Dear friend with stage 4 ovarian can't tolerate chemo: Options?

@mike72 I requested that your new Discussion be moved to the Gynecological Cancers Support Group because you will get more responses here. You are a good friend to come here with your worries and questions about your friend.

I did not have Ovarian Cancer and did not have chemotherapy for the Endometrial Cancer that I experienced in 2019. I had a recurrence in 2021 and received radiation therapy. So I cannot comment on my own experiences that would be helpful with your friend unless she has had or plans to have radiation therapy. I do have a few questions.

What suggestions has your friend’s cancer care team come up with since she cannot tolerate chemotherapy?

Do you know the names of the medications that your dear friend was getting for chemotherapy? If you do, this will help other members here in our Support Group respond to your question.

Does your friend live in the U.S.? Canada? Overseas?

my questions would be, why is she not able to tolerate the chemo? what is preventing it? nausea? bad veins? weakness? etc.. how long has she been diagnosed? is this her first time with cancer or has she been through it before?

My friend was on chemo regime of carbonation and palatial.
Her blood count is too low to tolerate this treatment.
Could she be a candidate for immunotherapy?

Paclitaxal

Carboplatin

I have gone through almost ten rounds of this regimen. What I eat makes all the difference. Fruits, vegetables, whole grains and high protein (cottage cheese, chicken, fortified protein yogurt, protein drinks, etc, oatmeal, peanut butter, smoothies) keep the nausea at bay. Sometimes eating when you feel a little nauseated stops it as well. High fat foods and lots of sweets (a greasy burger, french fries, rich desserts) will derail you. I have also found a juice bar and buy a “green” drink of some kind (not sweet), with vegetables like celery and maybe ginger for nausea. We are all different, but this has helped to keep my numbers up and any nausea to a bare minimum.

Meant to say I buy a green drink every other day or so. They can be expensive. 🙂

@mike72 I understand how worried you are for your friend. The person that can best answer your question about immunotherapy is her oncologist. Do you know if your friend has discussed alternatives to chemotherapy with her oncologist? Also, does she have someone to go to her appointments with her? I know from experience that as the patient I cannot absorb all the information that I hear in these appointments and so having my partner in the appointment with me is very helpful. Could you be the person who goes to oncology appointments with your friend?

@mike72 coming from someone (stage 3c) who had to take Neulasta to get my neutrophil count high enough EVERY time i took chemo AND who ended up having to have 7 units of blood through it to get my numbers up, that makes a lot of difference... fortunately i had a team of oncologists who were willing to think outside the box for options.... it wasn't just a "sorry your XXX count is too low" attitude... they said to me when it happened the first time "look there's this drug called Neulasta that can help build those neutrophils but you have to test low for 3 tests before we can say you're a candidate"...(this was after my first round of chemo) so i did and got on it and it worked.. they would give it to me as i was leaving from a chemo session (its an autoinjector) and then i'd come back 3 weeks later and my neutrophils would be high enough but my rbc or platelets or hemocrit or something else wouldn't be and i'd end up getting a transfusion or whatever and come back the NEXT week lol.. they ended up just doing a bag of potassium and a bag of something else (don't remember what) along with my chemo and Neulasta every time...so DEFINITELY ask about that... i did 3 rounds of chemo followed by surgery and 3 more rounds...mine responded well to the chemo although my body wasn't thrilled with it...
those are the same two drugs i took... acupuncture worked REALLY well in controlling the nausea (make sure you find a true acupuncturist, preferably one who studied in the Asian areas where its more common, not just a chiro who has taken a course in it), and ask for the dissolvable zofran instead of the pill...that made a world of difference as well
hope this helps...

I just read an article about a similar situation. The woman used marijuana. Everyone is different. Whatever will help
I would try. Best of luck and I pray something works.