low cea stop chemo

atlanticcanada
atlanticcanada Member Posts: 74
in Colorectal Cancer #1
MY daughter just got her cea back. after colon and liver resection (without chemotherapy) her cea is 1.3 . She has been seeing a N.D..Before she got the results back she started chemotherapy (her second round) has anyone stopped chemotherapy after a few treatments . Would love to hear from someone who did.

Comments

  • PatchAdams
    PatchAdams Member Posts: 271
    #2
    Continue chemo
    Since your daughter was already Stage IV at dx, chemo is very important. IF she'd been dx'd Stage III with a much later met to the liver or lung and could have had curative surgery for that one met to liver or lung, chemo most probably would not be necessary.

    Chemo is tough, but it might save her life. Don't quit now!
  • Chelsea71
    Chelsea71 Member Posts: 1,169 Member
    #3
    It's very hard to watch
    It's very hard to watch someone you love go through chemo. It's a very big decision to stop. My opinion is that it would be very risky to quit. With only liver mets, she has a chance of beating it. Good luck to you and your daughter.

    Merry Christmas

    Chelsea
  • Momof2plusteentwins
    Momof2plusteentwins Member Posts: 509 Member
    #4
    PatchAdams said:

    Continue chemo
    Since your daughter was already Stage IV at dx, chemo is very important. IF she'd been dx'd Stage III with a much later met to the liver or lung and could have had curative surgery for that one met to liver or lung, chemo most probably would not be necessary.

    Chemo is tough, but it might save her life. Don't quit now!

    Atlanticcanada
    I am similar to your daughter, I am stage IV with 1 liver met. I had 1 surgery and had rectal tumor, liver met and gallbladder out. After surgery my CEA was <0.5. I just finished 12 rounds of Folfox. It was very tough but the onc explained that the chemo was a mop up, in case anything was hanging out waiting to grow. My decision to do chemo was based on not having regret if something does show up. I not saying something won't, but I know I did everything I could to be here for my family. Good luck with your daughters decision, everyone has to do what feels right to them.
    Sandy :)
  • atlanticcanada
    atlanticcanada Member Posts: 74
    #5
    Momof2plusteentwins said:

    Atlanticcanada
    I am similar to your daughter, I am stage IV with 1 liver met. I had 1 surgery and had rectal tumor, liver met and gallbladder out. After surgery my CEA was <0.5. I just finished 12 rounds of Folfox. It was very tough but the onc explained that the chemo was a mop up, in case anything was hanging out waiting to grow. My decision to do chemo was based on not having regret if something does show up. I not saying something won't, but I know I did everything I could to be here for my family. Good luck with your daughters decision, everyone has to do what feels right to them.
    Sandy :)</p>

    Just to clarify her situation
    Just to clarify her situation , she had surgeries and not even one round of chemotherapy and her cea was 1.3. below 5 is normal If she had known this before chemo she might have thought about it a little more. All of the doctors have nocticed her immune system has kick started by her blood tests.she is wondering now if she decides to take less treatments now that she just started (,than the typical 6 months .) what would happen.
  • thxmiker
    thxmiker Member Posts: 1,278 Member
    #6
    atlanticcanada said:

    Just to clarify her situation
    Just to clarify her situation , she had surgeries and not even one round of chemotherapy and her cea was 1.3. below 5 is normal If she had known this before chemo she might have thought about it a little more. All of the doctors have nocticed her immune system has kick started by her blood tests.she is wondering now if she decides to take less treatments now that she just started (,than the typical 6 months .) what would happen.

    Judgement Call
    Chemo is a judgement call. The idea behind it is to create a toxic environment so cancer can not grow, and will diminish. Chemo is very toxic to the body and one needs to be extremely vocal about the side effects to their Doctor. Chemo was chosen as a treatment due to the type or growth of cancer in a patient.

    Eat balanced meals. Ginger and bananas helped me a lot through chemo. Oatmeal is a good choice also.

