CEA of 140

I am so very sorry that you are here.  It is not the sought after forum, that is for sure. 

I certainly won't lie to you and tell you not to worry, because that would be stupid on my part and insulting to you. 

Of course a rising CEA can be a sign of Cancer, as you well know.  

There are members here who are doing well after having a CEA in the hundreds. Or a CEA that has flip flopped all over the place. It does not mean that your Cancer is spreading like wildfire.  

The key thing now is to see what your Oncologist plans to do with you. Hit it hard with chemo, is probably the next step. 

While you will never stop worrying, try your utmost to fill your mind with positives.  You are being treated, that is a positive. I hope you have a good support system, loving family, friends, community. People who care. Thats a positive. 

Once your Onc comes up with a plan of action, you will feel much better, have somehting to aim for and things will settle, emotionally. 

When I got to that awful stage of panic, I discovered guided meditation and it worked miraculously for me.  Try to find something that works for you, to help bring the anxiety level down.  Stress and Cancre are buddies, don't put the two together for long, OK. 

You are so young. That goes in your favour.  

Stick with us and we'll help you through it. 

Tru

Itsalexander said:

Thank you. I just feel so

Thank you. I just feel so numb. The suddenly jump of + 100 scared me, so I was wondering if it means its very aggressive cancer or not. 

that is not somehting we can tell you. 

I do know that surgery can effect CEA levels also. 

Just like the statistics, try to put the CEA numbers in the back of your mind, and concetrate on moving forward with whatever treatment your Onc suggests.  

I know it sounds impossible right now, but tell yourself and believe that you will beat this, and then do everything you can to make it happen.  

I am Stage IV surviving five years four months.  Allot has gone into getting me to this point, but positive attitude is on that list. 

You CAN do it. Might be a bit of a rough road for quite a while, but it is worth it. 

Tru

Itsalexander said:

I appreciate it, but I've

I appreciate it, but I've always worked with realism and facts. It's very hard to change that to just being positive. Even though i finally understand how important that is. Do you still get chemo? 

My last chemo treatment was in 2013.

I had liver surgery in 2014, but didn't follow it up with more chemo, thank goodness. 

Tru

Anxiety can be overwhelming.  One thing that can help is meditation.  When I was diagnosed, I found a decievingly simple book very helpful: You are Here.

I am very sorry you have joined this forum, but no matter what your future, there are likely many days ahead to live to their fullest.

Welcome to the forum that nobody wants to join.  I won't insult you and say don't worry too much about the CEA level at this time but it may mean little right now.   I was diagnosed at age 48 with stage IV rectal cancer with the primary tumor at the rectosigmoid junction with metastasis  to liver with over 20 tumors spread over both lobes.  My CEA at the first test in April of 2016 was  65.8.  If you look at the chart I included you will see that after the first test which was before any treatment, the CEA level steadily goes up during my radiation treatment until it hit a peak of 233.  Once I started Chemo, the CEA level dropped until right around my liver surgery.  I had a two stage liver resection where over 70% of my liver was removed and the CEA began to move up a little but not major.  The next spike occured during a 3 month chemo break and the cancer progressed a bit and the CEA level jumped up to 53.  I got back on Chemo after my break and after one treatment the Level fell to 26 or so.  My doctors both locally and at MD Anderson cancer Center agree that for me CEA seems to be a good indicator of tumor activity and they put a good bit of weight on it now.  At first the docs kinda downplayed it until they were confident that it was a good indicator.  

To go ahead and shorten this post, I will say that currently I am still taking pretty aggressive chemo but I have 5-6 very small (subcentimeter) lesions on my liver and they have been stable over the past 6 months.  My primary tumor was totally destroyed by the radiation and chemo so I did not have to have a rectal resection.  I do suffer from some chronic and sometimes very severe rectal pain but I am working on getting that resolved but it has been a struggle.  I also suffer from some side effects from the chemo but by and large I am doing pretty well.  Until the past few weeks I have worked full time as a high school principal other than a few medical leaves for the surgeries.  I have a pretty much etty good quality of life and am still very active.  I maintain a large garden, I still fish regularly by myself in my boat.  I pretty much do what I want and the only limiting factor right now is the pain and side effects.  Basically, if I am haveing a good day I can pretty much be normal.  If it is a bad day with pain or a couple of days around chemo then I try to rest and recuperate.  

I will be glad to try to help with my experience but right now, you need to do exactly what you are doing, seeking answers, learning and most importantly, in my opinion , talking to people who have experienced similar treatments and problems as you have.  I hope this helps but I keep telling people that I am playing with house money now since I have already lived 1.5 years beyond my prognosis of two years with treatment 6 months to a year without.  

stay strong and just know there is a plan even if we don't realize it or even like it.  

Best wishes 

Tim

I started out as stage 3b Rectal cancer. About 2 years the cancer returned in my left lung making me stage 4. However, both times I had no lymph involvement. So I guess even within stages.... there are degrees to consider.

Both times and all during treatment my CEA never got above 2.

k

i started with 2200 ( it is not a typo). After 12 chemos I was in 30s. After a liver resection I was around 5. After that it started going down. I thought it was sensitive for me. I had a recurrance with CEA 1.7. Both me and oncologist were shocked.

Butt said:

Annabelle, besides Tru who are our members who overcomes stage 4? I mean has been NED for let’s say 4 years.I was thinking about it another day but have a hard time recalling names besides Tru? Butt

Click on my name to see my "About me" page.  But synopsis is:

11/10/2008: Diagnosed Stage IV with 5 liver mets

11/24/2008: Started FOLFOX

02/20/2009: Colon resection, liver resection, HAI pump implanted

03/15/2009 through 11/02/2009: systemic chemo treatments (stopped Oxi on treatment #7 due to anaphylactic shock, continued 5FU only as well as FUDR monthly via my HAI port).

02/20/2019:  Celebrated my official 10 year NED

I kept a list of names when I was first diagnosed.  I hope this gives you hope.

Amy