Sherry Hanson

April 2022

Update to In Her Own Words dated February 2015. Read 2015’s here.

In May 2009, I underwent abdominal surgery, was diagnosed with stage II C epithelial ovarian cancer, and had a complete hysterectomy.
A month of tests included a transvaginal ultrasound, CT scan, and CA-125 blood test, which was 164.

My initial symptoms included a sudden appearance of a vaginal discharge, then light bleeding within a week. I was 65. I did not have bloating, feelings of fullness, fatigue, frequent urination, pain or other typical symptoms of ovarian cancer.

I had no typical risk factors like history of breast or colon cancer, but I do, unfortunately, have a family history of cancer: multiple myeloma, acute leukemia, and mouth cancer. I am BRCA negative and have had extensive genetic testing. My treatments have included:

• 2009 surgery followed by carboplatin and taxol
• 2011 surgery (one lymph node) followed by carboplatin and gemcitabine
• 2013 surgery (one lymph node) followed by abdominal radiation
• 2014 clinical immunotherapy vaccine trial at Loyola Medical Center in Illinois
• 2021 carboplatin (doxil twice), December through May
• 2022 clinical trial taxol and 50/50 chance AVB-S6-500, ongoing

Loyola Medical Center in Maywood, Illinois, said they would take me into their trial in 2014 if they could find a surgeon to do the surgery, since the lymph node this time was between my aorta and vena cava and declared inoperable. According to the head of the liver transplant department at Loyola University, we made history (on a scale of one to ten, my surgery was an eleven!). I survived it and began radiation in September 2013. In January 2014 I entered their clinical immunotherapy vaccine trial, subsequently remaining cancer-free until my annual check-up in August 2020, when my CA-125 registered 100.

Chemotherapy seemed the best route at this time, and beginning in December 2021, I had six infusions with carboplatin, adding in doxil twice. My CA-125 dropped to 18 by May, and the small masses in my abdominal area had shrunk considerably. But during this time of treatment new, small pleural effusions with compressive atelectasis appeared in my lungs. I took a break from all treatment from May to December 2021.

By October of 2021 my CA-125 had climbed to the 300’s. I entered a new clinical trial in December on taxol and a 50/50 double-blind study of a new drug, AVB-S6-500, designed to bind to a cell protein called GAS 6 and prevent the cancer spreading to other parts of the body. I am currently in that trial, finishing cycle 4, hoping I am getting the trial drug.

For those of you who are thinking that a clinical trial is the last resort, remember that my first trial gave me seven years. This is my second trial, and so far, my CA-125 has come down from 333 to 65 as of mid-January, with another check to be done in early March. Though I experience fatigue, I have no other significant issues.

Editor’s Note: Sherry and her husband relocated from the coast of Maine in 2013 to Portland, Oregon, to be near their son Eric and his family. She is a writer and poet, former adult education instructor. Visit her website www.sherryhanson.com to learn more about her work and professional awards as a writer, poet, and teacher.