Still waiting for full results

Hello muddyfields. It could be my mum writing this. She had full debulking surgery before Christmas, and we had partial histology results yesterday. She has stage 3 too, but the oncologist wasn’t able to be present to tell us what cancer she has / what chemo drugs she’ll be on.

Like you, the waiting has been the hardest, and she’s not looking forward to chemo either. But something I read a few weeks ago said “this is one year of your life to get through, the rest are waiting.” Which I thought was uplifting.

Everyone’s stories here have been really supportive and honest, and I’ve found the forum really helpful on mum’s behalf, so I hope you do too. Lots of people say the surgery is harder to get over than the chemo, so very much hoping that is the case for both you and my mum too.

Thinking of you. Well done getting through such a tough surgery, especially around Christmas. So glad you have your family around you. 

Lx

Thank you so much, and big hugs to you and your mother. I only came out of hospital 2 days before Christmas to a house full of people, but they were really great and I didn’t do anything, quite frankly I was so tired and not hungry and slept a lot. Feeling much better now 2wks later but the Christmas break has slowed all the results down and they are having the MDT meeting today so hopefully will get told something very soon. It’s that awful thing of starting  chemo but needing to be healed and strong enough after that horrible surgery. 

Hi muddyfields. 

I hope that your recovery from surgery is going well? So pleased that you have the support of your family and friends as that makes all the difference. I agree that the daily tummy injections are horrid. I would do anything to put off doing them each morning. 

You are understandably concerned about chemo and you do need to take care of yourself (be kind to yourself!)  in the few days post chemo. The MacMillan website lists the drugs that are used for ovarian cancer (while recognising that they may be slightly different for each person). I was given Paclitaxel and carboplatin. The website can tell you more about the side effects. 

The chemo ward nurses are wonderful and have time to talk to you about how you are feeling as the drugs are administered. I was on the ward all day as it takes several hours for the various drugs (saline, steroids, anti sickness and then the two chemo drugs) to be administered via the drip. 

Everyone will experience chemo effects differently. For me in the 21 day cycle, day 1 was chemo day. Days 2 and 3 I felt good, with lots of energy and an appetite. Day 3-9 pretty rubbish and neededto rest a lot, have short daily walks, take co-codomol in the day and steroids at night to alleviate aching joints and had little appetite. I only felt nauseous on the first cycle and I had been gien anti sickness tablets which made a lot of difference. In the first few days constipation is an issue and lactulose was prescribed. I HATED that.In would pour myself a glass of wine in the evenin as the incentive before drinking the diluted sachet. ️ We eventually worked out that by only eating vegetarian meals for 3 days after chemo I could regulate constipation without lactulose. Phew!

Be warned that your hair will start to fall out after the first chemo session. I found this very upsetting and booked my hairdresser to shave my head. That felt less upsetting than lumps of hair coming out in my hairbrush. I had a lovely trip out with a friend buying some pretty headscarves which helped me cope better with the thought of a bald head. the scarves were nicer than the skull caps most women wear and not as scratchy as a wig. They also matched any outfit I wore which uplifted my mood. I wore my scarves with pride and many a kind and lovely conversation with strangers happened as a result of people seeing my scarves and knowing what happened to me. 

The upside of chemo is you don’t get chin hairs or have to shave legs! 

As much as possible once the 9 days of chemo side effects are done with, live your life as normally as possible. It helps remind you that you are not defined by cancer. You are the person you were before being diagnosed, you just have an added dimension of now managing this project called cancer. 

I wish you the best. Xx

Thanks for that, so positive!

I know I’m stage 3, surgeon told me I would need chemo while I was still groggy from op and being sick, that was so nice of him…

I have already decided to cut my hair very short but wasn’t quite sure how many sessions before it starts coming out. Not looking forward to that, but hey ho, as a means to an end, I’ll take it. I groom my dogs so I have all the clippers and between me and hubby (who would love to do this) we can do this ourselves. 

just a bit worried as I have a reaction to morphine, codeine and the contrast medium used at CT scans, headaches, hives and vomiting. It’s going to an experience! Worried that the chemo will give me a reaction too, expecting the sickness.

hopefully I’ll get some answers soon.