In a previous post I talked about how my tumour markers had jumped markedly since the beginning of the year. I had talked about the fact that my count at my last oncology assesment 3 weeks go was 689. Talking more to Dr H this week he explained it wasn’t a new way of testing the CA15-3 but a new way of measuring – semantics I know but important distinction to know. I had gotten confused when he was talking to me last time and I thought the 689 figure was under the new measurement system but in actual fact it was under the old system and my figure under the new measurement system was actually even higher…779…gulp…!!!
The good news is which ever way they count it my tumor markers have fallen again. Not as low as we would like but it is making me hopeful that the CT scan will show improvement too. Under the old measurement system tumor markers have fallen to 465, under new system 557, so you can see the points drop is the same with either system approximately 220 points. My liver function tests are remaining stable as well. They will move to reporting the tumour markers purely under the new system in the next few weeks so from then on I will be reporting ones that line up with the 779 and 557… hopefully in the 300 -400 next time?
I had a bad cold this last week (another reason for lack of blog posts until now) and I thought that might be because my neutrophils were low but they have been holding steady this cycle at between 1.5 and 2 – anything above 2 is normal and anything below 1 is neutropenic – so I’m really pleased about that.
Although my scan was supposed to be done by the 1st of May, the powers that schedule these things at Middlemore decided that meant they could schedule it on May 2nd. This is a major improvement however on the times when the due date has gone by and I havent even received an appointment. ..And this time they have let me know my appointment time 3 weeks out from the scan instead of the 3 days notice they usually give me.
This means the next time I see Dr H on the 9th of May we will have the scan results. If they are good we will continue on with the Taxol for a bit longer then do another scan. If they are not then we are looking at moving to purely palliative care. But with the tumour marker drop I am very hopeful that it will be the former rather than the latter.
