when to take a break

Alnik

Next month it will be a year since ive been in remission. I have tried carbo/taxol,avastin, cytoxen and now im currently on Alimta.My scans from Feb are unchanged I still have three areas of disease present however in six months they have not gotten bigger in some areas they have decreased abit. When i started last year i had four areas that went to seven areas now back to three.My CA125 is currently at 442 but i was told not to worry because scans have not gotten worse.( I have also had two allergic reactions and cold sinus infections, boils,skin infections and so on that can be causing numbers to fluctuate) My question however is when can i just give my body a break from all of this. (I know what the Drs say) I want to get into a clinical trial have been trying since last year to find one.Has anyone just taken a CHEMO BREAK my body is so trashed from all the chemo and i do understand that this will be a way of life for me but with that being said again my question Has anyone just taken a Chemo Break i quess im just curious and looking for reassurance because i believe its time for me just to take a break for awhile and give my body a chance to rebuild and heal alittle without all the toxins. Am i silly to think this way or is it just a bad idea to take a break? Would love to hear your thoughts on this Thanks so much!!!!

NoTimeForCancer

I'm sorry you are going

I'm sorry you are going through so much.  It does get hard, especially when you don't have an end of treatment in site.  Many of us are fortunate to have an end, but there are some women here who continue treatment for a long time.  I hope they can share some of their wisdom with us all.  Peace to you.

Alexandra

Hey Alnik

I am sorry if what I am about to say sounds cold, but it is our situation the way I see it.

Second-, third-, forth- and so on lines of chemo for ovca recurrence are no longer curative, they are palliative (to slow down disease progression and to palliate symptoms). You have to look at your goal: do you want to maximize overall survival at any cost or do you want to optimize your quality of life even if it potentially could mean shorter overall survival. If chemo side effects are worse than disease symptoms and ruin your quality of life - the logical thing would be to take a break. Whether or not you are mentally ready to take a break, you have to ultimately decide for yourself paying attention to your doctors' opinions.

I want to live as much as the next girl. I am taking a chemo break, actually it's more like a long vacation. My CA125 is going up steadily since September 2013 (470 last week). CT scans every 6 weeks show slow growth. No chemo was my decision.

wholfmeister

I have no wisdom to offer

Only my experience.  I've been doing chemo for two years now, skipped one month in December 2012.  I don't think I have ever been in remission. But chemo has been easy for me, compared to others. Minimal side effects. Fatigue, a tiny bit of neuropathy in toes, a little chemo brain.  IVe been able to go to work plus do most anything I want.  I would like to be free of the schedule, though.  I'd like to go lie on a beach with no clock or calendar!  but other things besides the cancer prevent me from doing that.  So, for me, and my family, I will keep doing the chemo as long as it seems helpful.  I bet I would feel totally different if the chemo was hard on me.

Cafewoman53

Talk to your doctor

After you get your doctors opinion you can decide for yourself if a break is a good idea. I have been in treatment since June of 2010 with no remission but luckily the chemo has been doable. The first few days after chemo when I am not feeling my best is when I start thinking I need a break but then I usually bounce right back but I think the longer this goes on ( and let's hope it goes on a LONG time) I will need a break to recharge and I think my doctor would not have a problem with it.

  You need to take care of yourself mentally and physically  and I believe in quality of life is so much more important than quantity. You and not your doctor knows best when you need to take time off.

Colleen

seatown

My chemo holiday

Sorry to hear of all your difficulties. I was diagnosed in July 2012 & was on chemo almost continuously until December 2013. I was lucky mostly to tolerate chemo quite well, thought I have some residual neuropathy (which could actually be attributed to another problem, but that's a long story). I reached a normal CA125 number early last year, & it stayed in the normal range until last December. At that point, my doctors gave me a choice of options, but their recommendation was a 90-day "chemo holiday," which I am now just ending. They recommended I put all thoughts about treatment out of my head for 3 months, & mostly I was able to do that. But all the time I had in the back of my mind that my CA 125 must be rising, since it had been rising ever since the summer of 2013.

Friday, I found out I was right--CA125 is up to 215, from 44 in December 2013. Tomorrow I go for a CT scan, then next week I see the surgeon for his recommendation for what's next. At the start of this "chemo holiday," 90 days seemed like forever. Now that it's ending--because I'm quite sure I'll go back on chemo--it almost seems like it never happened. I'm not able to put the whole thing in perspective yet, but the thought of getting back into the chemo routine fills me with dread.

Should you be interested in the details of my treatment, I've written about them at www.CaringBridge.org/visit/CaroleSeaton

Mwee

Great question

I was diagnosed 8 years ago (3C) and was in remission for about three years after my surgery and first rounds of chemo. I've now been on chemo for over 4 years straight. My life is never ending chemo treatments and the question of chemo breaks is always a topic of conversation between my Onc, chemo nurses and me. It is totally up to me to make the choice of when and for how long I wish to take a break. What I've been doing is planning a month here and there to travel and recoup. I've also added one more week between treatments to allow myself some more time to recover. The goal with me is to balance staying stable with quality of life. I think each of us has to make decisions as to what quality of life means to us. I wish I could reassure you that taking or not taking breaks is the correct choice. I'll be anxious to hear what you decide.

                                                              ((((HUGS))))   Maria