Hi there firstly I'd like to think my story so far will bring hope faith and a positive outlook to anyone who has a similar diagnosis.
November 2020 I went to hospital with what I thought was appendicitis, turned out to be stage 3c Ovarian Cancer I was told I had weeks to a few months to live and there was nothing they could do. Long story short I changed their minds and went to see my surgeon who explained the risks and my 2 options. Given the high death rate of the surgery I was going to have and given most opted for 3 rounds of chemotherapy prior I decided to go straight for the surgery, I felt I would be at my strongest and would be in with a better chance. Surgery was one of the biggest they had done 25 hours, lots removed, full hysterectomy, bowl, appendix, partial bladder, stomach, liver and stripping of my diaphragm along with a few other bits and bobs. 2 months in hospital due to a few set backs, once home this is where I began to heal, given my wound had to be opened up due to infection I had been fitted with a vaxpack then as this healed a picco machine. On to chemo well what can I say about that other than this is what made me ill and I could understand why most did not survive the type of surgery I had never have I felt so weak and frail, on top of this I had 2 covid jabs. After chemo I began to get my strength back started walking slowly but always on the up. Next the maintenance therapy Niraparib now once again I struggled I found the side effects of these worse than chemo so my dose was lowered from 300 to 100 which I am fine with, my CA125 remain at 11 and for the last 4 months I've felt great, taken up flying and started to live my life again. I swim go for walks eat well and laugh loads I even took up singing to help heal my lungs (it worked). 1 year ago I was told I had no chance but here I am doing well feeling good and feel sure I will be OK. The other thing too that concerned me was covid and given I had my jabs during chemo unsure if I was protected, I decided to join a trial and I now do regular antibody tests and so far I have good antibodies not yet had my booster as need to research more given the blood clots side effects. So my advice to anyone have a few extra pounds on your bones prior to treatment they will give your body something to feast off whilst you are ill, eat healthy and eat what you you need to repair, do things that give you joy and tell yourself you can do this.
Hi Suzanne,
So glad to hear you’re doing so well, and just wanted to say thanks for sharing your story with this group.
It’s truly inspirational, to see what a difference strength of mind and body and a positive attitude can make on the OC journey.
Well done You - and I hope you go from strength to strength in 2022 !
love Bx
I would also like to add, everyone involved from my surgeon to the District nurses were all fantastic, these people see you at your worse yet keep you smiling and work so hard they all deserve a med
z
Hi there Fatcats you can and will do this, listen to your Doctors and listen to your own body, macmillan nurses are brilliant they are with you 100% just try and do what ever brings you joy and know here are plenty of people who care. Stay strong keep
Thank you for sharing your story , my op was 7.5 hours and I thought that was long . Please read my bio to find out more about me. I had a diaphragm resection and my spleen removed which made my stage a stage 4b. I'm clinging onto hope ! Where did you have your surgery if you don't mind me asking
Hi there I had my surgery at St James in leeds, I initially had a 15 hour op but something happened and I had to go back again just as I was waking up for a further 9 hours, think due to that I hadots of complications, infection and blood clots on my lungs. How about you were did you go.
I had mine at the London Clinic, I had soooo much removed , it's amazing how the body can function without all the bits that were there
Tell me about it, think the diaphragm was hard for me that and blood clots on my lungs made me quite weak also had to adapt my laugh as that was rather painful to do , are you now on maintenance therapy if so what and how are you now?
I'm having my last carbo taxil tomorrow , 6/6 . I was on Avastin too but that's been stopped for this cycle as I'm having s double mastectomy in Late Jan Feb , they'll then start me back on Avastin for 22 cycles and a parp inhibitor
Wow such a brave lady I hope all goes well for you
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