Cancer Journal - Tuesday June 18th - Surprising Proactivity


Today, I saw the oncologist. The appointment was mostly as I expected. I got some basic information about what to expect – Cat scan to determine if the cancer has spread, decisions about surgery once we know where it is, decisions about any other treatments (chemotherapy) will be based on the information gained from the cat scan. I also had blood drawn so they could test it for anemia and also a particular marker (CEA, carcinoembryonic antigen) which would indicate if the cancer has spread.

One thing that is coming as a bit of a surprise is how proactive the doctors are. The appointment with the medical oncologist happened because his office called me on Friday before I called them. And today, the nurse that I spent most of my time talking to called me to say that my blood did not show signs of anemia and, most importantly, the CEA was at 1.2 (nanograms per ml of blood). The normal range is less than five (some websites say less than three) so clearly well below normal and not elevated. What this means is that it is LESS likely that the cancer has spread. There are no guarantees but at least it is a good sign.


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