I need advice.....

I am about to due number
I am about to due number five on thursday my numbers are down to 14 and my doctor told me I was in remission. I asked him if I had to finish the rest of the taxol/carbo with Advastian and he said yes. He just want to make sure we have all bases covered. I was going to have to have five more rounds of the Advastian after my sixth treatment but know he said I will be on the advastian for 1 1/2 year or 2 as a maintences chemo, because he feels that is what will keep me in remission. If you only have one more left I would finish it again just to make sure you stay in remission. Are you going to have maintince (I know I am not spelling that right but oh well chemo brain)chemo after the sixth treatment. I am so ready to be done with chemo but I will do what ever it takes to live a long life.

Anne

Mwee said:

Yes
Sorry this is not the answer that you'd like to hear. You're ultimate goal is remission for life... you can do one more. Congrats on being so close to the end!
(((HUGS))) Maria

Yeah, as long as your body is strong enough for 1 more.
You wouldn't want to ever have to second-guess yourself later. I don't believe there is any hard-and-fast RULE that proves that 6 chemo infusions are better than 5, but that number is considered optimal by various studies. (And if your bone marrow labs are still strong & you aren't experiencing any side effects, don't be surprised if your oncologist suggests "2 more for insurance" since you are so young and healthy!) I remember being pretty beaten down by my 5th carbo/taxol (delays each week & blood transfusions for my last 3 rounds), so I sure do understand why you might want to let this be over early. But you never want to look back in this journey and kick yourself for not doing all you could. I've had a lot of disease progression since those days, but I do comfort myself that I did (and am doing) everything my body can take to battle on.

Sorry. I know you were hoping we'd all say 5 is enough. I had to get my 6th carbo/taxol round at 80% strength and have a blood transfusion before and after it, but I wanted to do it all if I could.

GO FOR IT!
Great advice from everyone here. You've come this far, why take a chance? Hang in there - just one more to go, Robin. Sending prayers and hugs!

Monika

kikz said:

My post-surgery chemo consisted
of three cycles with three infusions per cycle. I got so sick that my onc decided I wouldn't have the final infusion. I had a total of eight infusions. I was elated of course and so were my family and friends. My gyn/onc said the chemo I had post-surgery was icing on the cake. But I must admit I do think about not having the last infusion. If the cancer comes back, I'll probably regret it. I would say you should go for it, it can only help. Easy for me to say, huh?

Karen

6th cycle
is important as chemo is cummulative and stays in the body for a long time. My gyn/onc gave me the option for 2 more chemo and I told her I could use a break. So far so good. Personally I would get the last one and get it over with. I know you are anxious to get it done and over,,,val

poopergirl14052 said:

6th cycle
is important as chemo is cummulative and stays in the body for a long time. My gyn/onc gave me the option for 2 more chemo and I told her I could use a break. So far so good. Personally I would get the last one and get it over with. I know you are anxious to get it done and over,,,val

Cummulative chemo & when to quit
While it is true that residual chemo stays in your body, I don't think the chemo keeps working against cancer after it accumulates in your body--otherwise, there would be a lot more people in remission. The chemo more likely depresses the immune system than helps kill cancer after the platinum stores in your bones.

I stopped chemo after 5 carboplatin treatments on the advice of two oncologists--not because I was in remission but because the disease was inactive and the CA-125 was less than 10.

I guess, in my case, they figured that I am going to need chemo for the rest of my life so a chemo holiday would do me good. I had stage IIIc ovarian cancer with secondary peritoneal cancer and it is the peritoneal cancer that looks like it is acting up again for me. But my case is different from yours (I think). Peritoneal cancer is considered to be a chronic condition that is managed by periodic chemo treatments of one kind or another.

It is my understanding that having chemo will drop your CA-125 even though disease still may be present in microscopic form. I also understand that Taxol kills the primary tumor rather quickly then disperses malignant cells into your general circulation. So women who receive taxol are more likely to metastasize later...this is the case you have to consider your are facing (unless I read the research that Greg posted a link to incorrectly).

So, I think the idea behind giving women "maintenance Taxol" is to remove all of the microscopic malignant cells that were released from the rapid tumor die off so to maximize your remission potential. Not all oncologists to this and I don't understand why.

In any case, having a clean scan and a low CA-125 is STILL no guarantee that you are free of microscopic malignant cells lurking in your system. I think six carbo treatments is the "magic number" for the standard of care treatment as a result of clinical trials.

In my opinion, some kind of maintenance SHOULD be done but I am not sure if Tamoxifen or Avastin or Taxol is the answer. See what your oncologist has to say about that.

Carolen