Any advice?

[sassy]

I know many of you are knowledgable about much more than breast cancer, so I am hoping you may be able to give me some advice or guidance.

My step sister has just been diagnosed with ovarian cancer. She is somewhat limited and my dad and step mother are handling most of her care. They are asking for my advice; however, they are in another state and I'm not sure I get all the correct information from them. I do have some concerns about where she is getting treatment. I learned today that her port was accessed three weeks ago and the needle/tube was left in until today when she went for first treatment! Her onc told her they must have thought she was going to get treatment three weeks ago and left it in by mistake!

My father told me that she is Stage III, with only two lymph nodes removed, one of which showed positive. One spot on her colon, but not penetrating. Would it be optimal to only remove two nodes? Do they do sentinal node testing for Ovarian cancer? If one of two was positive, isn't there a possibilty that there may be more positive nodes? Her chemo is carboplatin and taxol, but I'm not clear on how many treatments she will be getting.

I would appreciate any advice or suggestions on sites to research.
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[StephN]

I have a friend with Ovarian cancer and they started her with the Carbo/Taxol. It worked for a while but she progressed. Then she has had several other chemos and now targeted therapies since then. She has made it longer than most with that disease.

Shocked about the needle left in the port. You parents are not in the know about these things, and it would not occur to you to ask such a thing!

[AlaskaAngel]

Sassy, I don't know if you already have gone to facingourrisk.org, but it has a message board for issues involving ovarian cancer, BRCA, etc. I've never used it but you could try there.

Like Steph I am shocked that the port was left accessed, and even more so with a patient who would be so unlikely to realize the importance of that.

AlaskaAngel

[sassy]

Alaska and Steph,

I too was shocked, but not surprised that my step sister did not know. She is slightly mentally challenged, able to live on her own, but needs assistance with finances, etc. So I am sure she assumes the medical personnel are doing all the right things. My stepmom is pretty savvy, but has no experience with cancer. I just wish I had asked more questions of them both. Its hard to get a picture of what is going on by phone, but I am going to ask more questions. Thanks for the tip on facingourrisk.
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