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My OVCA tumor was discovered on my birthday in 2008 during a routine check-up with my Oby/Gyn doctor. An ultrasound check revealed a 15x14x13 centimeter large tumor on one of my ovaries. Huge!
I wonder if anybody knows how long it takes for such a tumor to grow so large.
I also wonder if the size of the tumor has any thing to do with the odds of recurrence.
I thank you for your advice and help.
Cancer Taxol Surgery Counseling Uterine cancer Confusion Ovarian cancer Chemotherapy Lupron Pain Depression Stress
What a lousy birthday present!
I have often wondered about the rate of growth, but have never asked my doc. Mine was 10 cm. when discovered on ultrasound, October 15, '07. I had surgery on November 26, and it had grown to 11cm. Was that its rate from day 1? Who knows.
I have never read any correlation about tumor size and recurrence rate. I haven't seen any definitive indicators that might predict who will recur. We just know that many of us will. Yet another mystery that I hope researchers are working on.
How are you feeling now?
When my tumor was first seen on ultrasound and CT, it was reported to be 3.5 cm and in two weeks at my surgery was reported to be 5.5 cm. so either the tests are real accurate or it grew that much in two weeks.
I hate to be the bearer of possible bad news, but there is also some good news that goes with it. According to a book I'm reading "Natural Strategies For Cancer Patients" by Russell L. Blaylock, M.D., (who has worked with cancer patients for over 30 years and researched extensively on chemotherapy, nutrition, etc.), there are many studies that show that some cancer recurrences and secondary cancers occur as a result of chemotherapy treatments. That's the bad news. The good news is that with proper nutrition, diet, and building up the body's immune system, the body will fight off recurrences or secondary cancers. I also recommend Immunopower, which is the easiest way to get all the vitamins, nutrients, etc., needed to build up the immune system that was developed by Dr. Patrick Quillen (www.NutritionCancer.com), an internationally respected expert in the area of nutrition and cancer.
Well I went for my yearly 10/06 and in Jan/07 my tumor was discovered and it was 16cm. So, mine grew pretty fast but I'm sure that it isn't the norm.
Gennali:
Thank you for your response. I was afraid the question was silly, but from your answer and the other two replies, I begin to think that cancer can grow rather fast, which also explains why it's usually caught in late stages.
I am fine now, in remission. Hoping, praying, and scared to no end.
How are you doing?
Momanderson:
This is a big difference. Have you asked your doctor? I tend to believe it wasn't a mistake, but I certainly would ask my own doctor if it can grow 2cm in such short period. If you see your doctor, could you ask him too?
Thank you for sharing this information with me.
The Phoenix:
Thank you for sharing this information. But please help me understand some more: what do you mean your "yearly check up"? My annual check-up/Pop smear test didn't show ciests on ovaries, and in fact returned negative despite the OVCA which already was there.
But when I had the last check up, at the end of the check up, my doctor felt my stomach and wondered why I was flexing my muscles, I said I wasn't. I explained my stomach has been hard in the last several weeks. He right there and then performed an ultrasound test, and the rest is history.
How was your OVCA discovered?
How did your doctor discover your OVCA? What symptoms made you go to the doctor?
Galmaxflex:
Thank you so much for your references.
I already copied down the book you recommended, as I read your recommendation in another reply you had sent to someone else. Now, I added the website too.
Like you, I'm a firm believer in good nutrition and workout, and I intend to study closely both resources you listed here.
I have two questions:
1. Have your diet changed after OVCA, or have you always watched your diet and adhered these nutritionists?
2. What specific differences due to diet have you observed that led you to believe that nutrition had a role in preventing recurrences of cancer, and/or healing chemotherapy side effects.
If anybody else has thoughts or answers to these questions I will appreciate greatly, as I have found a lot of conflicting information regarding nutrition.
Haya,
Answering your questions - first, I thought I had a pretty good diet before my diagnosis, but I have learned that I did not. Since the diagnosis, I have cut out white flour, white rice, sugar, eat less meat, more vegetables, and no alcohol (other than a rare beer). I have been using the Immunopower through most of my chemo treatments and think that has probably helped me get through all 6 of them. My doctor says some women cannot tolerate all of the strong treatments - IV taxotere/IP carbo followed one week later by an IP Taxol.
Question 2 - There are specific studies footnoted in Dr. Blaylock's book about chemo causing recurrences and secondary cancers and on the benefits of nutrition and building up your own immune system to fight off cancer. I have not personally had enough time yet since completing my chemo only last week to see what my experience will be.
My tumor was 11 cm at surgery. I asked how long it might have been growing. My gyn onc said he thought it would have been "slow-growing" as I didn't have any symptoms. For him that meant a year or so. Apparently my body just kept adjusting to accommodate the tumor's increasing size. No clue about recurrence. I'm at 5 years and am in the middle of testing for my first recurrence.
TwoForOne:
Thank you for your answer.
Would it be out of line to ask what stage you were at when your doctor discovered your OVCA?
Also, you wrote: "...in the middle of testing for my first recurrence." Are you having a recurrence after 5-year remission?
