My husband had his mid-chemo scan on Tuesday, after 5 cycles of Folfiri + Avastin (out of 12 scheduled - he had the 6th yesterday). His CEA level had been dropping regularly since he started mid March and we were pleased to learn that his adrenal gland tumor shrunk by 35% (from 5.3cm to 3.5cm). His lumbar spine tumor is "looking good" (in the words of his onc).
What we were not expecting, though, is that the scan detected numerous small lesions in both his lungs. Fortunately, those did not appear after he started treatment - the techs went back to his January 17th PET scan and they were already there, just too small to "light up" (they're all smaller than 3mm). Apparently they're also shrinking, although it's hard to quantify by how much because they were tiny to begin with.
So... More chemo, at this point they're too numerous (and small) for resection to make any sense. I was glad to read on this forum about laser options, in case the chemo cannot control them. It looks like MD Anderson does this in the US, probably other centers, I haven't looked yet but I like knowing that there are options "just in case"...
Anyone out here has had such small lesions completely disappear with chemo?