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cea levels and kidney failiure after treatment???

jessjakem
jessjakem CSN Member Posts: 18
edited March 2014 in Colorectal Cancer #1
My dad was diagnosed with stage II rectal last nov. He had chemo/rad for 1 month, then surgery, then 5 months of chemo ending in August. He then was unable to get a good night of sleep due to urinating every hour. The dr. determined enlarged prostate. A couple weeks later he ended up in the hospital with kidney failure and congestive heart failure all due to the enlarged prostate. He was catheterized for 3 weeks. This past Wednesday he had his cea levels checked. The dr. called and wanted him to have a pet b/c his cea is elevated. They say it could be cancer again or b/c of the kidney failure (kidney dr. says his kidneys are not back to normal yet). We are definately freaking out b/c when he was in the hospital they did a ct, ultrasound, and chest x-ray which showed nothing.
Does anyone have any experience or comments on this? We go to the dr. on monday to find out. It is so unbelievable to think the cancer is already back (when no lymph nodes were involved). Is the cea level very accurate? Please Help!
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Comments

  • spongebob
    spongebob CSN Member Posts: 2,565 Member
    #2
    Jess -

    CEA is a very weak diagnostic tool. There are any number of factors that can cause CEA to go up - anything from actually being cancer to using a different lab than you did last time to process the samples. Honestly, i wouldn not allow yourself to get too freaked out by the CEA. Could very easily be the kidney issues.

    Keeping your family in my prayers.

    - SpongeBob
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  • KathiM
    KathiM CSN Member Posts: 8,027 Member
    #3
    Yes, and in MY case, my CEA was .5 (there's a decimal in front) with stage III rectal cancer, before the start of treatment...sigh...

    Hugs, Kathi
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