I just found out an hour ago that my sister (my only sibling, our parents have passed) has stage three ovarian cancer. A GIS gives me a lot of inconclusive answers. The doctor told her that it had spread to her lymph nodes.
She’s very important to me. How worried should I be?
We can’t answer that. It’s certainly sobering.
If it’s appropriate you may want to have a private conversation with her Oncologist to understand what treatment options there may be.
I’m sorry- this has got to be tough for both of you.
Speak to your sister. You should be as worried as she needs you to be.
Ovarian cancer is serious, but you need to think about how your sister is coping and how she needs you to help her through this.
Whether she’s dealing with this with sunny optimism or black pessimism you need to support her appropriately.
Every person is individual and their prognosis cannot be broken down simply to their diagnosis by stage.
I’m so sorry destry.
**Irishgirl **is a kind, long time doper I respect, and a fairly new MD, even if she’s too modest to say so. She gave you the same standard caring physician answer that doesn’t really answer the meaning of your question that my own oncologist wife gives out.
Personally, I find such answers a bit irritating and waffle-ish, but they deal with this stuff all the time, and must have good reasons for not just coming out and giving straight answers. I suspect it’s because most people, even when they say they want a blunt, straight-up answer, will function less than optimally if given one that’s negative, and Dr’s focus on getting patients and their support people to function well. Also, because even if there’s a prognosis that’s 97% probable, there will be the 3% for whom it will be wrong, and dealing with these folks is difficult when your prediction turns out to be wrong. When oncologists treat multiple hundred people a year, even 3% can add up to a lot of angry, hurt people.
I don’t know how comfortable you are in understanding mathematical probability.
I don’t know if you came here seeking reassurance and support, or if you really want a reality check. You may not even know yourself.
There’s a great deal to be said in favour of saying “to heck with the odds, whatever they are, I’m just going to focus on doing every thing I can for my sister for as long as she needs me”.
Think about this long and hard.
If you still want an idea of what to expect, here are ways you can formulate your questions so that medical professionals are more likely to give you straight facts:
“What is the median or average survival time of a newly diagnosed n-yr old patient with stage 3 ovarian cancer?”
“What are the 1 year, 2 year and 5 year survival rates for stage 3 ovarian cancer” (in % of people who make it to these milestones)
These numbers do exist, they are the way the effectiveness of new treatments is assessed, and oncologists know them well.
As for your original question, all I’ll say is that I have no medical training, but that ovarian cancer is a serious disease.
I’ll keep you and Sis in my prayers.