Today is a rough day. My radiated area is very painful (thank you for pain medicine) and I don’t feel great. I’m a little nauseous and a bit light headed so I’ve spent a lot of today sleeping. It’s hard to be in a “funk” but it happens to all of us. I just keep reminding myself I’m almost done with this part.
As my boys nap and I settled in to sleep myself, I remembered that I had my blood work done this week. My normal blood work comes back within minutes but my oncologist also runs tumor markers, which take a few days. I debated on whether or not to pull up the results online and decided I wanted to know where they are. Oh my, I am glad I did.
My oncologist runs 2 tumor marker tests, one of which is called a CEA. It is an indicator of metastatic disease. Last September, I had cancer but it wasn’t widespread. My CEA was 0.9. Anything under 3 is normal. In May, I was at 2.7; higher but still normal. On July 11, the day of my biopsies, my CEA was 13.1 – yikes. Higher than 3 – something isn’t right. I started Xeloda on July 27. On August 10, my CEA was 26.5 – double yikes. Way high and I was on Xeloda…first cycle, but scary nonetheless. I didn’t give it another thought because I knew I was just starting Xeloda and needed to give it time.
So my heart raced as I pulled up the results today. Although I know I can’t change the number, it’s scary to see it for the first time.
On September 6, my CEA was 7.9.
I can’t even type that without crying. 7.9. You read that right.
Yes, it’s still above 3. But I literally started my 3rd cycle of Xeloda yesterday. And my number dropped that significantly in a month’s time. A month!
So today, I am reminding myself about perspective. A year ago this time, I was doing IV chemo and was down for a week at a time. A month ago, I hadn’t started radiation and my tumor markers were up. Today, the side effects suck but radiation is almost over – almost! The days are sometimes long but the weeks fly by. I will be healing from radiation in no time and only doing Xeloda. I’ll continue on Xeloda for as long as it works – and we pray that those numbers drop and stay dropped!
I cry today because I am so incredibly grateful for those numbers. To say how blessed I am would be an understatement. The fear of the unknown is a scary thing but those numbers don’t lie. It’s working, my friends. It’s working.
And it’s worth all of the side effects to be here today! 💚
what great news! I am so excited for you 🙂 🙂
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Such great news – thank you!!
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All our prayers are with you! So happy for some sun shining in on your day!
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Thank you!! 😘 💚
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Yay! Double Yay!!! Single Digit Wahoo!
Still voting for complete miraculous long lasting NED. Seems like all our votes count after all.
Hang in there from one of your many supporters,
Xo Iris
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Wahoo!! Miraculous indeed, Iris! That’s what I’m shooting for!! 💗💚💗💚
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🐇🌈❤️+🐓🦄🍀
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