Has anyone had this experience? My liver enzymes have been out of whck twice during chemo (once after the 3rd treatment and now after the 6th). Both times the docotr has held treatment for one week and then reduced the oxaliplatin.
Does anyone know if the dose reduction impacts the effectiveness of treatment or is this just the way doctors know when the dose is correct?
Also: CEA pre-surgery in September was 4.0, post-surgery it was 1.6. The oncologist has checked it every two weeks since with results of 2.1, 2.6, 3.1, 2.9, 3.5, 4.0 and last week it was 4.9
She kept saying not to worry unless it continued to rise and then not until it was double digits. She said treatment would not change.
Today she called and said that she has scheduled a CT scan for tomorrow and a PET scan for Saturday.
Everything I read seems to indicate that a rising CEA means that there are cancer cells somewhere and that it can predate clinical evidence of cancer by several months.
I was Stage IIIA with a sigmoid resection in October 05 with 2 lymph nodes positive. I'm currently on 5-FU, leukovoran, avastin and oxyaliplatin. Hae completed 6 of 12 cycles.
Any input? Ideas? Words of wisdom? Similiar stories with positive results?