Wednesday, June 8, 2011

Cancer 101... Today's lesson: CA 27-29

Hello boys and girls!  Today's lesson will be on a Tumor Marker called CA 27-29.  Enjoy!
 
CA 27-29 is a tumor marker found in the blood of most breast cancer patients and is often used to follow the course of treatment in women with advanced breast cancer.  It's not 100%, but it is useful along w/ other tests (imaging such as my CT & PET scans) to evaluate recurrence & response to treatment.  I have been tested 4 times since D-Day (the day I was diagnosed) and here are the following results...

Oct. 2010 / 255.7
Mar 2011 / 424.5
Early May 2011 / 164.6
May 31, 2011 / 155.3

It makes since that the marker would be so high in March... not only was that around the time I was adjusting my chemo cocktail BUT the bone metastasis was occurring as well.  Again, these tests are not perfect, BUT they are tending to correlate with my ups and downs throughout my treatment.  And HELLO, we're down to 155.3!!  The normal range is less than 35 so we're at least heading in the right direction!  This can only mean that we're kickin' this cancer's ass!!  Sorry, I just can't say that enough!  ;)
 
Class dismissed!  Hope to see ya next time!

1 comment:

  1. PUTS A HUGE SMILE ON MY FACE EVERY TIME YOU SAY "Kickin' Cancer's Ass!!" Keep up the great attitude and work!!

    Love you!!

    ReplyDelete