Just wondering

changing
changing Member Posts: 134
edited March 2014 in Colorectal Cancer #1
Does anyone know,for how long the CEA continues to move after your tx's end? (Assuming your one of those ,who's CEA is a fairly good indicator).

Comments

  • mwomack
    mwomack Member Posts: 78
    #2
    What do you mean move? A steady rise is cause for concern, and that is really the only experience my husband has had.

    MA
  • Betsydoglover
    Betsydoglover Member Posts: 1,248 Member
    #3
    Hi -
    I am far from an expert, but it stands to reason that if CEA is a good marker, then it will go down as disease level decreases - which may be indirectly related to treatment, but not necessarily directly. So, I don't think there is a definitive answer to this question. And of course, CEA is not always a good marker, so that makes it even more iffy.

    Betsy
  • changing
    changing Member Posts: 134
    #4
    mwomack said:

    What do you mean move? A steady rise is cause for concern, and that is really the only experience my husband has had.

    MA

    So sorry to hear your hubbys' is rising:( Hope his cea is NOT a good indicator for him, therefore it won't mean much. However,I'm praying for both of you. Thanks for responding!
  • changing
    changing Member Posts: 134
    #5
    Betsydoglover said:

    Hi -
    I am far from an expert, but it stands to reason that if CEA is a good marker, then it will go down as disease level decreases - which may be indirectly related to treatment, but not necessarily directly. So, I don't think there is a definitive answer to this question. And of course, CEA is not always a good marker, so that makes it even more iffy.

    Betsy

    You're right Betsy, yet you know how some of us tend to get a bit anal:/ I'm one of those!
  • mwomack
    mwomack Member Posts: 78
    #6
    changing said:

    So sorry to hear your hubbys' is rising:( Hope his cea is NOT a good indicator for him, therefore it won't mean much. However,I'm praying for both of you. Thanks for responding!

    4.3 at diagnosis of Stage IIIc.

    He is on his 2nd recurrence in 2 years since his original surgery. 4 weeks after finishing FOLFOX his was 2.2. 1 month later it was 1.2 (his lowest ever) then 2 months later it was 2.4. He was then checked every 6 weeks (2.7, 3.6; 5.5) presacral recurrence. After surgery and radiation treatments ended in May 06, his CEA was 1.6; 1.8; 2.6; 3.8; 5.9 and 3 pelvic mets found. These numbers increased much more rapidly this time. The 2.6 was end of Aug; 3.8 end of Sept, and 5.5 end of Oct. He would not begin treatments til after Thanksgiving and in that 3 weeks his CEA had increased to 9.3.

    His CEA was never really high until the 9.3, but the onc. thankfully paid attention to the little increases. I believe he said anytime it doubled was "troublesome."

    CEA has been a pretty good indicator for my husband even though considered low and much of the time in the normal range.

    He's been back on chemo since right after Thanksgiving.

    MA
  • jerseysue
    jerseysue Member Posts: 624 Member
    #7
    I just completed my second round of chemo for Stage IV. If it means anything my doctor is waiting 2 weeks before I get blood CEA and CT scans. I'm hoping for all clear!
  • changing
    changing Member Posts: 134
    #8
    mwomack said:

    4.3 at diagnosis of Stage IIIc.

    He is on his 2nd recurrence in 2 years since his original surgery. 4 weeks after finishing FOLFOX his was 2.2. 1 month later it was 1.2 (his lowest ever) then 2 months later it was 2.4. He was then checked every 6 weeks (2.7, 3.6; 5.5) presacral recurrence. After surgery and radiation treatments ended in May 06, his CEA was 1.6; 1.8; 2.6; 3.8; 5.9 and 3 pelvic mets found. These numbers increased much more rapidly this time. The 2.6 was end of Aug; 3.8 end of Sept, and 5.5 end of Oct. He would not begin treatments til after Thanksgiving and in that 3 weeks his CEA had increased to 9.3.

    His CEA was never really high until the 9.3, but the onc. thankfully paid attention to the little increases. I believe he said anytime it doubled was "troublesome."

    CEA has been a pretty good indicator for my husband even though considered low and much of the time in the normal range.

    He's been back on chemo since right after Thanksgiving.

    MA

    WOW..we sound a lot alike! I did have an area in pelvis which was sending out an aggressive reading with Pet scan but surgeon let chemo handle it, as it was 1.5cm and thus far it seems to have worked...but I'm a bit lerry as my counts aren't lower, and like your hubby, my counts are a good indicator. What is he taking now? Is he working? Sorry, you probably posted all this before, I'm watching to see if any new tx's come out...for all of us:) Give him my best and tell him I'm praying for him and your family!Mannie
  • mwomack
    mwomack Member Posts: 78
    #9
    changing said:

    WOW..we sound a lot alike! I did have an area in pelvis which was sending out an aggressive reading with Pet scan but surgeon let chemo handle it, as it was 1.5cm and thus far it seems to have worked...but I'm a bit lerry as my counts aren't lower, and like your hubby, my counts are a good indicator. What is he taking now? Is he working? Sorry, you probably posted all this before, I'm watching to see if any new tx's come out...for all of us:) Give him my best and tell him I'm praying for him and your family!Mannie

    With his 1st recurrence, his presacral lesion was 1.7cm. The onc. did not think the surgeon would be willing to operate, but he did. I think the bigger concern with this recurrence was that it came so quickly after finishing FOLFOX. The onc. called it a "chemo failure."

    I did not mention earlier that 6 days after his surgery, his CEA was 4.2 which the onc. said meant there was more cancer somewhere. I asked him to recheck it in 4 weeks and it did drop to 3.4. I guess what I am saying is there was probably more cancer in there, but was not large enough to detect. At any rate, the radiation onc. treated him very aggressively with the radition with 7 weeks/1 day (36 treatments). He radiated the entire pelvis because he said we could not forget that this was a recurrence.

    Shortly after finishing radiation, his CEA began its tale again. PET/CT revealed 3 pelvic mets (upper left pelvis (2.5cm), mid left pelvis (2.1), and perirectal (1.1)). Surgeon and Onc. say no surgery, but I am checking into the Cytoreductive surgery with IPHC (heated chemotherapy). They will not talk to us any further until he has another scan to see what the chemo is doing. He gets scans after 2 more treatments.

    He was put on CPT11, 5FU, Leucovin every 4 weeks (2 weeks off), and given Avastin every 2 weeks. This regimen is called IFL. He did not tolerate it at ALL, so it was recently changed to CPT11, Xeloda, and Avastin every 2 weeks. He just finished up his 2nd treatment of this, and is tolerating it better.

    My husband does work BUT he is in management so it is not physical and he can even go home a take a nap when he needs it. After work, it is straight home for a nap. With this new regimen, he had a pretty good 2nd week last time so we are hoping for that to be the routine.
    MA

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