hello ladies, i need some advice. First let me give you a quick background.
I was diagnosed with stg. 3c ovarian cancer a year ago. had a huge debulking surgery and was cut from the top of my abdomen to my pelvis. It was a very long recovery, and i didnt start chemo for over a month. i got the usual 6 cycles , every 3 weeks. At the end of 6 months my scan showed 2 more spots. my C-125 was 9.
So it was recommended that i enter a drug study, and start on a chemo drug called doxil. So i did 2 months later. i did not get the placebo, i was getting the actual drug we know because i had severe side effects from it, but i kept it up. i also have had eczema my whole life on and off. well, Doxil is known to cause skin issues, and while i didnt get the normal Doxil side effects, it did make my eczema flare up like i have never seen it. I begged my doctor to please do something a few months ago because i was so miserable, but he refused, and i have no insurance so he is my only option. I went to the national eczema website and got some ideas on how to control it , and they worked pretty well. it was tolerable.
So now i am doing well, my first scans on this Doxil came back great. tumors were smaller, and i do believe this test drug has something to do with that. Well, i had my second scans this week, and they came back ok. tumors have not changed. The doctor called it "stable" and since i have been on chemo for such a long time, and my cancer is "stable" i should stop treatment to get my eczema under control. I told him NO! i did not want to stop treatment, i would deal with the skin issues as i have been all along.
Well he went on to tell me that this disease is not going away, and even if i get remission, it will come back, so while it is "stable" i should take a break from chemo because if we go at it too hard now, when it comes back later my bone marrow will be no good for treatments.
I have no idea what chemo does to bone marrow. ( i do plan to research it though )
I had no say in the matter, my treatments , and the study drug are on hold for next week, and i am on a steroid for the eczema. If it is cleared up enough , ( and he has to see it to judge it) then i can resume treatments the following week.
So now i am happy it has not spread, and is "stable" , but im depressed because he keeps telling me this is not going away, even if it does go away, it will be back. So it sounds to me like he isnt even trying to beat it, just control it for as long as possible until it kills me. I do not know what to do, i really have no options as i have no insurance.
Do you think i am misunderstanding him maybe? does this sound normal to any of you? Is it typical? I have read that it is very hard to beat, and does come back almost all the time, but to not even try? i dont know.......