Test Results

Last week was a really stressful week for me, as I had to have 2 tests... and wait until yesterday for my results.

The first was a CEA or tumor marker. It was a blood test that I had done before I started treatments and this was the first time they had retested it. It's useful in that in can show growth or decrease but can't really be used to detect cancer or absence of cancer. Not everyone with colon cancer has an elevated CEA, but I did.

The second was another ct scan. This was my 3rd scan. The first scan was right when I was diagnosed and about 3 weeks before treatment started. The 2nd was after 4 chemo cycles. The 2nd showed no spread but also no decrease. We (the doctor included) believe that I got worse during the 3 weeks before treatment started and therefore the tumors actually had decreased, but just back to the starting point. We were really really hoping to see a decrease in this scan.

Yesterday, we went to oncology just after 8am for my blood work. My appointment with the doctor wasn't until 9:30. We could hear him talking in the other room and he actually came into the chemo room to talk to another patient. I was really hoping he was going to give me a thumbs up or an okay sign or something or even just tell me that I had good results. When he didn't, my heart sunk and I took it as a bad sign. In reality, he was just focused on another patient. That didn't help my anxiety though.

We returned for our appointment and after struggling with a bit on the scale (it wasn't working properly and showed that I had lost 10lbs in two weeks! Yikes! after a few attempts I was back to where I was 2 weeks ago) we were called into the office. The doctor came in, and bless his heart, the first thing he said was, "we have good results". Phew, huge sigh of relief.

My liver enzymes which are tested every cycle have been improving each time. 3 out of 4 have been normal for a while and now the 4th is in spitting distance. The upper limit for whatever the enzyme is called (you would think I would know by now) is 126 and mine is 129. So yay for a functioning liver again!!

My CEA is a 3 which is also pretty normal. (I googled afterwards and 2.5 is normal, so I'll happily take a 3). I'm not sure what it was when I started, but it was elevated. I asked the doctor what exactly this means. Cancer cells (I'm assuming some not all as not everyone with cancer has elevated CEA) secrete some type of hormone, enzyme, protein, I'm not sure what, that can be detected. Mine have obviously stopped secreting this! Which Will and I are taking to mean that the cells are weaker and not spreading. In case it is very positive and good news.

My scan was also good. The report only mentioned my liver and it said that the cancer had decreased. The doctor didn't tell us exactly how much and we didn't ask. He did say it wasn't a huge decrease, but that it was going in the right direction. The oncologist that we saw in Kelowna, also emailed about the results and said he was very happy to see a decrease. There was no mention of the tumor in my colon, but as I've said before, as long as it's not blocking my bowel movements, it doesn't really matter. The doctor did say that it would be really odd for one part of my cancer to decrease and not the other, so the tumor has most likely decreased as well. We will do another scan after 4 more cycles.

When we started this they said 12 cycles and re-evaluate. Yesterday was cycle 9. Will asked what would happen after 12 and the doctor told us we would just keep on going with the chemo. My body is tolerating it well and it is working so there is no reason to stop. He said I could be on a chemo for a long time. At first I was a bit shocked. I was kind of looking forward to being done with this. But I am really happy we don't have to take a couple months off to let my body recover before starting again. I would be so nervous about the cancer growing in that time period. I am much happier to keep doing the chemo and know that we are winning. The other good thing is at least we know what our life will look like for the next year? more? less?. Every other Monday I'll get my chemo and by Thursday life will be grand again. I can plan activities, think about when we'll be at Apex, think about more family trips, and just not have the unknown hanging above us.

It took me most of yesterday to absorb all the information and really be happy about it. I was so nervous going in, that I think I built a big shell up to protect me from the results. As each little nugget of good news sunk in though, I just got happier and happier.