Merrida,Thank you for posting this here in the forum. Some of the members know I have Colon Cancer with nodal metastasis. Every month I have my labs drawn and this is known as the CEA tumor marker lab. My May lab report was 571.5 and my June lab drawn on Monday 6/2 was 955 = up by 384 points. The biggest jump I have ever had.
I was dx in August 2012, had surgery, one full round of chemo and in January 2013 was declared free of any signs of cancer. I was told to come back in April of 2013 for a repeat lab and we would be monitoring every 3 month labs.
My CEA was elevated in April of 2013 and a PET scan identified nodal metastasis. As enough time had not passed I never was award NED status ( no evidence of disease)
So it was onto the next round of chemo using new drugs. The chemo drugs make me very sick. I had my last chemo on 12/31/2013 and then chemo was stopped as the drugs we were using did not hold back the cancer.
Do to the horrific reactions I have to the chemos, my Dr. and I have chosen a wait and see method by monitoring labs and CT Scans every other month.
So far my organs have been spared any metastasis although I have clumps of cancerous nodes sitting very close to my pancreas, liver and thyroid. My Dr. said the cancer will move into an organ but as long as I feel good and my cancer is progressing slowly we will wait to see the next CT Scan.
I just pulled out of a very tough 6 week period of anxiety and depression and than the numbers shot up. Today I am going to get back on my game and be with you here in the forum.
Prayers, thoughts, virtual hugs all are helpful. But most of all talking with all of you is a huge part of who I am and I plan to stay here for a long time.
Happy Wednesday to all!
Kitt