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Ovarian CancerArrow
2-5 years since diagnosis
Interview OV45  

Interview OV45

Age at Interview: 62
Sex: Female
Age at Diagnosis: 60
Background: Company director; married; 3 adult children.
Brief outline:Ovarian cancer diagnosed in 2001 following indigestion, abdominal pain and bloating. Treated by surgical removal of ovaries and womb, and chemotherapy. Recurrences treated with chemotherapy. Surgery to lungs and heart to prevent fluid build-up.


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Female
A recurrence of her cancer was treated with new experimental chemotherapy drugs.

 



We then tried a new drug called Iressa, from AstraZeneca, which is a growth inhibitor. I was on that for about six or seven weeks before we had to give it up. It brought the marker down again so it was working quite well, but I had a lot of side-effects, mainly diarrhoea and skin rashes. What then happened is that I started to shake violently and be sick after taking it, so we decided I couldn't tolerate the drug longer.

At the minute we've decided to try a new drug Merck are taking through trials in Switzerland. It's going to be called cetuximab, which is a growth inhibitor that works like an antibody so in theory it will be easier to tolerate. As far as we know nobody's used it for ovarian cancer before and certainly I'll be one of the first people to take it in the UK. It will cost a fortune and I'll be a guinea pig again, but let's pray that it works.  
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