Mom had surgery on 8/12/06 but just started chemo in October due to complications (stage 3 ovca). Had two chemos so far and has a small bowel blockage. Just found out today that it is a small tumor that is causing this and the Dr. says he wants to see if chemo will resolve it. If not do you think surgery is an option again? Any ideas or experience on this?
I am an oncology nurse and did GYN oncology for about 3 years. This is a very common process in ovarian cancer. Each case is different but surgery might not be an option, ask your doctor. Often after surgery is done, the bowel obstruction will return, no matter how many surgeries are done. The trick to ending the bowel obstruction is to decrease the tumor burden.
My advise is simple, make sure you are getting good care and trust your doctors. I would recommend that you see a GYN oncologist, not a general oncologist or a surgical oncologist. I would also recommend intraperitoneal chemotherapy - google it
Source(s):
I am a RN
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