I too had 2 lung mets. They never scanned my abdomen and lungs. They stopped up to the bottom of my lungs. The 2 mets were at the top, one on each. My CEA was slightly elevated to 4.0. That was what triggered the scan that went all the way to the neck. I did surgery on both lungs at once. I did not ...

In my experience, CEA level did not indicate anything other than there was cancer somewhere. In addition, you should not use CEA as your only indicator. It should be used with scans, MRI, etc. It is not a good marker if used by itself. My CEA was only 4 and I was stage 4. Some people had it up in th...

That is usually the standard care for rectal cancer (treatment first and then surgery). Please let your husband know to not be discouraged. Medicine has come a long way. Do you know the timing of when the treatment start yet? The wait of the unknown can be tough. Don’t spend too much time on google ...

Hello TiredAndTroubled, Do not be discouraged. I was first diagnosed with stage 3B as well. I had a colon resection and then prescribed 12 rounds of FOLFOX. I was not able to complete it. I only did 11 because of the neuropathy. Six months after treatment, I was diagnosed with stage 4 because I had ...

Hello TiredAndTroubled, I have been there. The anxiety is mostly because of the wait as we were not in control. You will find after surgery that your CEA will go down right away. CEA can be a good indicator in some people but not others. I had a laparoscopic surgery as well. By that afternoon I was ...

Have you had any update on your diagnosis? I get it. The anxiety alone can be very difficult. I have been there. Do not get discouraged. There are so many advancements in cancer treatment these days if it is even cancer. That said; In my personal experience, the blood was in the stool itself. It wa...

Different test definitely will give you different results that should be interpreted based on their own set of ranges. In addition, sometimes CEA level can be a good marker for one person but not reliable for another. When will her CT be? That will give you more assurance. Was there a reason your mu...

Have you had any update on your diagnosis? I get it. The anxiety alone can be very difficult. I have been there. Do not get discouraged. There are so many advancements in cancer treatment these days if it is even cancer. That said; In my personal experience, the blood was in the stool itself. It was...

I too didn’t finish my FOLFOX regiment.
I did 11 out of 12 because of neuropathy on my fingertips and feet which I still feel today 6 years after my treatment ended.

In any case, congratulations on the milestone. It is a big deal

I am sorry to hear about your diagnosis. I had colon cancer and not rectal. The biggest difference in treatment that I know of is that colon cancer usually starts with surgery and then treatment, while rectal is treatment first and then surgery. In my experience, I was in surgery about exactly 1 mon...

I am so sorry to hear this. I do second one of the previous posts here that medicine has advanced tremendously since 2010. I was prescribed 12 rounds of Folfox for my colon cancer. It was tough for me personally. But I had a friend who didn’t even feel any side effects. Thus, it is different from on...

I am torn on this issue because of my personal experience. I second that smoking will elevate the CEA marker. Though, I don’t know by how much. My questions on your post are: 1. Did you just start smoking before the jump? 2. What was your CEA trend before the jump? I am lucky that my CEA is a reliab...

Dear Paul, I can certainly relate. Not only is it exhausting physically, but also mentally. I sometimes think the latter is even worse. The why-me question and how it tore apart any plan I had for myself and my family made me angry and beyond upset. One night as I was sitting by my son’s crib, I tho...