Ovarian Cancer and Avastin

Hi and a very warm welcome to the online community

I'm sorry to hear that you were diagnosed with ovarian cancer earlier this year and it's natural to want to know how other people have got on with Avastin.

I don't have the experience you're looking for but I noticed that you haven't had any replies to your post yet. While you're waiting for replies, if you type 'avastin' into the search bar in this group you'll find lots of previous posts which mention it. You could have a read through those and respond to any of the more recent ones if you want to ask the poster any questions.

When you have a minute, it would be really useful if you could pop something about your journey so far into your profile as it really helps others when answering or looking for someone with a similar diagnosis. It also means that you don't have to keep repeating yourself. To do this click on your username and then select 'Profile'. You could copy and paste most of what you've said here into your profile or take a look at mine by clicking on my username to see the sort of thing you could add.

Wishing you all the best

Hi BTS Fan, I have just completed the 17th cycle of Avastin for maintenance after first line chemotherapy. If you are in England then the Cancer Drugs Fund allows 18 cycles of Avastin. So I have one more cycle to go now. The infusion is every three weeks and they do keep an eye on your blood pressure and blood chemistry, as well as testing a urine sample for the presence of protein. When I stated Avastin it was combined with my last two cycles of chemotherapy. Those treatments were quite tough and I was quite fatigued after finishing chemo. But I have coped pretty well having Avastin on its own. The time seems to have flown by actually. I do get a runny nose and some sneezing. Other than that I occasionally get aches in my joints. The site can vary from my fingers to my wrist to my elbow to my hips (not all at once). Some days I can feel a bit more tired when I go out for a walk and sometimes in the kitchen I just feel like I need to sit down for a bit. There doesn't seem to be a set pattern within each cycle. And of course some of these feelings may be nothing to do with the Avastin because for some time your body is still dealing with the effects of chemotherapy as well. I started back to work, working from home, once I had got used to the Avastin. I was working reduced hours on a phased return.

I hope this helps. If you have any questions then just ask.

MaldivesFan

Hi Maldivesfan

Many thanks for your reply. 

I'm due the last (of 6) chemo session on Friday and I think the oncologist wanted to start the Avastin then.  However, depending the results of scan need to have, I may need further surgery.

The information they gave me listed some scary ocassional side efects, so I was a little worried about them. You have some what put my mind at rest.

Does the Avastin effect hair? My hair has started to grow back, i'd rather not lose it again. 

Do you have your blood pressure and urine tested at the same time as having your bloods?

Looking forward to hearing from you. 

BTS Fan

Hi BTS Fan, my hair has grown back since the chemotherapy finished so the Avastin hasn't affected my hair in terms of loss. It seems slow to grow but it is thick and curly. I'm not sure if it might grow faster once the Avastin has finished.

I usually have my Avastin infusion first thing in the morning and so I go a day or two before to have my bloods done and I take a urine sample with me. One of the nurses does a urine dip and checks my BP. That way I know that I am good to go for the infusion, once my chemo nurse has also rung with my blood chemistry results. My BP tends to go up when I go anywhere near the hospital and so we started checking my BP at home as well.

Best wishes

MaldivesFan

Hi I went on Bevacizamab (Avastin) and I felt it wonderful - no side effects like chemo, It went in conjunction with my 6 chemo treatments same as your two drugs then carried on for the rest of the year so I had 18 altogether, just keep drinking water though so your urine has no protein in it and keep your blood pressure down as they check both of those and it's great :) only takes half hour 20 mins too as with all 3 I was there including plugging in about 10-12 hours then when chemo stopped it got down to 2 hours (including plug me in and out)

I don't think it effects hair loss only the chemo drugs do that..