Had my 6 month scan and it showed minor pleural effusion in right lung. Has anyone had this as a first sign of recurrence?

Hi everyone, I had a cyst removed that was thought to be benign. Biopsy showed a borderline mucinous cystadenoma, now I am scheduled for second surgery to remove my ovary, appendix, and take tissue samples. I haven’t been in to my doctor but received a copy of the report from the MDT and it states “presumed stage is 1C due to cyst rupture/cystectomy”. So far all the doctors have been very clear in not using the term cancer. Has anyone been diagnosed with similar? Am I now looking at using the big C word? Thanks for any advice!

My mom has her appointment to see the oncologist for the first time next week. So far, we have only information coming from the gynae, along with info from the biopsy. No gene testing yet but she will be seeing the geneticist soon as well. From what we understand, it’s Stage 3 high grade, likely stage 3C.

What questions should I be asking the oncologist? Will the oncologist be the one who comes up with the chemo plan?

Thanks.

I don't have a clear pic of the report so here's the text:

CA – 125 (Ovarian Cancer Marker), Serum Observed Value: 48.2 U/mL Biological Reference Interval: 0 – 35 U/mL

Note: Kindly correlate clinically. CA-125 may be elevated in benign conditions such as endometriosis, pelvic inflammatory disease, menstruation, pregnancy, hepatic disease, and in non-gynecological malignancies. Therefore, CA-125 should not be used as a single diagnostic test for ovarian cancer but should be interpreted along with clinical findings and imaging studies.

So my mom was having severe stomach pain and back pain since a few weeks and she went for a scanning a couple days ago and they told her she had a cyst. We received this report yesterday. My mom is so scared after seeing the report and so am I. She's going to the doctor again today to understand but I just want to know what do the values exactly mean.

Any long term remission HGSOC people here? Was diagnosed with stage IVB brca wt, HRP, Folate receptor alpha + (90%), her2 neg (0) Malignant neoplasm of bilateral ovaries. Also was just diagnosed with 3 cm renal mass, which was confirmed via CT-guided biopsy to be grade 2 clear cell renal cell carcinoma. These are 2 completely different cancers & my DNA testing shows no genetic markers for cancer. My urology surgeon will be removing my left kidney after I complete my infusions on 11/10. My gyno/oncologist says I have an 80% reoccurrence of the ovarian in which case could do 15 rounds of Avastin or Elahere. I don’t know how much chance of remission with either of these plus the side effects with each?

Please forgive me if this is a regurgitation of so many other posts, but I’m about to pull my hair out I’m so stressed. The long and short of it is I’m 29, in a rural area with not excellent doctor options, and don’t currently have insurance. I started noticing symptoms around March of this year (intense pain in hip, back, and abdomen that would come and go, bloating, severe calf cramps, GI problems, so much mucus) and have been writing them off as stress/normal hormonal things. However in the last month or so I’m also beginning to notice that I’m only eating about half my meals and then I’m full and having pain and bloating even more so, I have a productive cough that’s dark and smells/tastes bad, periods if I have them are like I’m 13 again (awful), mood swings, I’m waking up in the night so hot I’m nauseous despite being under a sheet with two fans going, I’m so tired I can’t think straight it’s causing me to miss work and I’m getting winded/exhausted just getting dressed in the morning or walking through Walmart, and sometimes the pain is so bad I can’t stand til it passes; I feel like something is seriously wrong. I have an appointment with my local health dept in 2 weeks, it was the soonest any in the area had. I’m concerned they’ll only have limited resources and will just refer me out, by reading a lot of your posts it’s recommended to go to the ER and be seen. With not having insurance and not having good results with my local ER, would you go anyway, maybe to a different one in another town, or just wait for the appointment in two weeks? What do you say when you go? Any feedback including telling me I’m over thinking/worrying if I am is greatly appreciated

Hi all,

My wife(32) and I moved to Japan from the US last year. First thing we did was maximize the difference in accessibility of health care and did annual health check. No real concerns. This year in our health exam, it was flagged that in my wife's OBGYN ultrasound, her ovaries were enlarged. So after 2 weeks, we went to a OBGYN and did a blood test and took a secondary ultrasound, which showed growth in size and cysts on the ovaries and high counts on CA19-9 and CA125 (both in the 230). The doctor said that it was endometriosis and prescribed 3 months worth of Dienogest. She said we should check after 3 months.
Although we started taking Dienogest, I was not satisfied with this doctor's response so I took my wife to a bigger hospital about a month later. The new doctor did another ultrasound and said that the right ovary grew 1cm in size (from 6 cm to 7 cm) over the span of 1 month. So she did a enhanced (contrast) MRI to check for malignancy. The resulting diagnosis was that it is a Borderline Malignant Tumor. Her second blood test also indicated a rise in CA125 level (290). Not knowing anything about Borderline Malignant Tumor before, the word malignant really scared my wife. From my internet search, I can find Borderline Tumor but not Borderline "Malignant" Tumor. We are in the process of doing a contrast CT to see if it has metastasized. If the CT result is positive, then she said we need to do chemotherapy.

