My Wife diagnosed with Ovarian Cancer

Sorry about your wife's diagnosis.

It will not be a quick fix. Your wife will have to undergo debulking surgery (removal of uterus, ovaries, fallopian tubes, possibly omentum and all visible cancer) and 6-8 rounds of Carboplatin / Taxol chemotherapy. Staging will be confirmed during the surgery depending where else the surgeon sees cancer and grade will be determined by pathology. You should definitely tell your wife or have the doctor tell her; you can't keep her in the dark. The best you can do for her at this point is to find an experienced gyno-oncologist and to be supportive and understanding. Most women reach remission after first-line treatment and some stay in remission for months and even years.

I was diagnosed with stage 3C ovarian cancer at the age 44, that was 2 years ago.

Virtual hugs and good luck,

Alexandra

Viks said:

Thanx

Thanx a lot for your advice Alexandra. I was just going completely blank all this while. Your advice is really a great support mentally as I have not been able to talk or discuss this with anyone till now.

thanx again. Will  look for a gyno - oncologist  tomorrow itself. Will only an oncologist not be enough?

how is your cancer now? Are you completely fine now?

Viks

You need an oncologist specializing in female reproductive system - gynecological oncologist. The most important predictor of survival is optimal debulking, meaning that all visible cancer bigger than 1 cm in size has been removed. You need a surgeon who has performed hundreds of those surgeries, the more experienced the better. If you have to travel or pay to get to one, do it. Don't wait too long; ovarian cancer quickly metastasizes to peritoneum, omentum and bowel with much worse prognosis.

Depending on the size and spread of the tumours the oncologist might decide to start with 3-4 rounds of chemo, shrink cancer and then do surgery, followed by another 3-4 rounds of chemo to get rid of microscopic cancer cells.

My cancer went into remission after surgery and chemo, but came back after 9 months and I'm dealing with recurrence now. For details click on my picture. Don't let it scare you; everyone reacts differently.

So sorry to hear about your wife's diagnosis. I agree, you must tell her about it as soon as possible. She deserves to know the truth about her own condition.

I also agree with the chorus that yes, you must seek treatment from a gynecological oncologist, someone who specializes. As Alexandra said, with the right treatment, many ovarian cancer patients go into remission.

I would also recommend the ovarian cancer patient guidelines of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (leading cancer hospitals in the U.S.): 

http://www.nccn.org/patients/guidelines/ovarian/index.html

Reading these guidelines should help you & your wife understand treatment options.

Best wishes.

Susan P said:

wife diagnosed with ov ca

Hi Vik sorry to hear of the Ov Cancer diagnosis I know both my husband & I were shocked although I was pretty sure this  was my problem and was actually relieved to get the diagnosis -- so we could begin fighting the cancer and Yes - you need  an oncologist that specializes in women's cancers : Ovarian & the whole reproductive system & breast

 

I was late diagnosed CA 125 waS 4000 so it had time to spread a little  - not too badly luckily -- so my gyne oncologist chose to do chemo before the surgery to shrink the tumors to give the sugery a better outcome -- some situations call for one to recieve chemo first - with others the doc might choose  to do surgery first.

 

/I was diagnosed a year ago  & had my first treatment May  27/13 & last n Apr2/14 CA 125 =15 My surgery was  Oct/14

 

right now I am waiting for 1 more test a PET scan to prove I am cancer free - for now if I am , my doc t will see me 3-6 times a year to check my ca 125 and do CT scans if needed basically I was sick from chwemo off & on for the better part of a year,  treatment is tough but doable  she'll need lots of support from you - be that one person that understands

 

 here lots & read  -- my opinion & for me is & was ttolearn as much about this as I can - even the scary parts -- I have to know the enemy fight it.

