Cancer Treatment Options Forum - May 19th, 2010 - 4 Comments
Doesn't a doctor need to know the stage of cancer to start chemo?
My step mom has endometrial cancer after having uterine cancer 6-7 years ago. She starts chemo Wednesday and will go every 21 days but my dad says they don’t know what stage it is. I’m no expert but my mom has had 5 cancer diagnoses and it would seem to me that they need to know the stage to know what type of drugs to give her.
Any advice is appreciated. Thanks!
It is likely her doctor considers this an advanced or stage IV cancer or more specifically . . a relapse of the original cancer is considered an automatic stage IV. Unless her previous cancer was uterine sarcoma than the endometrial cancer is the same as uterine cancer she had years ago . . its a relapse. Doctors sometimes assume that the patient automatically knows this . .
It is the cell type that is growing which is what the chemo is based upon, not the stage at which the cancer has advanced. Chemo is usually specific to certain types of cells – that is why every type of chemo is specific to the type of cancer cell growing.
I strongly suggest Cancer Treatment Center of America. I don’t guarantee a healing or remission, but I do know they’re out there and they are the best. It would be worth looking into. They are highly praised for their work, doctors, nurses. I agree with you, the stage should be known before chemo begins. but knowing how often she’s been diagnosed with such aggressive cancer, I can also understand why her Oncologist would go with an aggressive treatment. Please, google cancer treatment centers and see what they say. I wish you mom the blessed healing she so deserves. God bless
Panda and JB are both correct. The doctor needs to know the histology, but they also need to know the stage to make decisions on treatment. If she had uterine cancer before she would have had a hysterectomy making a local recurrence impossible, so it is a stage 4.