I was wondering if I could get some help from this community:

1. Is there a difference between Borderline Tumor and Borderline Malignant Tumor? I am wondering if this is just a name that is lost in translation that is making it sound way worse.

2. The doctor says that just surgically removing the mass has a chance of metastasis during the surgery so she recommends that we remove her right ovary despite her young age. Is this normal or is this a very conservative approach?

3. The doctor says that laparoscopic surgery is not an option since the tumor is bigger than the incision site and that the tumor at this point cannot be removed in pieces due to the risk of metastasis. This is my wife's first ever surgery. So hearing this made her terrified. Does anyone else have experience of not having laparoscopic option?

4. Is anyone in this community knowledgable about hospitals in Japan? I am not sure if this is a normal and easy operation but I want to make sure I provide my wife with the best quality of surgery. So far we have only been going to hospitals that can speak English but now I am willing to go to a non-English speaking hospital if it means good quality and result. Any recommendation would be appreciated.

I am happy to provide more details but I want to thank everyone in advance for any suggestions or help.

Good morning, I wish everyone good health from the bottom of my heart and hope that every day brings us closer to recovery. Please share your experiences with me. My father, who is the patient, was diagnosed with colon cancer on June 30. We went to the hospital where they assessed the situation as serious and scheduled him for surgery on July 3 to remove the colon cancer. In the end, the surgery did not take place; they performed a laparoscopy and found peritoneal metastases. They performed an artificial colostomy so that the small intestine could be connected to a bag.He underwent one round of chemotherapy, but since then he has been suffering from ileus attacks and is frequently hospitalized. During his hospitalization, he undergoes lavage to relieve his symptoms. During his last hospitalization, he was also given palliative chemotherapy for 48 hours. The positive thing so far is that he is not in pain. Of course, all his food is pureed. The laparoscopy biopsy results came back a few days ago and they saw that the extent of the peritoneal carcinomatosis is greater than they had imagined, which is why they proceeded with palliative chemotherapy.

The oncologist doesn't explain much to us. Please, if you have had a similar experience, help me. Does palliative chemotherapy simply relieve the pain? Is there a chance that he will undergo therapeutic chemotherapy later? Can peritoneal carcinomatosis be cured? Thank you in advance for any response.

Hey! Thanks for the add to the community.

A friend of mine who isin't very active in reading the medical news asked me to look into her LGSOC. She is a low-grade patient who has been stable for a few years, with a pretty normal life since diagnosis. She believes she is not a KRAS mutant (assuming she is wild-type). I'm curious if anyone- either KRAS mutant or wild-type- has used the new drug combo that was recently approved. It looks like it could work in KRAS wild-type patients, but we won't know for sure until they finish that clinical trial.

If you've used it- how has your experience been? Is it an expensive drug?

I want to inform her before she goes to her next GynOnc visit.

I hope someone can give me some advice with my situation or has had similar symptoms. I had an ultrasound (abdominal and transvaginal) to check mirena IUD placement. This is when a sepated ovarian cyst under 2 cm was found. I am 50 y.o. but cannot say if I am postmenopausal as the IUD has kept me from having periods for years. I have been having some very light bleeding/ spotting on and off almost daily this month (current IUD was placed last year). The bleeding is what is concerning me as I have never experienced this before but gyn said this can happen as I approach menopause. Gynecologist suggested to wait 3 months for a new ultrasound. CA 125 was normal. I've struggled with frequent urination and night sweats for months which I attributed to perimenopause. I understand that cysts are more concerning for postmenopausal women, this is why I am very worried and not sure that I can or should wait 3 months to figure this out. Also, the ultrasound report was very vague as it only indicated "left ovarian sepated cyst," and it did not say anything about wall thickness, vascularity, solid components, etc. I was wondering if this had to do with the fact that the ultrasound was done at the gynecologist office vs a radiology center. I welcome and appreciate any feedback.

