Mother/Daughter duo

Kjones13

Hi all! I have been on and off the boards for a while. They have always been a great source of information and support. Sometimes I have to take breaks for my own mental health.

I wanted to see if there are any others in a similar situation...I have stage 4 BC (7.5 years and going strong—current age 41) and my mother has stage 4 ovarian (dx 2 years ago—current age 70). Although these are different cancers, they are very similar.

A little background...my maternal great-grandmother had some type of lady cancer, although we are not sure the type because it wasn’t talked about much back then. She had radiation seeds (I think this is right?) and lived to a good old age. My maternal grandmother had early stage BC at 50. Had a mastectomy. Reoccurrence at 85ish and has another mastectomy as it was the other breast. She lived another 3 years after. This last treatment my grandmother had was a the same facility where my mother and I go for treatment now. We have had all the genetic testing done and it ALL came back negative. Weird, huh?

Anyway, my mothers cancer was found due to a plural effusion that was drained and the fluid tested and found ovarian cancer. That was two years ago. She’s had chemo and debulking surgery and chemo again. She got to nead last year but quickly relapsed. She has been trying different meds and found that carbo does the trick but also kills her platelets...like dead...platelet transfusions are her friend, but only kind of work. They also recently started her on Herceptin (like me) because I guess ovarian cancer also has her2+ properties?? Who knew? Her beginning tumor markers were over 1300 when first dx. She got down to the 30’s last year and now she’s hovering around 100. She just had another plural effusion drained today. Meeting with oncologist tomorrow to figure out next steps...(I should also mention she has several heart issues...co-morbidity central over here)

These last two years have been hard to say the least. We live close to each other and talk every day. We have even had treatment on the same day. It’s a weird situation. Like out of body, live in denial situation...oh and my Dad has prostate cancer (dx 2011)...

I feel like some university or huge cancer center should scoop my family up and figure out what the f*ck is going on!? I’m just frustrated and tired and scared. I really just want mom to find her miracle drug...

Anyone out there have any advice? Any similarities? Anything I should be asking the Drs that I’m missing/overlooking? Thanks in advance

Moderators

HI Kjones,

Wow, what a family history is right! We're so sorry for all that you are going (and have gone) through.

One thing to consider is having the genetic testing redone -- in the past, only a certain number of genes were looked at, so depending on when it was done, a full genetic panel could reveal some mutations that were not known about in the past. In addition, there is still much speculation that while we have identified a handful of genetic mutations that cause breast/ovarian cancers, there's the probability that many more are still unknown. This could also be what your family is dealing with.

There's some good info on the main Breastcancer.org site on Genetic Testing that could help!

We hope this helps and that others weigh in soon. Sending love to you and your parents!

--The Mods