Finished breast CA treatment, now possible ovarian CA?!

KLB, Thanks so much for your response. That is very helpful-- frightening, of course, but helpful. I'm thinking that these doctors are having a hard time figuring out how seriously to take the tumor marker change, so your information helps me understand that the marker doesn't have to be sky-high to indicate a problem. How did they learn that you are stage IV? Is there a standard set of tests that help evaluate metastases?

KLB-- Wow. Kudos to your primary for making sure you were worked up for that weight loss and early satiety. I have had a significant weight loss, too, but nobody comments on it. I lost about 20 lbs during chemo, b/c I was so nauseated, and then another 20 last spring after I finished chemo in December. I just didn't feel like eating. Around April I stopped losing weight, and I continue to be not very interested in food. But at least my weight is stable now. I still skip meals often-- well, really every day, b/c I'm just not hungry. All of this worries me. I saw the gyn oncologist this morning, and we are scheduling removal of both of my ovaries and fallopian tubes. He isn't terribly concerned that this is cancer, at this point, but he said it made sense to remove them if for no other reason than for the risk they represent and my own concern. My other tumor markers are perfectly normal-- Only the CEA is elevated, which I don't understand. I gather it could mean I have a met, or some other completely different form of CA, which is really frightening. I haven't had any imaging done to rule out mets.

KLB, Thanks for your info and good wishes. Surgery is being set for December, the soonest I can do it with work. I did have a CT (abdominal) just last week, which was fine, except for confirming the cyst on my ovary. At this point, I suspect I just need to chill for the next 6 weeks until they do the surgery, and then if the ovary is positive for CA, we'll know why my ferritin and CEA are so high. If it's not positive, I hope my onc does more imaging to figure out why the CEA is elevated. I called the practice last week to ask about it, but no return call yet. Re stomach issues-- I had an endoscopy years ago, but not recently. I'm not throwing up-- It's just that I'm rarely hungry, so I've fallen in the habit of skipping dinner every night. I don't know if that lack of hunger is a symptom of the CA or the meds I was on until August or maybe just my tiredness. Right now the only cancer related meds I'm taking are hormone blockers, and I don't think they would cause that. Anyway, thanks for the information, and wishing you well!

Thanks, KLB. I'm glad you told me about your ferritin. I talked with the nurse at my oncologist's practice last week about the unpleasantness of this surgery being scheduled and asked about the tumor markers-- ferritin and CEA both. She checked with the nurse practitioner and said they don't conduct any further workups just because of tumor markers being high. But she said they ran the ferritin because I've been pretty severely anemic and they wanted to make sure it was improving, post-chemo. She didn't seem to connect it with the possibility of a reoccurrence at all. My ferritin level was normal through chemo, but was in the 700s in January and is in the 800s now. Bummer. So I think I'm just gonna hang in till I get this surgery done and then maybe get a 2nd opinion if I still feel uneasy afterwards....

Wishing you well!

Fairchild

Well, it's only taken me a whole year to remember that I never posted about the biopsy here! It was fine! I think the surgeon was as relieved as I was. And fortunately, in the year since then, I haven't had anymore weird symptoms that could raise the specter of CA again, thank heavens!