35F - had a CT scan yesterday to investigate masses in my pelvis (I have 7 - five in groin, 2 in my pubic area all on the same side). I receieved the results same day and they said there was nothing of significance. I’m wondering if anyone had a CT come back as unremarkable but was later diagnosed?

A little back story - last year started having some terrible symptoms aligning with a deeper issue (night sweats, no sex drive, pain during sex, horribly inconsistent periods, fever, body aches, “angry” cervix, exhaustion, mood swings, weight fluctuations). Ive lost weight this year and the symptoms died down, but now I suddenly have these unexplained masses. Bloodwork is normal, Ultrasound showed the masses but nothing else. They didn’t measure ovaries either. Now CT says unremarkable.

My mother has received 6 cycles of chemo and had a sub-optimal debulking surgery. She is BRCA 1+. Please, share success stories of people who went on to have 2-3 years of progress free survivals.

How soon after imaging did you get the result?

(I’m doing ultrasound at my gynos office but the test isn’t done by my gyno)

Hi,
I am not in USA, but my mother's condition has recently deteoriated. She had multiple reccurences and chemotherapy, with usage of Olaprib as well. However, it did not work. Was wondering which hospital is better, in the USA, for medical treatment?

And if we don't have insurance, how much medical fees are we looking at? How much did you/your loved ones spend as locals in the USA? A ballpark sum will be much appreciated, so I know if its feasible or not.

Thanks.

Looking for some advice if possible guys, I have an appointment tomorrow to discuss chemo, long story short, I was diagnosed with a GCT stage 1c2 back in June, I had a full hysterectomy when the Tumor ruptured and then omentum removal, washings and biopsies in a later surgery and all came back clear. They are leaving the decision of chemo up to me as it is just to mop up any left over cells, my rupture was huge and caused sepsis and I needed multiple blood transfusions. The groups I’m in say that chemo isn’t recommended for this type of cancer and it won’t stop any reoccurrences, however I have spoken to multiple oncologists and they have all said due to how severe the rupture was they would go ahead with the chemo. I’m 32 years old, I have 3 children, I’m pretty healthy apart from the obvious cancer diagnosis, no other health issues at all. my first instinct was yes I’ll have the chemo, just because if I do reoccur at least I know that I did everything that I could to prevent it, however the thought of it making me ill is putting me off, It’s not so much about the hair loss, the weight changes, the mental health side etc, it’s more so the physical long term side effects I’m worried about as I am still young and I don’t want it to cause and more problems regarding my health. I’m just wondering for anyone who has had chemo have you returned back to your normal self physically? Or are you still left with long term effects? I’m not sure on the type of chemo that will be offered I will find out tomorrow, can anyone give me some advice or guidance on what they would do if they were in my situation as I am really torn on what to do for the best. Thank you

I know this is very personal to people but how do people hang onto faith when a loved one is suffering from cancer. My mom has ovarian cancer stage3c. I am Hindu and believe in karma and dharma. But sometimes I feel so helpless and feel numb and feel like just lying on the bed all day. I don’t even know what to feel anymore.

So i’ve been having these symptoms since may , it started with a lower right abdo/pelvic pain and severe bloating with a firm stomach. I was vomitting constantly and had horrific diarrhoea, I went to a&e a couple times and they only did generic blood tests, I saw a couple doctors who did more -still quite basic tests, My first was a FIT test which came back at 83 after that i’ve had 2 repeats which have been under 4 , they’ve wrote this off as being an intermittent bleed somewhere along my gi tract. for back story I have a hiatal hernia I used to get severe reflux and upper middle abdo pain everyday , My doctors keep blaming my symptoms off on this but it’s entirely different but they won’t listen. I’m 21 years old and ever since my first period at 13 i’ve had a very light and irregular menstrual cycle , since may i’ve had two extremely heavy periods which i’ve never had before. So heavy that an XL tampon would last less than an hour and leave me soaked in blood dripping down my leg, I’m always bloated, in pain , my right lower abdo feels a lot more firm than my left I’m struggling to get through to doctors , these symptoms are effecting my day to day life but they keep blaming it off as hiatal hernia and IBS which I 99% believe isn’t the case Any advice on how to proceed with getting further testing/ not be ignored any longer would be very appreciated

I just had a laparoscopy bilateral oophorectomy and washout due to a cyst. Surgeon said it didn’t look suspicious but I have a feeling it is. Has this happened to anyone?