When I say yearly its my annual appt with "the jaws of life"/gyn. He didnt "feel" anyting unusual. I started with flak pain in december but didnt go to the doc until January. My hubby and I were actively trying to get pregnan again and I mistook the pain as ovulation pain. When I first called about it, I was sent for an unltrasound....then, because we wanted to have another bay, was put on Lupron injections to try to shrink it. After 2 shots, whe it grew instead of shrink AND I "looked as if I were 8 month pregnant, ater some dwaddling by the doc, was sent via ambulance to a hospital where I hada TAH and they took a biopsy, while I was under, and it came back as cancerous. So they did the staging and whatnot. We decided to go ahead with the TAH because we already had a beautful boy(who was 2 at the time) and I needed to get healthy for him. Sorry this was so long winded.
ThePhoenix:
"So long winded." No, it's detailed and frank.
I thank you for sharing.
What's "flak" pain?
I'm likely 2C ovarian and 2B endometrial after many consultations and path reviews.
And no clue about what's going on with me recurrence-wise. At my 5th anniversary appointment 3 weeks ago, my CA-125 had risen from 8 to 15 in 6 months. Worrisome, but not anything definitive. I had been feeling some pelvic pressure and now have what feels like bladder irritation (no stealth UTI found in testing unfortunately).
I went back for a second CA-125 on Friday and will get the results Monday or Tuesday. Even if it's elevated again, it could just be whatever inflammation I'm feeling...which, unfortunately, could be cancer. Or not. I know that 5 years isn't really any magic mark, but just feel like it's ironic to be going through this right now.
And to make it even more confusing, one doc is recommending a PET scan and the other a CT.
When I was diagnosed in October 2007 (stage IIIC), my primary tumor ( I'm not sure which ovary it was on, but the ovary and tumor were behind and stuck to my uterus ) was the size of an orange. I also had some very small sprinklings ( the size of a grain of rice ) of cancer on various other places within my pelvis and microscopic cells in one of my lymph nodes. I had asked my doctor how long I may have had the cancer before diagnosis and he said it is tough to say, but most likely for a couple of years. I also asked him if the size of the tumor affects the prognosis, and he told me that the size of the primary tumor usually does not affect prognosis, but the size, location, and number of secondary lesions usually does. Also, echoing what galmaxflex has posted, I too have done extensive research and have my concerns about chemo being a double-edged sword ( necessary, but also depresses the immune system ). I too am using nutritional therapy and supplements to try to boost my immune system. I have not had any recurrences yet and I just had another doctor appointment last week - my ca-125 is still 6. I truly believe it has a lot to do with the efforts I put into building up my immune system.
I am a GCT and I have been told and have read that the size of the tumor when found relates somewhat to recurrence. The larger the tumor, the more chance you have. Mine was 15cm and that puts me at a higher risk. I do not know if this is true for all types of the cancer.
GCT is slow growing and I had symptoms for 18 months before the tumor was too big to ignore and they finally diagnosed me. Hard to say just how long it was growing.
Im really sorry about your "birthday present"...
Melissa
My gynecological oncologist is the doctor other gyn oncs refer their problem patients to. He told me you can't go by size. He said he'd removed tumors the size of watermelons with no malignancy anywhere and ones the size of a grape where the patient was riddled throughout with cancer.
(My tumor was the size of a softball. I didn't have a clue I had ovca, and my sister had died from it seven months earlier.)
I hate to be dramatic but I went for my first exam to find out why my abdomen was getting big on Dec 29, she told me I felt like I was 22 weeks pregnant and the bigger tumor was 15cm in the larger demension. By the time I had surgery a week later it was the size of a basketball, according to my gyn-onc, and I had been sleeping with a pillow under my side like a pregnant woman for about four nights to support the weight. I also had a smaller tumor about the size of a tennis ball or a little smaller but the other one was so big they didn't find the smaller one until surgery.... So I don't know how fast it was growing. I was diagnosed with stage 3C epithelial clear cell... One of the most (or the most) aggressive form of ovarian cancer, but I just had my last chemo Friday and I've been in remission for months, according to my gyn-onc. There is NED on CT scans and my CA125 dropped to 23 by my second treatment and has been 8 for the last two treatments and was 10 for the two before. ALL that to say don't think it's a death notice, take it one day at a time and realize that remission is possible, regardless of the statistics and how long it may or may not last. Easier said than done, I know. Just trying to be encouraging :)
Hi Haya,
You certainly did get a lousey birthday present!!! I can understand the confusion about the relationship between the size of the tumor and the chance of recurrence. There may be some slight correlation but the most important thing in considering the chance of recurrence is not the size of the tumor but the type of cells that are present in the cancer.
Ovarian cancer is not just one disease. It can originate in several different cell types and some of these types are more aggressive and hense more likely to recurr. The most aggressive types are clear cell and serous papillary. If you want to know your cell type you can ask your oncologist as the cell type will be identified on your pathology report.
I have stage 4 serous papillary uterine cancer which is very similiar to the ovarian variety. I was diagnosed in October of 2006 and I am now in my first recurrence. This cell type grows rapidly and has at least a 70 % recurrence rate.
Please be sure that you really want to know the information about your cell type before you ask your oncologist. If you do find that you have one of the more aggressive forms of cancer, don't give up!! There are still treatments that can help.
Please keep us up to date on how you are doing. Eileen
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