Hi,
In Sept of 2016 I was diagnosed with Stage 1 colon cancer. I had surgery to remove the tumor which turned out to be a low grade cancer, 23 lymph nodes were removed with no sign of cancer and clear margins. Before my surgery my CEA levels where measured in two different labs. One came back at .9 and the day of the surgery the hospital lab measure 1.5 CEA. Two weeks after the surgery my CEA was .3 and it has been going up every three months since the surgery. Now after 18 months past the surgery my CEA is measured at .9. I am really concerned about the CEA level and really don't know what to think of it. Does anyone know much about CEA? Does a person who never had cancer have CEA levels that can go this high?
My other concern is the amount of CT scans my doctor has ordered. I was told by another oncologist that every six months for a person with Stage 1 cancer is a lot of radiation with the CT scans. I have a 2mm node on my lung which has not changed in a year so I don't know why my doctor wants to run another CT scan on me when I just had one six months ago. Any thoughts on this situation and what I should do? Should I wait a bit before getting another scan and are my CEA levels a concern? Thanks for any feedback. `