I just got my CEA results back. It was 3.0. Anything below 3.8 is "normal". However, my CEA has been in the range of 0.9 to 1.9. Even when I had active cancer in the skin last year, it was 1.2. I'm not very happy at this result. This means I'm upping my dose of Tykerb back to a full dose tomorrow.
Crap.
I don't have the CA15-3 results back. I'll call later. This one actually went down a bit last month. Let's hope it's still down. If it's gone up . . . but we're not going there yet, right?
God damnit.
Cussing helps, you know!
NOTE, 7:30PM: My colleague, S., found that the CEA can rise for a variety of reasons 60-70% of the time due to infections or something going on with the digestive system, etc. Only 30-40% of the time does it rise when there's cancer activity.
I also tried to get the CA15-3 result later today, but it wasn't in yet. The nurse might try to call me tomorrow if it comes in.
Friday, June 5, 2009
Crap!
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2 comments:
I take it that being normal does not appeal to you.
I know you are perturbed but it is "normal". Is there such a thing as sampling error. Why is there a range of normal? I am just curious because even hemoglobin levels, WBC count, etc. vary from day to day.
Joanna Moore
Joanna,
Being normal does appeal to me. What doesn't appeal to me is the fact that my number, which has been hovering from 0.9 to 1.9, has shot up to 3.0. I know it isn't a lot, but when my "normal" range has only a variance of 1.0, and then it goes up by 1.1 in one month, something's going on. In other words, the number has only gone up 0.2 or 0.4 from month to month and now it goes up 1.1 in one month. That's scary.
It could be a sampling error. It could also be caused by infections. The number could be a lot of things, according to my colleague. But it is worrisome, because you combine that with the news that I have spots on my lung.
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