Hi Doctor,
My recurrences have always been in the form of bowel obstructions, which were resolved with chemo. At those times, my CA125 count was around 600, I didn't have any bowel movements whatsoever, I didn't have gases and I certainly didn't do feces. My abdomen was distended and I did vomiting.
Right now, my abdomen is not distended, my last CA125 count was 140 (CA125 has always been an accurate marker for me), I didn't loose much weight, I feel strong, I frequently have gases and I already did feces twice (not diarrhea) and did diarrhea for a couple of times, and I also feel my intestines moving strongly. However, everytime I try to take some liquids (soup water) my abdomen gets distended. Once I stop the liquids ingestion my abdomen gets normal after a couple of days. I don't have vomiting, although I had have before chemo and during chemo's first cycle. I'm on the 2nd cycle of Cabo+Gemzar combination, which ends on next wednesday. Nothing is shown on CT and X ray only shows some narrowing in my bowel. I'll do a PET scan next week and will have new CA125 count.
It seems that although the chemo has helped (CA125=148 prior to it and 140 after chemo's 1st cycle) with symptoms improvement on 2nd cycle(stoped vomiting, did feces, having gases, feeling better and well) my partial bowel obstruction persists. I'm hospitalized for more than 2 months now, I'm on TPN and my blood analysis is normal.
In your opinion, what should I do: 1. keep on chemo? 2. Go into surgery? In case of adhesions, what are the chances of bowel unblocks by itself? How can I know BO cause?