Aa
progression pattern
Hi Again. Thanks for yr prompt reply about my mum. You mention a typical pattern of adv ova cancer.You mention she will get sicker which is expected but what is the approx time period and what are the signs to look out for. Will the continuous chemo make her feel better or is it a downward spiral and chemo is just sustaining or prolonging life without improving it. What doe CA 4800 tellyou. Does stg 3 become stg 4. My munm is sole carer to my dad who is in hosp with double pneumonia. Does her body shut down eventually. Why do cancer patients sleep a lot. My q is does chemo help symptoms or does it just prolong life at expense of quality. How long would she survive if she decided to quit chemo. Thanks for your time in answering all our worries. Is there any positive to take out of this
MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL
Dear Win495,
that is such a sad story. I am so sorry to hear about your mother's suffering.
You are right, when something terrible is going on and there is not a good solution the best intervention is to be truthful so that the person and their family can prepare for what is going to happen.
If your mother has a distended abdomen but there is no fluid to drain, that means the distension is from cancer. If chemotherapy is helping anymore, the cancer will continue to grow. It can prevent her from eating.It can cause a blockage of the bowel or the kidneys.
There should be a good hospice program in Ireland. People in hospice can help her with the symptoms and reduce suffering from pain.
Please let us know what is happening
take care.
that is such a sad story. I am so sorry to hear about your mother's suffering.
You are right, when something terrible is going on and there is not a good solution the best intervention is to be truthful so that the person and their family can prepare for what is going to happen.
If your mother has a distended abdomen but there is no fluid to drain, that means the distension is from cancer. If chemotherapy is helping anymore, the cancer will continue to grow. It can prevent her from eating.It can cause a blockage of the bowel or the kidneys.
There should be a good hospice program in Ireland. People in hospice can help her with the symptoms and reduce suffering from pain.
Please let us know what is happening
take care.
my mam has advanced ovarian cancer,, she has been thro all the chemos for the last 5 years,, had a drain put in and now is bloated so went in to hosp to be deained again but was told the bloation was cos the glands in her stomach were enlarged cos of cancer and there is nothing to drain & sent home??????????????? i need some truthful advice as what this means ?& what to expect next
MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL
HI There
Each person has a unique story of illness. Some people get sick very quickly. Other people can be sick for years and have a very slow decline. The end is always a surprise because we carry so much hope with us (families and doctors too!) that we can be blind to someone being close to the end of their life.
In terms of specific questions:
CA 125 blood test measures a protein that cancer cells secrete.The absolute value is not predictive of how sick someone is. It is the rate of change.One person might walk around with a CA 125 of 4000 for months and the level does not change much and they are not terribly ill from it.
Another person might have a level that goes from 200 to 500 to 2000 to 4000 in a few months and that tells us that the disease is advancing rapidly.
stage is short hand for what the cancer looked like at diagnosis. This label never changes for an individual.So someone can be diagnosed with a stage one cancer and two years later they have a recurrence and die. Their cancer will always be labeled "stage I with recurrence".
Chemotherapy prolongs life if it is working (t\killing cancer cells).Chemotherapy that does not alter the cancer, does not prolong life. So if the chemotherapy is not changing the cancer for your mother, then stopping it will just reduce the toxic side effects of the chemotherapy. It is tricky to decide when a cancer is resistant to being killed by chemotherapy in which case chemotherapy is harmful and not helpful.Quality of life can be vastly improved by very aggressive symptom management in the absence of toxic therapy (when it is not working)
You should ask your mother's doctor this question.
I know how hard this is.
please keep us posted on how your other is doing.
Each person has a unique story of illness. Some people get sick very quickly. Other people can be sick for years and have a very slow decline. The end is always a surprise because we carry so much hope with us (families and doctors too!) that we can be blind to someone being close to the end of their life.
In terms of specific questions:
CA 125 blood test measures a protein that cancer cells secrete.The absolute value is not predictive of how sick someone is. It is the rate of change.One person might walk around with a CA 125 of 4000 for months and the level does not change much and they are not terribly ill from it.
Another person might have a level that goes from 200 to 500 to 2000 to 4000 in a few months and that tells us that the disease is advancing rapidly.
stage is short hand for what the cancer looked like at diagnosis. This label never changes for an individual.So someone can be diagnosed with a stage one cancer and two years later they have a recurrence and die. Their cancer will always be labeled "stage I with recurrence".
Chemotherapy prolongs life if it is working (t\killing cancer cells).Chemotherapy that does not alter the cancer, does not prolong life. So if the chemotherapy is not changing the cancer for your mother, then stopping it will just reduce the toxic side effects of the chemotherapy. It is tricky to decide when a cancer is resistant to being killed by chemotherapy in which case chemotherapy is harmful and not helpful.Quality of life can be vastly improved by very aggressive symptom management in the absence of toxic therapy (when it is not working)
You should ask your mother's doctor this question.
I know how hard this is.
please keep us posted on how your other is doing.
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