For those on IV Chemo - How Long for Tumor Markers to Drop

[Half-Full]

For those of you on IV chemo, can you share how long it took for your tumor markers to drop after you started?

Conversely, if your tumor markers didn’t drop or kept rising and/or your scans did not improve or were showing progression, how long was it before your oncologists switched you to different chemo?

[Bettybuckets]

Excellent question as I am just one month into xeloda and I am not home in the USA so I can’t get the Ca 27-29 that I usually have to follow my markers…they told me that we can just follow how I am feeling. So far so good. Now that I am off the Ibrance and verse in, I feel less fatigue..but I am constantly assessing if I can feel the spread to my liver..and that may mean the new treatment isn’t working. But I am just not thinking of that while I am on holiday. Scans in March probably…and that may be true for you too. Probably can’t know for sure until a 3 month scan so why worry. Enjoy the possibility that your new therapy may be the best one yet. I hope so!

[kearnan in reply to Bettybuckets]

You cannot change whatever the outcome is so do not think about it and enjoy your holiday in Europe. I miss traveling. I have it in my liver starting in March 2022 and it kept spreading with every scan even with a change of medication. I feel fine and stopped treatment in October 2022. So not understanding how I can feel so good (one reason is no heavy duty meds) and be told how serious it is. I am enjoying whatever I can now. Especially once my taste came back. I ate everything under the sun.

[Bettybuckets in reply to kearnan]

I’m so sorry dear! I don’t know how far behind you I am as I know know that one year ago tomorrow I was in a bad car accident and after CT scan and the trauma team told me that I had spread ti my liver…. But then my oncologist didn’t think it likely and got a pet scan that disputed that it had spread to my liver. And after that I kept having PET scans which kept showing stable disease. Finally at Xmas I had an abdominal ct scan which finally showed the lobular liver spread. Which they can see now had been there since last feb just like the trauma team said. So now I don’t know what to expect..

[SharonPAG]

Hello, I started on Paclitaxel iv chemo mid-Septembet 2022. I had scans at the beginning of December and they showed that the bone and liver lesions were shrinking. I was very nervous to get the results and my oncologist said that I shouldn't have been nervous because my tumour markers had been trending downwards before the scans. However, she had forgotten to share that information with me. Since then, she has shared that the tumour markers continue to trend downwards nicely. I get my next scans at the end of this month and hopefully there's continued improvement.

Sharon

[Iwasborntodothis]

Mine went down dramatically and quickly on Taxol but now they are creeping back up. I have appointment today and I suppose we will be doing a scan and moving on to something new. We usually wait 2-3 rounds plus use a scan before we change. I had asked for a "super dose" - 6 in a row vs 3 on 1 off before a change but my lab results I just checked are not responding to this theory - thanks Doc for humoring me. Anyway, this is not about me. It's a balance and a conversation and it should be your well informed decision how to proceed.

[Half-Full]

Thanks for the replies. After the 1st two Gemzar treatments on the 1st cycle my wife’s tumor markers increased by almost 50%.

It’s still early and we’re trying to be hopeful, but she’s always responded quickly to new treatments in the past. The conventional wisdom (wait until 2 or 3 full cycles are completed) feels way too lax considering her tumor markers are doubling every month and she’s had a lot of progression.

Her cancer has unfortunately become aggressive, she’s responded well to all prior treatments, but when it fails things change extremely quickly.

Thanks so much for the feedback.