My grandmother, who is 83 years old, was diagnosed with ovarian cancer over two years ago. She has been stage 4 once, back to stage 2, and now back to stage 4. She has extreme abdominal swelling and pain (ascites). She had 6 quarts of fluid taken off her stomach 3 weeks ago, and 8 more quarts taken off two days ago. Her stomach has already begun swelling again. She can not take certain types of chemo because her esosphagus has been damaged. She was supposed to get chemo intraveneously yesterday, but the doctor would not allow it because she did not look well enough. My grandparents are old school and do not question the doctor on anything, so we have no idea how long she may have to live. Does anybody have any experience with a prognosis, life expectancy, quality of life?|||I am very sorry to hear that your grandmother is having to suffer from this terrible disease; my own grandmother died at age 63 of ovarian cancer.

I think the best thing you can do is ask her doctor questions, even if she won%26#039;t (if she hasn%26#039;t signed a release saying the doctor can give you information, though, he can%26#039;t legally answer your questions). He probably has a good reason for not wanting to give her treatment. Chemotherapy is very hard on even strong people, and it can kill someone who is very weak.

I don%26#039;t know about life expectancy, but I know that stage 4 is not good. As far as quality of life, my grandmother eventually decided to quit chemotherapy and just have comfort care to the end of her life, because the chemo really made her sick and reduced her quality of life. I%26#039;m afraid this is pretty much the extent of my knowledge on ovarian cancer.

Again, I am very sorry that you and your grandparents have to go through something like this, and I hope for the best for all of you.