Any insights please?

Hi Peanut50 

Thats a very recent scan . I take it you are referring to the tumour in the colon or rectum ?

My mum had lots of pain as the tumour shrank . However we ran it past her team just to be sure it was not something that needed intervention.

You could check it out with his team and hopefully they will be able to reassure you .

Court

 court Hiya,  thanks for taking time to reply! Sorry, yes referring to the tumour in bowel.  

This is interesting to know, what type of pains was your Mum having and did she you see a rise in CEA at all?

Was it after eating / typical Bowel cancer pain? My Dad is very gassy again and also have lower back pains this week which I know is another symptom too. 

We did mention during our last meeting that my dad was having discomfort and some constipation and combined with seeing a rise in CEA over last few cycles we were concerned. Our onc mentioned that CEA can rise due to dying cancer cells etc and didn’t seem overly concerned - We were worried to tell him about the pain as we are so close to end of first round. 

We should have another scan beginning of April but like you say 3 weeks isn’t long for something to drastically change!? Its Confusing! 

Yes she did have a rise  in her CEA . This can be caused due to the actual chemotherapy . She would get an initial downward trend then it would rise .

However scans showed significant shrinkage . The CEA dropped back down after treatment and surgery .

It is less reliable on treatment than off . Cell death can impact it and cause it to rise too . 

She had to use over the counter buscopan as the chemo had impacted her digestive tract. 

Hope this helps .

Court 

 court  That does helps and is reassuring to know it’s possible.. thank you lovely