Me again, my fave topic: CEA

[claudine]

But monotonic increases for 3 months isn’t a spike, it’s a trend. Nothing to do but wait for the next scan.

We're definitely in the same boat. DH's CEA reached a low of 3.2 in July then slowly but steadily increased... Yet the scans showed stability/slight decrease in his tumors (at least up to the last one back in December).

[stu]

My mum’s CEA always trended upwards on chemo . Scans said significant shrinkage at the time . It was just the chemo .
Stu

[Koreysue]

I sometimes wish I could just tell my doc I want to do every
6 mos for cea instead of 3 months, but I’d probably worry about that choice, too
Ugh!
You are right, it is a measly rise.
Thanks for the input,
Ksue

I stress about mine too. I went from 0.8 to 1.4 and freaked out for weeks stressing about it. I was almost afraid to ask for my next results, but they came back at 1.3 and I breathed again.

At the time I mentioned to the doctor I was close to asking her to just not push my CEA results into the portal. “Don’t tell me what they are unless / until you think there’s an issue.” If your doctor was willing, might be an ask you could make?

You know- that is a very good suggestion
Thanks

[Koreysue]

But monotonic increases for 3 months isn’t a spike, it’s a trend. Nothing to do but wait for the next scan.

We're definitely in the same boat. DH's CEA reached a low of 3.2 in July then slowly but steadily increased... Yet the scans showed stability/slight decrease in his tumors (at least up to the last one back in December).

Ugh! It’s so frustrating. I wish there was a better test, or as Gina suggested that they wouldn’t even share the results unless they felt there was a problem.
Hoping all the best for your husband,
Ksue

[wwroam]

I was a smoker so my CEA was elevated at 4,0-4.3, fairly stable.
March 2017 it rose to 6.1
Oncolgist had me off for a PET scan. Tumor activity.
EBUS biopsy confirmed NSCLC and a new chapter of chemo began.