Blood Test numbers went up, really scared

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cinsby88
cinsby88 Member Posts: 8
edited January 2017 in IDC (Invasive Ductal Carcinoma)

Hi, I am kind of worried about my recent blood work. I finished rads in Oct and just went for my first follow up appointment last week. I just received my blood work results and all of my numbers have gone up.

CA 27.29 in Aug it was 20.9 now 36.4 (ref is 38.6)

CEA Aug was .5 now 1.2 (ref is 0.0 to 3.0)

GFR wasn't done in Aug but its >60 which from what I just read is renal disease??

Im calling my oncologist tomorrow but was hoping someone had experience with their numbers increasing so soon after treatment. Im not gonna lie im really nervous that I have recurrence. When my oncologist did my breast exam she said the lumps and pain im feeling are from the surgery.

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  • MelissaDallas
    MelissaDallas Member Posts: 7,268
    edited January 2017

    Cinsby, I don't know about the GFR, but with the tumor markers multiple things affect them, and in range is still in range. When I had ovarian cancer my CA-125 was over 1000 and normal was something like 30. My CEA was occasionally just over the top of normal & they never paid any attention to such a tiny bit over normal

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  • MelissaDallas
    MelissaDallas Member Posts: 7,268
    edited January 2017

    Also, from Oncolink:

    This test is far from perfect, as some women with metastatic disease never have an elevation in the tumor markers. Benign conditions, such as ovarian cysts, fibroids, liver and kidney disorders, and benign breast problems can result in elevated CA 27-29 levels. It can take 1-3 months after starting a new treatment for results to begin to decrease, so we typically wait 2-3 months to recheck CA 27-29.


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  • bluepearl
    bluepearl Member Posts: 961
    edited January 2017

    Tumour marker tests are not standard of care for this very reason. They are unreliable. My sister has perfect tumour marker scores and had a spinal cord collapse from undiagnosed breast cancer.....and they still are normal. A friend who had stage 3 breast cancer had hers go way up......and her calcium levels too.....but it was nothing. It all depends upon how you are feeling, not those scores.

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  • Beatmon
    Beatmon Member Posts: 1,562
    edited January 2017

    Is your GFR higher than 60? It is a calculation, if your bun and creatinine are within normal limits, your GFR is probably ok. The higher the number, the better for GFR.. it is an overall indicator of kidney function. It can vary according to age, sex, body size, black or white. It will decrease with age. 1 test with a slightly low GFR is not alarming. Just needs to be rechecked. Mine is on every metabolic profile. I can't add anything to the Ca indicators...my Doc doesn't draw them. I know when I had 50 lung mets in the hospital, the tumor markers were normal. So we don't use them.

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  • MinusTwo
    MinusTwo Member Posts: 16,634
    edited January 2017

    Thanks Beat Mom. My GFR was well below normal last time but the MO said not to worry yet. I was waiting to see what my PCP says when she sees the numbers. In the mean time, I'll look up the bun & Creatine.

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  • cinsby88
    cinsby88 Member Posts: 8
    edited January 2017

    Thank you for your replies, If it is mostly on how im feeling ugh lol, I feel like a mac truck hit me but contribute it to fibro, failed fusion and the inhibitor airmedex. Melissa wow 1000! Beatmom I found the gfr from Aug and it said the same thing >60 thank you for explaining that. I know the numbers are in range but I am alarmed because I thought the numbers would have gone down not up. I wonder if it could be from the radiation?

    Some of my other numbers are off like wbc is low, lymphocytes low, lymphocytes abs low, eosinophils abs high, ast (sgot) low, cholesterol high, triglycerides high, ldl high, vldl high. I have to look these numbers up today to see what they mean.

    I have been researching from day 1 for my health, no junk food or preservatives, lemon water bottle to sip all day, juicing, cut out 90% of meat, buying organic when its affordable. lots of supplements, green tea, I recently added liquid chlorophyll recommend to detox from radiation, essential oils, I dont exercise enough because of the body pain but know once I get started it should help. Im on pain medication from the failed fusion and herniated discs above and below the fusion and fibro and im still in pain from inflammation which I know is really bad for cancer. I also just found out last week that I have 4 bulged discs in my neck. I tried to get my mmj card to try and get off of the pain meds but my pm doc believes its more for stage 4 and chemo patients. I totally disagree with him because it is curing a lot of people. I am going to keep trying though.

    Hopefully I will get to talk to my oncologist today and she reassures me that im worrying for nothing!

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  • MelissaDallas
    MelissaDallas Member Posts: 7,268
    edited January 2017

    That normal range isn't just normal for someone who has had cancer.

    It is normal for people who have never had cancer, so there is no reason to expect them to go down. They will always fluctuate a little.

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  • cinsby88
    cinsby88 Member Posts: 8
    edited January 2017

    Thats true, I didnt think of it like that. My daughter is an RN so she and I went over my blood work and she eased my mind. The nurse practitioner called me back and said everything looked fine. I told her I was concerned because the numbers went up and that my daughter went over them with me and I understood them now. I just wonder and it seems that they just look at the numbers without comparing them with the last time blood was drawn or just wait until everything is out of wack to do anything about it. That worry of recurrence will always be there and we just have to do our best to keep on top of it!

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