New treatment plan
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Rick,
I have just been getting caught up on postings here and saw your update. Glad to hear the better news about your markers possibly being from the Theraspheres. Nice to hear about the cell death too. Good luck at your future treatment and dr. appt.
Linda Z.
Hi Rick,
Just read your updates. I am not sure but they had not come up when I looked before. Things are sounding good for you. I hope things continue to go well.Charley
Hi Rick
Just wondered how your treatment went. I don’t know if I missed your posting or not. Hope all went well. That will be my next treatment so I anxiously am interested in how others are doing. Lots of luck.Charley
Hello, Rick–
My radiation onc has started me on SBRT in place of the radioembolization/microspheres originally planned. My chemo onc advised me that my CA 19-9 markers, which have decreased to one-tenth their previous level, could rise following radiation. He said that CA 19-9 is a measure of inflammation–and radiation to a tumor CAUSES inflammation which takes time for the body to clear. In the meantime, I, too can probably expect my CA 19-9 markers to go up before they go down.
Hope this helps.
God Bless You and Yours, Rick.
-Tom
Rick,
Any irritation to the liver including infection can cause tumor markers to spike. I wouldn’t worry at all because the radiation is surely the cause. We have faced this issue for years and we really prefer that they don’t even run ca19s. Unless they see something on the scans they won’t do anything anyway-it’s just something to stress about. Tom will get his done the first of Nov. and I actually am really curious whether his goes down. He had prostate cancer diagnosed in Feb and had his seeding in July. I’m really wondering if his ca19 will fall now that those cancer cells are dead. His also tripled in Feb but he was suffering from a very severe infection at the time.Enjoy your vacation and don’t worry too much!! Take care, MaryHi Rick – I’m mainly a lurker here, but I read all of your updates. I am SO GLAD to hear the CA19-9 rise is probably due to the therasphere treament. YAY! I love to read those words: cell death.
Now you can look forward to your vacation with no more freaking out about tumor markers!
We found out today that the radioembolization/Theraspheres could very much have caused the increrase in the tumor marker. Cell death plus any kind of biliary irritation can cause the numers to shoot up and I probably have contributors from both.
So – today I had a followup CA 19-9 and we will determine whee to go from here. If it has gone back down, great. If not, then we’ll watch it for a little bit longer before digging deeper into the cause.
But all things considered, I’m convinced enough that it is from the Theraspheres treatment that I’m not going to freak out about it anymore.
Rick
Hi Rick,
Good luck with your onc’s app today, I am keeping everything crossed for you.
Best wishes,
Gavin
Rick,
I don’t know anything regarding cell death increasing the tumor marker but I do know that my mom (who gets her tumor marker checked regularly at her local cancer center in Tuscaloosa and the much larger cancer center at UAB in Birmingham) has giant discrepancies in her CA 19-9 results between the two labs. During the same week, one lab showed it was 1200 and the other at 400. I just wanted to point out how irregular and somewhat unreliable these numbers can be (and the two labs actually continue to show very different values each time she goes). We do think her tumor marker numbers are relevant, yet we try not to put too much stock in it, if that makes any sense.
All the best for your appointment!
Good luck Rick – I hope the appointment brings nothing but the best news. You and your family are in my prayers tonight!
Jen
Update:
I had bloodwork run a few weeks ago and never got called with the results, so I figured I would inquire on them today. My CA 19-9 has almost TRIPLED since it was last drawn about 4 weeks ago (slightly before my Theraspheres treatment). I have some theories, but I’m still a little bit fearful of these results.
The labs were taken about 2.5 weeks after my Theraspheres treatment and I know that this treatment takes time to work and steadily kills off the cancer for weeks after it has been done. I also know that dying cancer cells can sometimes increase the levels of tumor marker proteins in the blood. So this is one possibility that it was so high. The other reason that I can think of is that I had been off chemo for about 3 weeks at that point per the instructions to get the Theraspheres treatment. So, I guess it is possible that not being on chemo allowed some growth of cancer cells as well.
I’m not sure what to think. It’s hard to take this news because the new number is VERY high and it only took about 4 weeks to triple. But I also hope that it is actually good news because so much cancer is dying off from treatment. I wish I had a more clear picture.
Tomorrow I have a fit in appointment with my oncologist. I need to ask him about this and figure things out. The only person I was able to talk to today was a nurse and she didn’t have any insight as to why the tumor marker has jumped so much.
So – please keep your fingers crossed for me. Hopefully this rise in tumor marker is actually a good thing. I couldn’t handle bad news right now, I have so many things to look forward to doing in the next month I don’t want to deal with bad news.
If anyone has feedback on this, PLEASE let me know. If you have info about how radiation affects tumor markers, or anything that can affirm my research that dying tumor cells can cause the increase I would love to know. Tomorrow’s appointmetn seems so far away!
Rick
Rick…thanks for sharing and remember for all the good wishes that are coming your way. I am hoping for the pain to subside real soon and I am looking forward to great results 6 weeks from now. Take care.
MarionThank you all for the kind comments on this thread. You’re all great!
Here is another update. Day 23 after treatment:
The Jaundice issues that I was having seem to have disappeared. At least I can’t tell in my eyes or under my tongue anymore. When I asked my local oncologist about it, he said that it is quite possible that the increase in my LFT’S and Bilirubin was a result of the theraspheres and expected if that were the case it would clear up and return to more normal levels within 3-4 weeks. That seems to be the case as I can’t see the yellowing anymore – but I haven’t seen any bloodwork results lately to verify that the count has gone down.
I started back up on chemo on day 14 after treatment and am back into that grind. Thankfully, I am only takng one drug right now – Xeloda 1800mg twice per day. That is a little bit of a lower dose than typical from what I have read and not I’m sure exactly why. I am definately feeling the effects of the chemo again and already miss the break that I had! On the other hand, I’m glad to be started back up because I know that it has helped keep the peritoneal cancer in check and the resulting ascites. I haven’t had any issues with ascites since my offical diagnosis in September 2009. After I started chemo the ascites has resolved completed. But – I am fearful that it is starting to return. That 3+ week break from chemo may not have been a good thing. My abdomen feels slightly distended and uncomfortable which makes me think I may have some fluid buildup – but my wife also reminded me that I’ve been eating quite a bit during my break from chemo and it might just be weight that I have put on. Either way, I’m not liking it very much but I certainly hope it isn’t ascites.
I made plans with my local oncologist to get a CT scan in 6 weeks to evaluate the success of the Theraspheres. We’re going to do this at a major center close to my home instead of the local hospital because I’ve had bad experiences with the scan quality and radiologist interpretation at the local hospital. We’re hoping that the regional center will give us better results. We will then send the films off to Mayo so they can review them and decide if I need a 2nd Theraspheres treatment.
Overall, I am doing pretty well. I think that the side effects of the Theraspheres are officially over and now being replaced with chemo side effects! LOL! Now we just wait to see what the results are. My pain levels have certainly not subsided, but I guess we don’t expect that right away even if that primary tumor dies off.
So – that is the latest here. I want to fast forward 6 weeks so I can wrap up this thread with the final results, but that is beyond my abilities.
As long as I don’t forget to post the final results I think it will be helpful for future users to read my experience. If anything else noteworthy happens before that scan, I’ll put in another post.My best to everyone.
Rick
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