Ovarian cancer

@sistermarcy, how did your appointment go with the oncologist? What is the treatment plan? And most importantly, how are you doing?

I will be starting Gemzar on Monday. I am doing quite well. My oncologist reminded me that I had ascites two years ago. I remain hopeful although “Dr. Google” is quite pessimistic about ascites. In the mean time I’m enjoying my gift of life.

Colleen, thank you for responding. Your comments are most appreciated.

@sistermarcy I somehow missed your initial post a few weeks ago. I wanted to also check in with you. We have small group of members in our Gynecological Cancers support group who have been diagnosed with and treated for ovarian cancer @amywells @katie8 @starko.

"Dr. Google" is usually out of date and so that particular "doctor" isn't very reliable. I've had these types of discussions with my own cancer care team at Mayo Clinic and since they all keep up with recent literature I trust them to provide me with the most recent information. I know how tempting it is to google symptoms and diagnoses as I have done the same (I was diagnosed with endometrial cancer in 2019, recurrence in 2021) and found myself becoming increasingly anxious with the more I read.

Are you familiar with the free publication CURE Today? There are good articles in this publication about different types of cancers and many article written by people living with cancer. This publication was recommended to me by another Mayo Clinic Connect mentor who is living with lung cancer.

CURE Today:

-- https://www.curetoday.com/

I'm happy to know you are doing well. Will you please let me know how you are feeling after your first treatment with Gemzar tomorrow?

Thank you, Helen. I’ll keep in touch. I had a nice conversation with the pharmacist at my infusion center. He was very helpful in calmly me down about, yes the Google reported side effects. I am very frustrated to have a caring and competent team.
Thanks again for reaching out to me.

@sistermarcy You are very welcome. I have often found pharmacists to be helpful with medication information that I can then take back to my doctors. It's good that you have a caring team who are competent. I found that the nurses, doctors, and everyone else at infusion centers get to know their patients very well over the course of treatment. Some of my friends stay in touch with their nurses years later after chemotherapy. That says a lot right there. doesn't it?

Had my first infusion. Went well. Was able to take my morning walk. Received the results of my Signatera blood test. It went down from .88 to .18. I don’t know the significance but at least it sounds good.

@sistermarcy Bravo! This all sounds very good and the bonus is you were able to take your morning walk. I hope you continue to feel this good in the coming days and weeks before your next infusion.