Tumor markers still going up

grrifff

Saw my oncologist today. Taxol seemed to be doing its job. Liver function tests are heading down towards normal, platelets are up, less immature red, white blood cells in blood. But.... CA15-3 went from 566 to 722 in 4 weeks. How can this be??? For me TM's have been pretty accurate for what's happening. Now I have a CT scan scheduled for next week. I'm freaking out. Also, bilirubin went up from .7 to .9 in 2 weeks. Not sure if that's a big deal. Anyone have TM's continue to rise on Taxol? When do they start to go down?

Jill

blainejennifer

Tumor flare. It's a real thing. Only start to freak if by the third month, the numbers aren't going down. The test can't tell the difference between alive and dead tumor cells.

grrifff

blainejennifer, why 3 months? Arbitrary number? Numbers are moving very slowly in right direction. His analogy was trying to turn an aircraft carrier around. He said he'd be happy with a plateau even at this high number. I'm lost

blainejennifer

As my MO explained to me, by the third month, all circulating dead cells should be absent, so the test will only be looking at a majority of live cells, indicating tumor activity.

So, I reckon the first big die off happens in the initial two or three months. Actually, that really has been my experience with chemo, come to think of it. I hit my low numbers at about month four, then I just seem to maintain, till they start climbing up again. But, that's just my experience.