    Best Always, mike
  • joemetz
    joemetz Member Posts: 493
    #7
    atlanticcanada said:

    Just to clarify her situation
    Just to clarify her situation , she had surgeries and not even one round of chemotherapy and her cea was 1.3. below 5 is normal If she had known this before chemo she might have thought about it a little more. All of the doctors have nocticed her immune system has kick started by her blood tests.she is wondering now if she decides to take less treatments now that she just started (,than the typical 6 months .) what would happen.

    don't get caught up in the CEA only.
    the CEA test measures the blood level according to cancer in the colon.
    others will correct me if i'm wrong, but it doesn't measure or notice if there's cancer somewhere else.

    if there's smoke there's most likely fire.
    in other words... if there was cancer in there, and it was removed via surgery.
    a mop up of chemo is an insurance policy that the crap doesn't grow again... somewhere else.

    if it were me... I would gladly take the chemo. (and this week just finished my 38th week of chemo this year. - 24 weeks of folfox w/ Erbitux from January to July and last week was my 14th week of Xeloda w/ Avastin).

    for me... I'm on maintenance chemo.

    we only get one shot at this stuff... so its important to make the best choice possible.
    so it's good to do all your homework... but again, if it was me, I'd take the chemo
  • atlanticcanada
    atlanticcanada Member Posts: 74
    #8
    joemetz said:

    don't get caught up in the CEA only.
    the CEA test measures the blood level according to cancer in the colon.
    others will correct me if i'm wrong, but it doesn't measure or notice if there's cancer somewhere else.

    if there's smoke there's most likely fire.
    in other words... if there was cancer in there, and it was removed via surgery.
    a mop up of chemo is an insurance policy that the crap doesn't grow again... somewhere else.

    if it were me... I would gladly take the chemo. (and this week just finished my 38th week of chemo this year. - 24 weeks of folfox w/ Erbitux from January to July and last week was my 14th week of Xeloda w/ Avastin).

    for me... I'm on maintenance chemo.

    we only get one shot at this stuff... so its important to make the best choice possible.
    so it's good to do all your homework... but again, if it was me, I'd take the chemo

    actually it does meausure if
    actually it does meausure if it is colon cancer that goes to liver or lungs. my daughters cea was high after colon resection , cea was 37 and then after liver surgery her cea dropped to 1.3.
    in my mind i think at the very least can they cut the amount of treatments instead of giving everyone a standard 6 months folfox, I guess we can ask.
  • Momof2plusteentwins
    Momof2plusteentwins Member Posts: 509 Member
    #9
    It's her call
    I think any onc will do what she wants, it's totally her choice. After 4-5 treatments I wanted to give up chemo but I knew if it came back, I would think "what if". I have twin boys in high school and want to be around. My CEA before surgery was 54. After surgery and before any chemo < 0.5. My onc recommended 12 rounds of Folfox, which is standard protocol to mop up any lingering cancer cells. Hopefully it works. Good luck to you and your daughter.
    Sandy :)
  • John23
    John23 Member Posts: 2,122 Member
    #10
    atlanticcanada said:

    actually it does meausure if
    actually it does meausure if it is colon cancer that goes to liver or lungs. my daughters cea was high after colon resection , cea was 37 and then after liver surgery her cea dropped to 1.3.
    in my mind i think at the very least can they cut the amount of treatments instead of giving everyone a standard 6 months folfox, I guess we can ask.

    atlanticcanada

    And then there's me..... Oh, and quite a few others....

    Click on my name and read my "profile" page, and maybe look
    at my "blog". While you're at it, search for "2bhealed", and "scouty",
    and read both their profile and blogs....

    There are other options than having toxic, carcinogenic chemicals
    pumped into one's body in an effort to kill cancer; there are safer options.

    The idea that one is "making the wrong choice" by not choosing chemo,
    is foolish at best. There is no guarantee with any modality, and if one
    checks around enough, they just might find that the survival rates are
    as high for those that refused the toxic chemicals.

    There are other options!

    Best of health,

    John
  • atlanticcanada
    atlanticcanada Member Posts: 74
    #11
    John23 said:

    atlanticcanada

    And then there's me..... Oh, and quite a few others....

    Click on my name and read my "profile" page, and maybe look
    at my "blog". While you're at it, search for "2bhealed", and "scouty",
    and read both their profile and blogs....

    There are other options than having toxic, carcinogenic chemicals
    pumped into one's body in an effort to kill cancer; there are safer options.

    The idea that one is "making the wrong choice" by not choosing chemo,
    is foolish at best. There is no guarantee with any modality, and if one
    checks around enough, they just might find that the survival rates are
    as high for those that refused the toxic chemicals.

    There are other options!

    Best of health,

    John

    your story is pretty neat! i
    your story is pretty neat! i also checked out 2bhealed and scouty. My daughter will talk to her naturopath doctor . She doesn"t do chinese herbs but does mistletoe ,iv vitam c enzymes turmeric etc. I don't know if you tried any of these. but so far her immune system is strong so if he gives her any push in that direction she will probably go with it. The oncologist said there was no way her cea would be normal after surgery and no chemo but she proved her wrong .its a lot of hard work with diet and all, but we are excited by what has happened so far. thanks for the imfo
    if it was me i would do what you did , but i know we all make our own choice.

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