CEA reading

mike_in_ky
mike_in_ky Member Posts: 8
edited March 2014 in Colorectal Cancer #1
Hi all. I had colon surgery on 04/08. Finished Chemo on 12/08. CEA has been 4.0 since. Last blood work showed 5.3. Thoughts???

Comments

  • Kerry S
    Kerry S Member Posts: 606 Member
    #2
    My CEA was only 3 when this crap started
    Mike,

    My CEA was only 3 when this crap started. I had it in the rectum, node and liver.

    After they cleared that crap all out of there it dropped to my lowest 1.4. Then it went up to 1.6. Then at recurrent time it went up to 2. I don’t want to say I’m normal. From what my doc says “everybody is different”. I think CEA is one of those things that your doc is better at looking at then us.

    Nothing in my journey has been normal.

    Kerry
  • pepebcn
    pepebcn Member Posts: 6,331 Member
    #3
    Kerry S said:

    My CEA was only 3 when this crap started
    Mike,

    My CEA was only 3 when this crap started. I had it in the rectum, node and liver.

    After they cleared that crap all out of there it dropped to my lowest 1.4. Then it went up to 1.6. Then at recurrent time it went up to 2. I don’t want to say I’m normal. From what my doc says “everybody is different”. I think CEA is one of those things that your doc is better at looking at then us.

    Nothing in my journey has been normal.

    Kerry

    Kerry the node affected , was it considered as Local node or
    A distant met?.
    Cheers!
    Mike in my case After surgery got 1.6 so it grow a bit every 2 months but always under 5.
    At recurrence it jumpmto 30 from 5 in one month!
    Hope it helped.
  • mike_in_ky
    mike_in_ky Member Posts: 8
    #4
    pepebcn said:

    Kerry the node affected , was it considered as Local node or
    A distant met?.
    Cheers!
    Mike in my case After surgery got 1.6 so it grow a bit every 2 months but always under 5.
    At recurrence it jumpmto 30 from 5 in one month!
    Hope it helped.

    Thanks guys. Will just have
    Thanks guys. Will just have to wait and see. Love to all.
  • Buzzard
    Buzzard Member Posts: 3,043 Member
    #5
    mike_in_ky said:

    Thanks guys. Will just have
    Thanks guys. Will just have to wait and see. Love to all.

    Mike, don't wait and see,
    insist on a CT scan neck to thigh, then if its clear your good, but CEA sometimes denotes activity in some people...It did me but after the growth was 1.4 cm and half a lung removed...get scanned now and then your that much further ahead if in fact it happens to be something. Don't wait...there are nodes to take care of in this as well
  • Lori-S
    Lori-S Member Posts: 1,277 Member
    #6
    Mike
    My onc said that it's not how high the CEA number is but, the trend that it displays. Some can't use their CEA number as it doesn't seem to correlate to their disease process. Also, CEA can become elevated for many other reasons such as smoking, inflammation etc. I actually keep a spreadsheet where I record my numbers. It shows me the trend up or down.
  • Kerry S
    Kerry S Member Posts: 606 Member
    #7
    pepebcn said:

    Kerry the node affected , was it considered as Local node or
    A distant met?.
    Cheers!
    Mike in my case After surgery got 1.6 so it grow a bit every 2 months but always under 5.
    At recurrence it jumpmto 30 from 5 in one month!
    Hope it helped.

    Local
    The node was about 1/2 inch from the tumor in the rectum. I forgot to add that this started 3/08.

    Kerry
  • pepebcn
    pepebcn Member Posts: 6,331 Member
    #8
    Kerry S said:

    Local
    The node was about 1/2 inch from the tumor in the rectum. I forgot to add that this started 3/08.

    Kerry

    Tks Kerry - the conservative
    By the way l agree , socialist are very bad business here in Spain!
  • Kathryn_in_MN
    Kathryn_in_MN Member Posts: 1,252 Member
    #9
    Ask to repeat
    Ask to repeat the test in 1-4 weeks. Sometimes there can be a glitch in one reading. If you have been sick or had any kind of infection, wait till it clears to re-test. Those can really affect CEA.

    If it is still rising they should follow up with a scan. If it has dropped down, back to normal follow up.

    If it is the same, I'd ask to repeat again in a month. It isn't much of a rise so far, but you want to watch the trend.
  • mike_in_ky
    mike_in_ky Member Posts: 8
    #10
    Kathryn_in_MN said:

    Ask to repeat
    Ask to repeat the test in 1-4 weeks. Sometimes there can be a glitch in one reading. If you have been sick or had any kind of infection, wait till it clears to re-test. Those can really affect CEA.

    If it is still rising they should follow up with a scan. If it has dropped down, back to normal follow up.

    If it is the same, I'd ask to repeat again in a month. It isn't much of a rise so far, but you want to watch the trend.

    Thanks
    Thanks all. I'll follow with Dr. My normal scans are due in Dec. so Dr. may be waiting till then. Thanks for the response. Love to all.
  • herdizziness
    herdizziness Member Posts: 3,624 Member
    #11
    Bumping
    Bumping up.

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