 

a word of caurtion -- be careful on the internet.  lots of bad info out there  try to get your info from trusted sites like this one & American cvancer society as well asCanadian cancer societ yhiopefully you can get into a good cancer treatment center with a good doctor& start treatment right away

You should be ok - many/ most of our good specialiasts are immigrants from India - very smart & well educated people

do keep us informed - it will be good for you  to keep busy.

 

Best wishes

 

Susan P from Alberta Canada

 

 

 

 

While a cancer diagnosis is very scary, you and your wife have every reason to be hopeful about the future.  With the ovarian cancer treatments that are available today (surgery by a gyncologic oncology surgeon and chemotherapy), many women with advanced stage cancer live long and fullfilling lives.  Be sure that you and/or a trusted family member or friend accompany your wife to her doctor appointments.  Your wife will probably be in shock still and a second set of ears is helpful to hearing and understanding the information provided by the doctor.  She and you should write down your questions ahead of time and someone other than your wife should write down the answers at the doctor appointment.

Sending lots of good wishes to you and your wife.  Please keep us posted when you can.  If or when your wife is up to it, she is welcome to come to this board herself.

Kelly

Viks said:

Decided on surgery

Hey there,

thanx for yur advices. It was just because of all of yur advices I knew what to do and whom to meet. Sorry for replying late. Was busy from that day searching for onco's and then getting all the test done all this while. It was a very hectic couple of days for us.

Ya, on yur advice, finally told my wife about the cancer. She has been quiet depressed since and not has been able to digest it still. It will take some time to come on this site.

i met one lady Gyno - Oncologist who is quiet good as a doctor and another oncologist surgeon who is a HOD of one of the very big hospitals here and is very experienced. So we are confused now to go with which Doctor for her surgery. My wife really liked the lady doctor as she made her understand everything very clearly and was very supportive but the other surgeon was very quick and just rushed thru our appointment and we did not like that much. According to our family doc the surgeon is better as he is more experienced but our heart is going with the lady gyno. Have to come out of this confusion soon as we need to decide on the surgery date soon.

Oh, forgot to tell you the diagnosis. We got the MRI, the PET scan and some blood tests done and after the PET now the docs have said that the malignancy has not spread to the upper regions other than the ovaries and uterus and some Lymph Nodes, which they would be removing in the surgery which they would be doing first.

After that they would send those cells for testing and then decide whether chemo is required or not. 

You all are the best thing that could happen to us. Thanx again for yur luv and support. 

Will keep posting updates here soon. 

Viks

I can understand why you are leaning towards the nice lady doctor with good bedside manners, but for a surgeon I would pick the one with most experience and best references regardless of their gender. After surgery your wife can go back to the lady doctor for the follow up. From what you are saying about the MRI her cancer is probably in stage 3C and without question she will need 6-8 rounds of Taxol / Carboplatin chemo every 3 weeks, starting about 4 weeks after the surgery. I don't want to lie, chemo is unpleasant and causes short-term and long-term side effects but it is her best shot at survival.

Your wife is probably in a state of shock now. For many of us after diagnosis anti-anxiety drugs (Lorazepam/Ativan, Xanax or whatever equivalent you can get in India) helped a lot through this difficult time. Ask your family doctor to prescribe some to have it handy if she is having a panic attack.

Sending you both healing thoughts and thanks for the mantra.

Alexandra

mmfintx said:

And!  From what I've read

And!  From what I've read here, at the beginning of any appointment, say, "Please make copies for me of your information, I will take this with me at the end of this visit." You want lab reports, copies of radiology reports, what the plan is, etc.

Someone told me to do something like that....I will look and see if I can find the exact words I was told....And best to you. I think telling her the plan of action at the same time you tell her her news will be of Great benefit.  Will give her the next step to focus on too, as opposed to the pit of dispair you all want to stay away from.  You have some fantastic resources in the women who have responded to your inquiry. Keep in touch, nice to have back up isn't it!

 

Sending lots of positive thoughts and energy to you and your wife as she prepares for her upcoming surgery and possible chemotherapy.

Kelly