Ca markers high

[dreamboatannie]

My markers are sky high over 3000 but all of my scans are good and I feel great so my onc and I decided to keep my ibrance and faslodex treatments the same and just ignore the numbers for a few months. Anyone else with high numbers but no symptoms.?

[SusieIM]

If I understand the markers correctly, they are not as reliable as the scans. The pet scans really tell what is going on. Glad to hear that your scans are good. Take care, continue to be positive.

[dreamboatannie in reply to SusieIM]

Thank you so much for your answer and support

[SusieIM in reply to dreamboatannie]

your very welcome, we are here for each other.

[blms in reply to SusieIM]

Pet scans not as accurate as the CAT for BC. Better for other cancers and extra loaded with radiation. So much more than the CAT.

[kkrouse in reply to blms]

I’m the opposite. My cancer has cells in many areas, but only one tumor that shows on a CT. The other shows only on a PET. For 9 months I had an insurance that didn’t allow PET scans and I had progression that we couldn’t see until I finally got a PET.

[Obig]

I had escalating markers and ignored them for months. No evidence of disease in scans. But eventually it did show up as mets to liver. On chemo now.

[PJBinMI]

My original onc, who just retired, is a wise old woman and always said she pays most attention to how I report feeling! Scans next and TMs a very very distant third. She never bases treatment decisions only on TMs and we've watched mine rise quite a number of times and after nearly 15 years, I'm only on third line of treatment. Things besides cancer can cause TMs to rise and its not unusual for them to rise when a new (to us) treatment is working well and dying cancer cells confound the test! TMs are not accurate for everybody and some of us never have them in the normal range even when we are doing fine. Alot of oncs don't use them because they can raise anxiety without any real reason. Some oncs use them only for those with bone mets only as those can be hard to keep track of as on scans healing bone and progressing bone mets can look very similar. Generally oncs look at TMs over time and don't get especially concerned over one high reading. My new onc is even that way somewhat with my scans. He looked at my last two CTs and said that if they'd been 4 months apart he'd be concerned but since they were 8 years apart, he was not worried. I've had alot fewer scans than most as I have done so well and seem to be dealing with a very slow unaggressive group of cancer cells. I've never had symptoms from "extensive" bone mets in several vertebrae, pelvis, shoulder blade and a rib. No pain, no limitations. I just want to make it til Novemer, 2020.

[Juliandrea in reply to PJBinMI]

My love, you will live a lot longer than that. We all plan to live way past that and we need you right here with us. Just curious why just until nov 2020?

[kkrouse]

Which scan do you get? PET or CT? My cancer only shows on PET scan. Many cell clusters without tumor per se.

[dreamboatannie in reply to kkrouse]

I get both, CAT scan every 6 months and PET once a year. My last PET scan in December showed the tumor near my rectum almost completely gone!!! No other significant changes. The tumor near my rectum was quite large and causing multiple issues in my pelvic area in July. Started Ibrance in august. Now it is just about gone and no more pelvic issues. I am so thankful!

[PLASEM]

I had CT, PET-CT, bone scan and MRI and CT showed new sites then I had the others and came back negative but I am having a lot pain on my pelvis today I am having another CT