Has anyone had my sisters situation?
My sister was diagnosed with colon cancer
> last Nov at the age of 36. The tumor had
> penetrated the bowel wall and 5 plus lymph
> nodes were positive. She went through 6
> months of chemo therapy and 6 weeks of
> radiation on the abdomen area.
>
> At the time of surgery her CEA level was
> 68. Then it reduced to 8 and then down
> to 2 during her chemotherapy. She had
> five CEA tests below 2 and clear CAT
> scans.
>
> Her CEA test has slowly risen to 3.4, 4.8.
> She had a PET scan on Christmas Eve.
> I talked to her nurse yesterday, there
> were abnormalities in the lung and some
> type of activity is going on. They are
> not certain what. She will have a chest
> x-ray and CAT scan next week. We will
> also get another CEA test back. The nurse
> said that the doctor was expecting to
> find something. If the spot is in a
> place they can get to, they can do a
> procedure and drain it to do a biopsy.
> She said it is possibly cancer and
> explains why her CEA has risen.
> Treatment would be chemo and possibly
> radiation.
>
> It appears to have spread to her lungs.
> Does anyone have any encouraging info to share with me?
Joined: Dec 2002
I'm so sorry to hear about your sister's cancer (she's so young!) A neighbor of my parents has colon cancer where surgery was done. I do not know if they followed up with chemo and radiation at the time. This was several years ago. In the summer of 2001, tests showed his cancer had spread to his lung. He began chemo and radiation and is now in remission. He is back up to his normal weight. My Dad (who is recently diagnosed with non-small cell lung cancer) talked to him about a month ago and he is doing very well now. This man has been battling colon cancer for awhile now and is going into 2003 in remission so there's hope. I wish had more details to share with you about his case. Hope this helps some. Take care and good luck to you and your sister. I will pray for you both. Donna
Joined: Feb 2003