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Hello,
My wife (aged 30) has had Ovarian Cancer for 6 years. Yesterday we were told the devastating news that they didn't think it was curable any more. We have reached the clutching-at-straws stage.
It may seem odd to place this on a testicular cancer forum, but the tumour she has is a germ cell (yolk sac) and more akin to testicular cancer than ovarian cancer.
It was first diagnosed in Sept 2000. She had the tumour (and one ovary) removed and shortly afterwards had TIP chemo. Six months later her AFP came back and she had BEP. Markers returned to normal but our doctor decided that it would be sensible to follow it up with a single course of high dose chemo with stem cell transplant, which she coped with really well.
Everything seemed good for 18 months, but then the AFP rose to around 25. It then, strangely, stabilised for a year before rising again. A scan found a lump which was removed by surgery (no chemo) and markers returned to normal for about a year (until Sept 2005). At the start of 2006 she had more chemo using Thalidomide after surgery to remove 4 small tumours. Two weeks ago the AFP rose from 2 to 10. Last week it was 31. It looks like the cancer is back.
Our doctor, who is usually positive, was very downbeat, telling us he didn't think they could cure her. Worse was that his attitude seemed to be to simply sit back and wait until the cancer symptoms started before doing anything. We can't just sit back and let the cancer grow. We want to try tandem (two cycles) of high dose chemo, which he suggested a year ago before plumping for the Thalidomide, but yesterday he said he doubted it would help.
The current plan now is to try HRT for a month to see if that arrests the tumour growth (the AFP does seem to be linked with her coming on and off the pill). If that doesn't help we'll look into going on a Phase 1 clinical trial in the autumn (fall), but he didn't seem too hopeful about. He doesn't seem to understand that we need hope.
She's always responded well to chemo, with AFPs returning to normal each time. We kind of felt that we'd be able to continue having chemo until they found a cure. Can anyone suggest anything? Are there other, more advanced trials? Could tandem high dose chemo help?
It's cutting me up just doing nothing.
My wife (aged 30) has had Ovarian Cancer for 6 years. Yesterday we were told the devastating news that they didn't think it was curable any more. We have reached the clutching-at-straws stage.
It may seem odd to place this on a testicular cancer forum, but the tumour she has is a germ cell (yolk sac) and more akin to testicular cancer than ovarian cancer.
It was first diagnosed in Sept 2000. She had the tumour (and one ovary) removed and shortly afterwards had TIP chemo. Six months later her AFP came back and she had BEP. Markers returned to normal but our doctor decided that it would be sensible to follow it up with a single course of high dose chemo with stem cell transplant, which she coped with really well.
Everything seemed good for 18 months, but then the AFP rose to around 25. It then, strangely, stabilised for a year before rising again. A scan found a lump which was removed by surgery (no chemo) and markers returned to normal for about a year (until Sept 2005). At the start of 2006 she had more chemo using Thalidomide after surgery to remove 4 small tumours. Two weeks ago the AFP rose from 2 to 10. Last week it was 31. It looks like the cancer is back.
Our doctor, who is usually positive, was very downbeat, telling us he didn't think they could cure her. Worse was that his attitude seemed to be to simply sit back and wait until the cancer symptoms started before doing anything. We can't just sit back and let the cancer grow. We want to try tandem (two cycles) of high dose chemo, which he suggested a year ago before plumping for the Thalidomide, but yesterday he said he doubted it would help.
The current plan now is to try HRT for a month to see if that arrests the tumour growth (the AFP does seem to be linked with her coming on and off the pill). If that doesn't help we'll look into going on a Phase 1 clinical trial in the autumn (fall), but he didn't seem too hopeful about. He doesn't seem to understand that we need hope.
She's always responded well to chemo, with AFPs returning to normal each time. We kind of felt that we'd be able to continue having chemo until they found a cure. Can anyone suggest anything? Are there other, more advanced trials? Could tandem high dose chemo help?
It's cutting me up just doing nothing.
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