The Colon Club

I haven't been able to find if this topic has been discussed. Has anyone else had a high MCV test? I was normal before chemo and it was quite high during chemo but came down to close to normal after chemo but two years later is is still out of range. I had labwork this morning...Potassium is also slightly high. No CEA results yet. Meet with oncologist this afternoon. CT on Wednesday. Just trying to stay calm but nothing feels good. My cholesterol is high for first time too, but I don't really care about that!
Margie

MCV is typically raised by chemo. Various degrees of elevation during chemo are considered by some doctors as an indication of good response to chemo. There is some prior discussion in the archives. Not so sure about raised MCV after heavy duty chemo or damage, but with our immunochemo, MCV falls at the drop of any part of the treatment.

There might be a discussion somewhere about natural folates' depletion and repletion, which is the normal use of MCV off chemo. Synthetic folic acid, a cheap inferior form requiring several conversions in the body to make natural folate, L5MTHF, is not all it is supposed to be for many people. We prefer natural, concentrated folate food sources and this had other benefits in the CBC.

Hi Margie,
I am having a similar problem. Most of the values on my CBC including MCV were a little over normal. My doctor had me repeat the test and I am waiting for the results. I have no idea what this means, hope it nothing. Hope your doctor visit goes well

Thank you, Teddybear and rp1954..
My doctor wasn't even slightly concerned about the elevated MCV... She said it's caused by the chemo and it can take a very long time to normalize...years. I see you aren't very far out from chemo, Teddybear... My liver enzymes, etc. were also elevated for a few months after chemo, but came down to the normal range or quickly. Hopefully all your numbers will improve.
My CEA yesterday was 1.2..
Now to get through tomorrow's CT scan.

Good luck with your CT scan tomorrow. You will be so relieved to have it over. Thanks for the information on the labs, it good to hear your doctor wasn’t concerned.