Tumor Marker Results and Next Step

So, my tumor markers this week were as follows: the CEA was 5.1 (up from 4.2) and the CA15-3 was 31.9 (up from 29.7). This is cause for concern - they are inching up into the range just above normal. Now, on the one hand, my physician's assistant said that she's seen a CEA number of about 700 and the CA15-3 as high as 3,000. My own isn't that bad. However, there is a steady uphill trend and I'd rather snip this thing in the bud before it gets worse.

So, there are several options - including Herceptin with some traditional chemo which would require going in once a week or once every two weeks for an IV treatment. However, I'm gonna try the less invasive option for now - Tykerb plus Femara. I get to stop taking Xeloda. Xeloda is a traditional chemo (which kills fast growing cells). Femara is an "aromatase inhibitor" which means it blocks your body from creating estrogen from aromasin. Now, I've had my ovaries removed, but your body still creates a small amount of estrogen still. That'll be blocked. My lab reports on my cancer state that my cancer is estrogen positive, meaning that it uses estrogen to grow. So, we're going to see if taking that away helps the situation. We'll give in a couple of months to see how it works and if my numbers continue to creep up, then we go to the IV treatments.

I hope Tykerb with Femara does the trick.

Here's the history of my tumor markers - it was just a year ago that my CEA was 0.5!! Imagine that! Here's the CEA:

1/2008 - 1.2 ng/mL
3/2008 - 0.9 ng/mL
6/2008 - 1.0 ng/mL
8/2008 - 1.1 ng/mL (need to double check this number, but it was in that 0.9 to 1.2 range)
9/2008 - 0.5 ng/mL
10/2008 - 0.9 ng/mL
10/31/2008 - 1.2 ng/mL
11/28/2008 - 1.2 ng/mL
12/30/2008 - 1.1 ng/mL
3/2/2009 - 1.4 ng/mL
4/8/2009 - 1.6 ng/mL
5/5/2009 - 1.9 ng/mL
6/4/2009 - 3.0 ng/mL
7/2/2009 - 3.7 ng/mL
8/3/2009 - 4.2 ng/mL
8/31/2009 - 5.1 ng/mL

And, here's the CA15-3.

Sept 2007 - 23 U/mL
Jan 2008 - 31 U/mL
Mar 2008 - 36 U/mL
June 2008 - 23 U/mL (started radiation that month)
Aug 2008 - 18 U/mL (week of August 4th)
Sept 2008 - 14.5 U/mL YAAAAAAY!!!
Oct 1 2008 - 19.6 U/mL
Oct 31 2008 - 15.3 U/mL
Nov 28 2008 - 19.5 U/mL
Dec 30 2008 - 16.0 U/mL
Jan 22 2009 - 15.4 U/mL
Mar 2 2009 - 17.8 U/mL
Apr 8 2009 - 19.6 U/mL
May 5 2009 - 18.4 U/mL
June 4 2009 - 19.7 U/mL
July 2 2009 - 22.1 U/mL
Aug 3 2009 - 29.7 U/mL
August 31 2009 - 31.9 U/mL

And, I'm gonna work hard to destress my life! Got some more work to do in that department!

So, I'm doing okay. Not great, but doing okay and looking forward to going to HAWAII!