Tumor markers

fredswilma
fredswilma Member Posts: 185
in Esophageal Cancer #1
Hi all
Just wondering how important are the tumor markers, Mark has been on Taxol now for three rounds another three to go, what I am wondering is prior to the Chemo his Tumor markers were quite high and that was reflected in his scan which showed a thickening of the original tumor and more lymph node involvement and more little tumors in his lungs, he gets his bloods taken each week and the tumor markers have been coming down, except for the last two weeks where they have risen quite substantially, does this mean that the Taxol is no longer working. His oncologist is not keen to do another scan as of yet (NZ public health system) chest Xrays are much cheaper, should I push for another or are these markers not reflective of what is going on.
Overall Mark is handling the Chemo quite well, he has issues with food, sleep, hot and cold, tingling in the feet and hands, hiccups, nasty cough, hoarse voice, he can't shout at the kids or dogs anymore both of which are quite happy about that, but generally he is good still working fulltime except for chemo day. If any of you know about these markers I would really appreciate your thoughts.
Wishing you all a great day, its morning here, so maybe I will wish you all a great night.
Ann

Comments

  • Unknown
    Unknown
    #2
    This comment has been removed by the Moderator
  • Donna70
    Donna70 Member Posts: 852 Member
    #3
    unknown said:

    This comment has been removed by the Moderator

    told tumor markers not important
    Hi,
    Just to back up Sherri's post, my onc said the same thing because I always heard breast cancer patients talking about tumor markers and people would ask me about mine. So when I asked he just said not relevant in esophageal cancer. take care,
    Donna70
  • fredswilma
    fredswilma Member Posts: 185
    #4
    Donna70 said:

    told tumor markers not important
    Hi,
    Just to back up Sherri's post, my onc said the same thing because I always heard breast cancer patients talking about tumor markers and people would ask me about mine. So when I asked he just said not relevant in esophageal cancer. take care,
    Donna70

    Thanks Sherri & Donna
    I wish our oncologist had mentioned to us that tumor markers are not relevant to EC, I think sometimes they don't realise that as a caregiver you worry about everything, why do they have to mention it and record the differences if there is no value to it, makes me really cross, thank goodness for all of you I can now put that behind me and find something else to worry about, no just joking, I will put it behind me and enjoy the fact that my husband is having a relatively good time of it.
    Thanks again.
    Ann
  • mardigras
    mardigras Member Posts: 215 Member
    #5
    Tumour markers
    Just got back from the Onco today and he was talking about tumour markers with respect to Esoph. Cancer. He said that they were not really all that important.
    Hope this helps.
    Hugs
    Marci x
  • Coveparent
    Coveparent Member Posts: 2
    #6
    fredswilma said:

    Thanks Sherri & Donna
    I wish our oncologist had mentioned to us that tumor markers are not relevant to EC, I think sometimes they don't realise that as a caregiver you worry about everything, why do they have to mention it and record the differences if there is no value to it, makes me really cross, thank goodness for all of you I can now put that behind me and find something else to worry about, no just joking, I will put it behind me and enjoy the fact that my husband is having a relatively good time of it.
    Thanks again.
    Ann

    Can be useful...
    As one more piece of data to assess response to treatment. Though research does indicate their reliability for EC recurrence surveillance is limited. Our oncologists have monitored CEA and CA19-9 all along, ca19-9 started at 20,000 on dx. and was 36 after all tx. I take that as indicative.

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