I have ovarian cancer

Welcome Kate, glad to hear you are doing well. Going for tests and bloodwork is always nerve racking. Hopefully you will continue to be clear. Recurrence is something we all live with. The operative word here is "live". I ve recurred twice, currently in chemo, and have bounced back nicely. My longest remission was one year and I credit avastin for that. When I recurred I received carbo, taxol and avastin until my scans were clear then continued with monthly infusions of avastin. I had some side effects from the avastin, but generally felt well and appreciated the time away from chemo. My doc did have to put me on a high blood pressure med with avastin as that seems to be one of the most common side effects. I was also tired for a couple of days a,fete my infusion and sometimes had join pain. It is defiantly worth discussing with your doc. Best of luck to u. Joanne

Welcome to Connect, Kate. I'm glad you found us. @joannedb @rena42 and @cynthiawick can tell you more about their experience with Avastin.

Kate, here is some information from Ovarian Cancer Canada about recurrence symptoms http://www.ovariancanada.org/living-with-ovarian-cancer/recurrence. I can understand the concern about watching for symptoms of recurrence and how going for blood work or scans can increase the anxiety levels. But this type of monitoring is your best defense. I'd like to bring @hopeful33250 (Teresa) into this discussion. While she doesn't have ovarian cancer, she has had 3 recurrences of carcinoma.

Kate, what do you do to ease the fear of recurrence?

Hi, I have just joined this Mayo site tonight. I was diagnosed with Ovarian Cancer in July 2015, had surgery followed by six (6hr) chemo sessions. So far so good. Going for blood work next week. I live in Halifax, Nova Scotia and the treatment possibilities here are not great. I asked what followup there would be and was told that they would know that there was a recurrence when I developed symptoms. What those symptoms might be have not been described to me. I was told I am a Stage 3C. Anyway any suggestions, ideas, thoughts, whatever would be greatly appreciated. Would be interested in knowing more about the drug Astivan - its use, etc. Thank you for taking the time to listen to me. Appreciated.

@elenab Welcome to Mayo connect. I decided to go to Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville cause their GI department is rated #1. Wow is all I can say.. They have totally SPOILED me rotten. My appointments are always on time. I have a team of Doctors from 3 different departments that coordinate together my appointments. So when I go for blood work each department gets their order in and the blood is drawn at once. Literally with in a few hours they give me my results. The Dr's spend time with your and cover every concern.. I was diagnosed with 2 different primary cancers. Lymphoma and Cecum cancer. They did surgery to remove the cecum cancer and so far so good. Same with the lymphoma. They automatically set up my appointments too. The Dr's are top notch and everyone is so nice.
You will be in good hands at Mayo Clinic. Wishing you the Best.

Elena: Welcome to connect. It is an amazing place where I enjoy connecting with others. I feel it is healing to open up and share stories.
It takes a brave person to discuss cancer. Dr Amit Sood, gave me a unique opportunity to be involved with a paced breathing research study that was a great tool in keeping me connected almost 9 years ago...when there was very little information about
lung cancer, never smokers, and how long would I live? The Research programs are very supportive, private and I gained and continue to gain much knowledge about my lung cancer...that even never smokers can get.
I was at the Brink of Life and found my way back to the best years of my life with the help and amazing support of Mayo Clinic teams.
I hope we hear more from you. Take care and know we really care about you:-)
Kindest regards,
Linda

Welcome to Connect, Elena. I moved your message to the discussion group about ovarian cancer so you can meet fellow members who are also living ovarian cancer. Please meet @cynthiawick @joannedb @caf132 @rena42 and @pauldale4.

Elena, you specifically asked about cancer care at Mayo Clinic so I'm also tagging @dawn_giacabazi @travelgirl @mm_mm @llwortman and @burrkay so they might share their experiences with you.

We look forward to getting to know you Elena. If you're comfortable, could you tell us a bit more about yourself. Is this a new diagnosis for you? What treatment if any have you had?

I am planning to get a second opinion at Mayo Clinic. The medical facility is rated as No. 1 by US News in the treatment of Ovarian Cancer. Is there anyone in the group that might share their experiences with the Mayo Clinic.

Nice drop in your numbers!

I'm trying to keep positive, my daughter has been my research queen and has me using essential oils, charlottes web hemp oil, juicing with a Norwalk juicer, taking immunocal protein, opc antioxidant, and green superfood alkaline detox. So far my cancer marker, ca125 went from 4600 to 1150 a 75% decrease after just 3 chemo treatments so my doctor said to keep doing whatever I've been doing! Thanks for your concern, Dale

My name is Dale, I have chemo once a week on Fridays. It was quite a shocking diagnosis as I'm sure everyone else felt the same.