Am I panicking for no reason? Slight rise in CEA levels

[utahgal7]

Hi,

I am a newbie here. So, I have experienced anxiety over the past few days. I had a chest/abdomen/pelvis CT earlier this week. The radiologist saw 1 hypoattenuating lesion on my liver measuring 1.6 cm and he also noted soft tissue thickening close to the sacrum (which I have learned is your tailbone). The lesion on my liver was noted on my last scan as possible hemangioma. I will have MRI of liver in 10 days to figure out the lesion. My concern is about the radiologist's statement about the soft tissue thickening by the sacrum. He said the thickening may be due to the low anterior resection surgery that I had. But he also said he cannot rule out malignancy. This did not help my anxiety, at all!

Also, I had a rise in my CEA level from 0.9 to 1.4. Should I be worried about the rise of my CEA level? Someone that I know told me the CEA test is not a reliable tumor marker. Is this true?

Sheesh, I do not know how all of you cope with the treatments, surgeries, scans, bloodwork, appointments, etc. I am a wreck!!!

You guys are my heroes!!!

[Gravelyguy]

Hi Utahgal,

Sorry for all the anxiety but totally get it!

I am not a Dr. so take what I say with a grain of salt. It looks like you had your CEA test within a month of your takedown surgery. The rise in CEA COULD easily be related to inflammation from the surgery. I would not be too concerned. Having an MRI on your liver will help figure out what that spot is. MRI does a better job on livers than CT scans.

I can't comment on the soft tissue thickening but hopefully your Dr. will get to the bottom of this.

Hang in there!

Dave

[boxhill]

I agree with Gravelyguy.

CEA is a marker for some people and not for others. And for those for whom it is a marker, the degree varies. For about 30% of us--including me, thankfully, because it is one less thing to obsess about! -- it is not a marker. FWIW, my CEA has NEVER been as low as yours is, and I've been NED for at least 16 mos. AFAIK, they look for trends, not tiny bobbles.

[utahgal7]

Thanks for the words of reassurance!

Have a great weekend!

[Trying]

I totally get the anxiety. My ceas have always jumped all over. Its unnerving but I learned my ceas aren't a good measurement always

[Punky44]

CEA is my worst enemy but my mom’s oncologist always reminds me that they are looking for a continual significant upward trend and not just one random rise before they think anything of it.

[DarknessEmbraced]

CEA was never a good indicator for me as it was below 1 before surgery. I get CEA and CA 125 checked. I hope that your MRI shows the thickening is benign.*hugs*

[rachelfromnyc]

Also, I had a rise in my CEA level from 0.9 to 1.4. Should I be worried about the rise of my CEA level? Someone that I know told me the CEA test is not a reliable tumor marker. Is this true?

It is true that CEA is not a reliable tumor marker for everyone. It is for some but not for others. CEA is also not specific it can go up for other reasons. If it gives you any comfort, here is my CEA story. Mine dropped real quick after the first couple of rounds of chemo. It stayed in the normal range with some slight fluctuations up and down, but still normal, from last June to this April. Then it started to creep up, first to around boderline. Then it leveled off around 15 ng/mL on the July/August/September tests. I've had scans in June and September and they were good, everything stable or shrinking. Oncologist says she never makes treatment plans based on CEA alone and that the scans are more important. She even wants to take CEA only when there is a scan upcoming, instead of monthly like I've been doing. She thinks it causes too much stress (which is true) but I still want to see it each month.

[betsydoglover]

Both of those numbers are very low. My oncologist says they are taught to not worry about CEA numbers changing when they are still in normal range. For 15 years I've watched my CEA bounce between <0.5 and 1.1 - I doubt there is any issue with you CEA.

Take care,

[utahgal7]

Thank you everyone! I really appreciate the kind words. It has helped with my anxiety.

[missnattlebee]

Definitely would not worry. Your CEA is still in normal range.
I totally understand the anxiety!!!

[weisssoccermom]

Years ago, on a test that I had a good 10 years out, my CEA jumped and the doctors were perplexed. I was talking to my surgeon at the time and she had the same issue with one of her patients. (BTW...this ....keep reading....still happens today). She (surgeon) told me that oftentimes labs switch from one test to another. With the CEA test there are TWO different tests....Bayer and Seimens, and while they test for the same thing, they do so in different ways and use different assays.....all of which have different NORMAL ranges. Not saying this is what happened (it did with the surgeon's patient and with me)....but you should just check that the lab didn't switch testing protocols. It's been a long time since I have had a CEA test (it was never a good marker for me.....initial test was a 0.5 with a honking huge tumor) but my printed results that I got directly from the lab, ALWAYS said which protocol they used. It's something you should be aware of and look at.

Otherwise, like others have said, don't worry about that small of a jump that is still well within NORMAL limits. Mine used to jump all over the place. It's not one reading but the trend that is what you have to be looking for. I know, that's easy to say when the 'trend' is seemingly going up...but next time, it could go up more and then flatten or it could go down. You just have to wait for the next test....nerve wracking as it is.

[I_will_fight]

Otherwise, like others have said, don't worry about that small of a jump that is still well within NORMAL limits. Mine used to jump all over the place. It's not one reading but the trend that is what you have to be looking for. I know, that's easy to say when the 'trend' is seemingly going up...but next time, it could go up more and then flatten or it could go down. You just have to wait for the next test....nerve wracking as it is.

Love your signature weisssoccermom

"NED now and forever"

Hopefully, I too will add that to my signature one day!

[horizon]

I learned pretty rapidly that worrying over things such as this only does one thing: make you feel worse. Not criticizing because I did the same thing. I started learning to look at the "big picture" and getting past whatever shot term challenges were up next.