Has your doctor been straightforward about your survival?

Thank you all for your input. I didn’t mean to sound like I expect my doctor to promise an exact lifespan. I’m 64 years old. If I didn’t have cancer, I would expect to live 15-25 more years. Of course I could be hit by a bus tomorrow. But, since I have cancer, I think I am much less likely to live even 5 years. But I’m basing that estimate on statistics about ovarian cancer in general: all ovarian cancers lumped together have a five year survival of 40-50%. This statistic does not parse kinds or stages of ovarian cancer. I’m sure that some kinds and stages of ovarian cancer have better average survival than others.
I’m also sure that some treatments improve survival better than others.
(i.e. surgery and chemotherapy improve survival better than surgery alone; drug A improves survival better than drug B, the whole point of clinical trials.)

All these statistics exist. Doctors wouldn’t use the medicines they use without knowing all these statistics. But will they share that with patients? From all the comments above, sounds like most don’t.

It’s nice to have at least a rough idea of how much you have. It might make the difference between whether or not you want to retire, or move to a new city. Do you need to focus more on loved one’s? Do you need to start working on that bucket list? Do you need to draw up a will? Is this the best time to buy that house? The reasons knowing a rough idea of longev

Did more research: found a helpful site. Doesn’t answer all of my questions, but I guess it’s a start:
https://seer.cancer.gov/statistics-network/explorer/application.html?site=61&data_type=4&graph_type=2&compareBy=stage&chk_stage_105=105&chk_stage_106=106&relative_survival_interval=5&hdn_sex=3&race=1&age_range=1&advopt_precision=1&advopt_show_ci=on&hdn_view=0&advopt_show_apc=on&advopt_display=1
Thanks again for all your contributions. I hope all who still have questions find the answers they seek.

I know exactly what you mean. The research is really lacking. The OS for gynecological cancers is hard to understand because these diseases tend to hit the over 60 crowds and we have no idea what co-morbidities exists or the ages of people when they died.

We know that serous cancers are hard to treat. We have 0 information about other factors like lifestyle impact out comes. All the research for that information is coming primarily from breast cancer and colon cancer research. I guess no one with great resources started a foundation for gynecological cancers.

Good news though. A new random study of Colon cancer patients looked at how exercise impacts disease progression and overall survival. The research was published I believe in just the spring. Exercise program with an accountability partner reduced death rates by nearly 30%. That's better than most chemotherapies! You can look up the paper. It's all over the place. I found it being mentioned in three different articles this week. so I would assume that that would be true for our cancers as well. It would be a good idea for all of us to figure out how to budget a personal trainer into our lives. Between surgery, chemotherapy, maintenance treatments and exercise, we might live a long time. We could live longer than our peers who don't have cancer and haven't cleaned up their lifestyles. I may sound like a bit of a Pollyanna, but I am putting a lot of hope in physical fitness to keep me healthy and no more cancers
Denise

Would you share the citation for that paper?

https://pressroom.cancer.org/physical-activity-improves-cancer-survival

thank you

This is the study I was referring to
https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa2502760

There is definitely not enough research on gyn cancers. As a Grade 2 endometrial cancer patient who has learned that EC is so vastly different from woman to woman, as well as the disappointing OS outcomes of clinical trials for the most aggressive cancers, I often feel left behind. We need a Komen-like group just for us, one that spurs not just support (shout out to all of you!) but research and data. Maybe the world just doesn’t want to picture where our cancers lie. 😉

Can you help me with information on biomarkers? Nobody has ever mentioned that before but I have been curious how they play a role in this disease.

I don’t have a science brain but if you google it you will get a good background. These markers might be the cause of some cancers and more significantly, they are now guiding treatments such as immunotherapy. I had both genetic and biomarker testing done when I was diagnosed (at my own expense because Medicare would not pay for it.)
When I listen to online patient webinars about gyn cancer trial results it is always about the biomarkers.
You can go online to SHARE Cancer Support and OCRA (Ovarian Cancer Research Alliance) for information. These are my main two informational organizations for gyn cancers and webinars, though they offer support services as well. Previous webinars are recorded, so you can watch them at your convenience. It’s definitely worth perusing the websites if you are not familiar with them.
I hope this helps a little.

When you say biomarkers what do you refer to?
Is it the metibolic panel or lipids? CA125? What the the markets that give you concern?
Denise