So I finally have a real update on what's happening with my sister Sara. For a refresher, she was dx w/fallopian tube cancer after having a hysterectomy in September. Then she had open biopsy surgery where they tested some 70 tissues in her abdomen to check for metastasis. The outcome was that is was stage 1 (contained), and grade 2 (from 1-3, moderately aggressive cells). This was the cutoff for not needing chemo, so that that was not part of the plan.
Well since then, since this type of cancer is so rare (esp. in someone who's only 40) her surgeon presented her case at a pathology conference. One of his colleagues pointed out that from the slides he thought it was grade 3 tumor cells (most aggressive) rather than 2. So then back home all the local pathologists got together, and out of the 11 of them, they split 6 (3) to 5 (2) on the grade. So the surgeon (who we all now love even more than before) reached out to leading pathologists in Boston. The two of them agreed that it was stage 3. So 3 it is.
So she starts 18 weeks (6 rounds, once every three weeks) of chemo on Jan. 31st, so it will go into May. She already got the button installed on her chest, so she won't have IVs each time. She will be on two different drugs, which I guess "counteract" each other so that the effects are somewhat less awful. But she will lose her hair. :( She will be given meds for the nausea and will be on whatever modified activity she needs to deal with the fatigue.
The chance of recurrance and mets with chemo should be low, which is good since the prognosis for fallopian tube cancer is similar, but even worse than ovarian, and I think most know how bad that is. My mom was not willing to risk this, given the change in grade.
Though apparently there is a debate going on in the family, primarily between my RN Mom and speech pathologist sister, the latter who thinks that the chemo will be too much for Sara. I agree with my mother, based on what I know, that she is much tougher than we give her credit for and did much better with her two surgeries than any of us imagined she would. So we'll see.
One step forward, two steps back...
Well since then, since this type of cancer is so rare (esp. in someone who's only 40) her surgeon presented her case at a pathology conference. One of his colleagues pointed out that from the slides he thought it was grade 3 tumor cells (most aggressive) rather than 2. So then back home all the local pathologists got together, and out of the 11 of them, they split 6 (3) to 5 (2) on the grade. So the surgeon (who we all now love even more than before) reached out to leading pathologists in Boston. The two of them agreed that it was stage 3. So 3 it is.
So she starts 18 weeks (6 rounds, once every three weeks) of chemo on Jan. 31st, so it will go into May. She already got the button installed on her chest, so she won't have IVs each time. She will be on two different drugs, which I guess "counteract" each other so that the effects are somewhat less awful. But she will lose her hair. :( She will be given meds for the nausea and will be on whatever modified activity she needs to deal with the fatigue.
The chance of recurrance and mets with chemo should be low, which is good since the prognosis for fallopian tube cancer is similar, but even worse than ovarian, and I think most know how bad that is. My mom was not willing to risk this, given the change in grade.
Though apparently there is a debate going on in the family, primarily between my RN Mom and speech pathologist sister, the latter who thinks that the chemo will be too much for Sara. I agree with my mother, based on what I know, that she is much tougher than we give her credit for and did much better with her two surgeries than any of us imagined she would. So we'll see.
One step forward, two steps back...
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