mattreidy

I’m curious to know what other’s experience has been with chemo, gem/cis or other, and the rise/fall of CA 19-9 during treatment.

Did it go up and then down? Just down? No change? Was the rise/fall/steady level an indicator in your case of the effectiveness of the treatment?

Reading the following, I’m not sure if I should be glad or worried that my level dropped by nearly 50% in a month while on chemo.

“Most doctors find that the most important use for tumor markers is to monitor patients being treated for advanced cancer. It is much easier to measure the marker to see if the treatment is working than to repeat chest x-rays, computed tomography (CT) scans, bone scans, or other complicated tests. It is also cheaper. If the marker level in the blood goes down, that is almost always a sign that the treatment is effective. On the other hand, if it goes up, then the treatment probably should be changed. One exception is if the cancer is very sensitive to a particular chemotherapy treatment. The chemotherapy can cause many cancer cells to rapidly die and release large amounts of the marker, which will cause the level of the marker in the blood to temporarily rise.“

After just one round (2 infusions) of gem/cis my CA 19-9 is down from 457 on 2/18/15 to 278 a month later on 3/18/15. Still “high” but moving in the right direction. I’ll take it… Yay!

I’m waiting for labs before starting round 2 (infusion #3) right now.

Hi Liz – I’m so glad you found my postings helpful. That’s the main reason I put all this out here. I didn’t need a PVE because only the left lobe of my liver was resected and it’s the smaller of the two. I’m no surgeon but it seems to be a relatively simple and safe procedure compared to the resection itself.

I’m sure if you search or post a general request for feedback on the PVE you’ll get plenty of info/advice.

I know that in my case, I didn’t even think or worry about the tests, procedures, and resection surgery. I just wanted that damn tumor out so badly I just focused on that. As a result, I wasn’t at all prepared for the recovery from the surgery and it was a lot harder than I expected. My expectation was unrealistic, mainly because I had met a man who had received a liver transplant right before I had my surgery and he was up and about, going out to dinner, etc just 3 days (!) after his surgery. I was thinking I’d be doing the same within at least 5 days. Noooo – 10 days in the hospital for me, but I had to be operated on twice, and my wound got infected. After getting out of the hospital it was another week or two before I felt like doing much of anything. I was 47.5 at the time and in great health too. Everybody is different I guess – maybe I’m just a wimp

Good luck with the PVE – keep your eye focused on the end goal (resection and being cancer free) and don’t sweat the “small stuff”.

Keep us posted!

-Matt