom
Your Mom's story sounds a lot like my Mom's. It is a tough journey to be on. As hard as it was for me and my family it was nothing compared to what Mom went through. This is my advice :
Just hold her hand and love her through it. Let her make the decisions regarding her treatment without judgement. Sit with her, let her talk to you about her life, her blessings, her regrets, her fears etc. Ask her anything and everything you've always wanted to know. Find out what she wants if the unthinkable happens. They are tough conversations to have but they are necessary.
Make sure you are also taking care of yourself because you can't help her if you are unhealthy. Stay strong.
Kelly
Feel free to email me if you would like at babeinatree@yahoo.ca.

Mum2bellaandwilliam

kellyh33 said:

Your Mom
Your Mom's story sounds a lot like my Mom's. It is a tough journey to be on. As hard as it was for me and my family it was nothing compared to what Mom went through. This is my advice :
Just hold her hand and love her through it. Let her make the decisions regarding her treatment without judgement. Sit with her, let her talk to you about her life, her blessings, her regrets, her fears etc. Ask her anything and everything you've always wanted to know. Find out what she wants if the unthinkable happens. They are tough conversations to have but they are necessary.
Make sure you are also taking care of yourself because you can't help her if you are unhealthy. Stay strong.
Kelly
Feel free to email me if you would like at babeinatree@yahoo.ca.

Hi ,
Your mums story is the
Hi ,

Your mums story is the same as my mums story.It comes as a hell of shock when the firstline doesn't work The fear is crippling and the disappointment of no remission.
However my mum went on to do doxil (caelyx in the uk) she was told it would only work for 3-4 cycles but she did all 6 before the CA125 started to rise so it gave us another 6 months. Doxil has about the same success as the drug they are offering your mum, for women whose cancer has grown while receiving carbo taxol.
Mum was unfortunate she picked up pheumonia and died at xmas , not from cancer but from pheumonia.
So keep the faith , the next drug may well hold her at bay , and then there are lots more out there to try after that.
Keep strong, I know how hwrd it is ((hugs)) Liz xxx