Hi,

My mom completed her treatment in Dec 2024 and the cancer is back again in August. The Chemo is taking a toll on her health and always upsets her stomach. I have seen numerous posts though no research as such that drinking baking soda and lemon in water creates an environment where cancer cannot thrive. It Does anyone know anything about it?? Does it actually help to reduce tumor size? Just for reference she is 71 years old. If anyone knows any other such options, please let me know. Thank you.

My mom (76) was diagnosed 3 weeks ago for stage 4 Mullerian cancer. I took her to the ER thinking it was a bowel obstruction since she was having some constipation and lack of energy. She was bloated as well. When they did a CT scan they saw 2 masses one on liver and one on omentum tissue with ascites. With further testing, they determined it originated in the ovaries or mullerian? Areas.

Anyway, her treatment involves chemo every 3 weeks for 6 rounds. At some point throughout that, they will determine is debulking surgery can be safely done. She started chemo on Thursday.

I am her primary caregiver and she lives with me and my family. She’s always done so much for us so I’m happy to take care of her. However, many days she doesn’t want to move out of bed. Only goes to the bathroom. Leading up to this she already had no energy. There was a day or two she seemed to be feeling okay (the day of treatment and day after) and now she has been in bed for two days without wanting to come downstairs. I’ve been taking her medicine and meals to her and trying to get her to drink water. Her legs and ankles are a bit swollen. She says her legs feel so heavy. She says her bones hurt and she has aches all over. I know a lot of these are normal symptoms of chemo but I feel bad having her be in bed all day. She doesn’t even want the tv on or anything. I gave her Tylenol for pain and I’m waiting on her care team to contact me about other alternatives but it’s Sunday so no one is really around. Is it okay that I leave her alone for the most part and just check in on her and stuff like that? I don’t know what to do. Also is it a bad sign she has absolutely no energy? Constipation is still an issue for her. Last time she went was 4 days ago and she went twice that day. She’s taking a stool softener daily but I don’t see it helping.

Not sure if they are the same but I’m curious about how common this treatment is. My oncologist is a big fan despite it being somewhat controversial in terms of risk/reward.

I had HIPEC done at the Cleveland Clinic and they’ve done hundreds and feel the data is promising. How many of you have had it and what are your thoughts/outcomes?

A while back I posted my symptoms on here and a lot of people told me that I should push to get checked out further. I ended up losing my period out of nowhere (it’s since been 3 months without it) so I’ve just had some hormonal tests done and also a pelvic and trans vaginal ultrasound. My hormones are normal! Oestradiol has slightly increased but still within normal range. No issue there. I had an internal ultrasound yesterday and the lady doing the scan said she was going to read out some measurements for the report. So apparently my right ovary is 10.5cm and my left ovary is 8.8cm. I am pretty sure she shouldn’t have read those numbers out loud. As if I wasn’t going to get out of there and google whether those measurements are normal or not? And they obviously aren’t normal so now I am terrified. She said I’d get my scan results back within the next week but do you think they will contact me a bit more urgently since my ovaries are quite large? I am hoping that it is just cysts but I have family history of ovarian cancer - my grandma passed away from it. I’m only 19. I literally woke up last night with the back of my neck dripping with sweat, my bedsheets were absolutely soaked. I just hate having to wait for my scan results knowing the measurements are abnormal.

Hi All, I’m seeing gyn oncology soon and want to know if my symptoms indicate malignancy. I am severely and chronically constipated, have a large ovarian mass with solid area, hyperechoic endometrium, pelvic pain, no period for a year, and abnormal (brown/dark) occasional/light vaginal bleeding. CA125 levels only slightly elevated (45), family hx of colon, breast cancer.

Please let me know your thoughts. 🩵

Feeling quite dejected.. I was scheduled for debulking surgery today. Surgeon went in laparoscopically first to see how things looked and aborted surgery due to microscopic cells on the small intestine. Reason given for not removing the cancer is that although it is not covered in cancer cells the spots that are there are spread out so they could not successfully remove. Doctor did say that because chemo has worked well for me so far that the best option is to continue with more chemo and we can revisit surgery. I have had 6 rounds of chemo and my CA125 has went down from 4200 to 153. I guess what I want to ask is has anyone else had this happen and later had successful surgery? I am stage 3/4 with clear cell and not feeling very optimistic at the moment.. Grateful for the feedback and support from this wonderful group..