Postby LynnMarie » Sat Dec 12, 2020 8:17 am
Thank you, polluxx, for starting this thread and everyone else for responding!
I am Stage 3a and 4 months post FOLFOX (last 5 w/o oxali because of allergic reaction). Had my 3-month follow up in November. CEA had gone up from 1.4 at end of chemo to 4.1, so we did a CT scan. It showed NED. Just retested CEA this week = 2.8 (using the test where 0- 2.9 is normal). I'm still nervous that it is higher than at end of chemo but happy it did not continue to increase. Back to wait and see how it goes at 6-month follow-up. I have KRAS G12V mutation and poor differentiation, so definitely feel the anvil hanging over my head.
Like many of you, I have found post chemo more stressful than during chemo. I think focusing on the treatments & effects allowed me to not get too existential. To DO instead of think and feel. But now...this awful limbo. It feels like everyone expects me to move on and not let cancer define me, but how can it not? How can facing death not change you?
I'm coping by creating my own "treatment" = diet, exercise, yoga, meditation, long walks in nature, supplements, IV Vitamin C, acupuncture, healing touch. I figure all of these things are good for me even w/o cancer, so the only downside is the expense.
I'm also in the process of enrolling in a clinical trial that uses psilocybin ("magic" mushrooms) to treat depression in cancer patients.
Green Tea: Thank you for all the links!
Fem, 51 yo at DX CRC Stage IIIa
3 cm tumor removed from sigmoid during colonoscopy 1/10/20 (51 yo)
adenocarcinoma, poorly differentiated
colon resection 2/4/20 = 1 of 18 lymph nodes positive
port 3/1/20
Genetic testing: MSS KRAS G12V
FOLFOX 3/4 - 8/14/20 (last 5 no oxi because of allergic reaction)
CEA: 1/22: 2.5; 3/4: 2.14; 7/15: 1.4, 11/13: 4.11; 12/7: 2.81
CT Scan 8/12 NED
Now what?