Author: Karen

We got some good news today.  Steve’s CEA (tumor marker) number is going down again.   It’s currently 18 and was 28 four weeks ago!  That’s really good news because that means that the new chemo he started 6 weeks ago is working!!!  So the plan right now is to keep doing what they are doing. Steve is also scheduled for a CT Scan the first week of April – the 2nd or 3rd and then they will check his CEA number again on the 6th when we get the results for the CT Scan. Last week was 9 months since Steve was diagnosis and the fact that he’s still doing well and the chemo is still working at this point is really good! Friday, March…

Happy New Year! The last chemo treatment Steve received on Christmas Eve went well.  He over did it over the holiday with all our company so he was exhausted coming out of it, but he enjoyed the time we spent with friends and family so it was worth it for him.  He also got another mouth sore this time around, however it wasn’t at it’s worst and he was still able to eat more than just soft foods.  That said, he still dropped a few pounds.  He’s going to try and work on putting those back on this week. The doctor checked his CEA number on Monday and it was 15.6, which is a little higher than last time.  We never head from the doctor…

I  forgot to mention in my previous post that the CT Scan also showed that the inflammation of his colon and the small perforation in the colon that they saw last time, is no longer visible.  So that means that part healed.  That made us VERY HAPPY because that means surgery is not in the future again… which is a good thing.  Surgery is not something we want because that means no chemo for at least 6 weeks after and perhaps even more.  Right now Chemo is what he needs. That was my Christmas Gift! 

We received the results of the CT Scan today.  The doctor says that after looking at the ct scan himself, there has been a small reduction in the tumors.  It’s not as big as the last time but he feels they are all slightly smaller.  He did point out that they are measuring them in mm and not cm so we are looking at something very small in size. Tomorrow is Steve’s first treatment in the next chemo regimen and it will be less the Oxaliplatin.  The doctor is going to monitor his CEA number closely and if he sees any change then he’ll likely change up his entire chemo prescription and use some different drugs. At this point the doctor is looking at it…

The doctor called to tell Steve today that his CEA number is 12.  Last time it was 11 but the doctor says that’s still great and it will go up and down a bit, but doesn’t really mean anything.  So Steve was happy. Steve also noticed at 1pm today that his pump wasn’t working and we don’t think it pumped anything since we left the infusion center yesterday at 1pm.  🙁  So  now he’s hooked up until Saturday instead of Friday.  We weren’t very happy but nothing we can do.  Now we know to make sure it’s working like all the time.