What an astronomic increase in my CA-125 before surgery

I'm now going thru chemo for my UPSC.  I'm getting Carboplatin and Gemzar on week 1, Gemzar alone on week 2, then a week off in week 3, although I have labs all three weeks.  I'm also seeing the PA every week this first month, then we'll see how often I need to do it after this first round of chemo.  At this past Wednesday's appointment, I asked the PA how my CA-125 had been doing.  She didn't have the results from that morning yet, as the CA-125 usually takes a couple of hours to process.  She did say my hemoglobin, which had been running a little low, was still exactly the same at 10.4.  My WBC's and my platelets had both dropped slightly, but she was happy that they had dropped such small amounts. 

At my last 6 month check-up with my oncologist on Feb. 8 of this year, my CA-125 had been 14.8.  I had worried about it at that time because in the last 6 years, it had been in the 6's and 7's all the time (except for last May or June when it had been up just a little).  I was told not to worry about it in February as it was still in the normal range.  Then when I had a positive hemoccult test and a subsequent colonoscopy after that, where a mass was found outside my colon, I was referred to my GYN/onc, who performed surgery a few days later.  He ordered another CA-125 almost two weeks after my surgery.  Well, I found out that on April 18, my CA-125 was at 129.4, and that was an 874% increase in just a two and a half month period.  I couldn't believe it had increased so fast.  I was tested again on May 9, when the figure was down to 33.2.  My PA told me that I'm definitely a person who has an accurate CA-125 level.  When I was at stage IVB in 2010, my level was only in the low 90's.

So for those of you who have have had accurate CA-125 levels in the past and have wondered if you should keep having them done, my answer is "definitely yes."  I wonder where I would be if I hadn't had my hemoccult done.  The cancer had wrapped itself around my ascending colon.  I might have had a bowel obstruction before my next 6 month check-up, and that could have been life-threatening.  It's a bit scary.