doctor recommending chemo before and after surgery

• By jeaniet
• Posted June 29, 2009 at 5:54 pm
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Chemo first is not uncommon. Keep looking around on the site and you will read how other women have handled it.
Jeanie

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• By berggy
• Posted June 29, 2009 at 11:19 pm
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I had three rounds of chemo before my surgery to shrink the tumors and then six rounds after surgery.
Seemed to work out fine. Good luck to your mom.
Sandy

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• By FavoriteAunt
• Posted June 30, 2009 at 8:27 am
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Someone I know did that and it did help. Each case is different, but sometimes that protocol is advised and they doctors usually know when to do it.

Good luck to your mom.

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• By Lemona
• Posted June 30, 2009 at 11:21 am
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I was diagnosed with stage iv ovca and had 8 rounds of carbo/taxol before surgery. This was recommended because of the volume of cancer I had. It was explained to me that doing chemo before surgery would get rid of alot of the cancer and make the surgery more successful. This is probably the case for your mother especially since she has a large tumor. I imagine they want to shrink it as much as possible. I also had a good deal of chemo following surgery. I think it's fine for your mother to go this route and certainly her doctor knows best. Best of luck to you both. Take care.

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• By kimsmom
• Posted June 30, 2009 at 11:33 am
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I don't know about the chemo before...but, I know they want to do surgery asap to get all the area cleaned out.
optimal "debulking" is the best. Ask your doctor how many times the before/after has been tried and what the overall longterm survival has been.

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• By kimsmom
• Posted June 30, 2009 at 11:39 am
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hmmm..after reading some of the other replies, I wonder if my daughter would have done better with chemo immediately and then surgery. She has had so much ascites fluid ....even leaking out of her incision and vaginally ...and now, after her first chemo a few days ago [3 weeks after surgery] she feels more normal for the first time! Having chemo asap may be more important, or at least as important as the surgery.
In fact, one person shared that her mom was opened and closed without removing anything b/c cancer was so advanced...and then did 6 rounds of chemo..and 12 years later has had no recurrence. Maybe chemo is king in this battle.

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• By bldrluck
• Posted June 30, 2009 at 12:28 pm
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I was Stage IV and had 4 rounds of chemo then surgery, then two more chemos. I went to two gyn/oncs - and got two different opinions. The one at the big University Medical Center here said that even among the 5 gyn/oncs there, they would be split. Some doctors prefer to know what they are dealing with, and some want to shrink things down, especially if it is outside of the abdomen or on another organ. My oncologist said to me that the chemo was as good as the knife. By the time they did the surgery, there was only a tiny trace left in one ovary, so the surgery was much easier.

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• By mathwhiz
• Posted June 30, 2009 at 1:04 pm
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wow I am just amazed by everyone's commitment to help here. thanks all for your replies. it makes logical sense to me to have chemo done first, so that all the small nodules on the other organs get eliminated and only the big tumors remain.
my only concern with that approach was that the chemo will reduce the small nodules to scars, but will the oncologist know that cancer was earlier present on the other organs? I would prefer them to remove the tissue rather than keep tissues with scars in there.

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• By ohmama123
• Posted July 2, 2009 at 11:21 am
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I am stage 3C and just finished my 6th treatment - my surgery will be some time in July, and will be followed by up to 6 additional treatments post surgery. My doctor strongly believed for me this was the best course because my tumors were large and widespread, and my bowels were covered in nodules. He said if he tried to do surgery first it would have been easily a 12 hour surgery with a very lengthy and painful recovery. Now, my tumors have shrunk immensely (I'll find out just how much next week at my scan!) and the surgery will be much more manageable, as will recovery. I had 2 lemons on my spleen and now they may be able to save most of my spleen instead of removing it entirely, I had a cantelope in my abdominal cavity that I can no longer feel - and my onc can no longer feel in an exam. I no longer have the pains associated with the bowel nodules. I truly feel this was the best course of treatment for me. It has also given me much needed time to better absorb my diagnosis from an emotional/mental standpoint and come to terms with it before heading into surgery and what will follow. Good luck to you!

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• By mathwhiz
• Posted July 2, 2009 at 3:46 pm
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thanks everyone.. hope this course of treatment works for my mom as well

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• By kalo555
• Posted July 4, 2009 at 9:32 am
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I think each and every case can be different so it is important to have trust in your doctor to help you find what is best for you. I chose surgery 1st. It was a five hour surgery....major but it is what my surgeon felt was the best route for me to take and I have no regrets. I went into chemo still trying to bounce back from surgery so that was rough. I wish you well in your journey

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