CA125

Hi mollysue

CA125 is a blood marker that is useful but doesn't show the full story. Anything under 35 is considered normal. CA125 can go up and down for different reasons, infection, cancer etc.  A high level warrants further investigation and in some cases could show that a cancer is becoming active again. They tend to use with gynaecological cancers- so ovarian, womb- not sure about cervical etc.

CA125 is a blood test that is separate from a full blood count. Full blood count measures things like haemoglobin, liver function, kidney function etc. CA125 is a potential tumour marker. When they take your bloods, they normally do more than one tube- one of the tubes is usually CA125.

It's not something you need to be worrying about at the moment as if there was a problem, they would have told you. Blood tests measure lots of different things and they normally bring up the ones that are not at the right level. To give an idea my last blood tests were 4 sheets of paper long and they just highlighted the levels that were out. For me that was haemoglobin, magnesium and I was neutropenic. All the others were within a normal range so we did not talk about them.

CA125 would not be part of your post op results that you are waiting for. I had my CA125 monitored throughout my treatments. My CA125 was normal before chemo and throughout radiotherapy. 

Don't forget the Support Line is there and you can talk things through with one of the nurses if it helps. 

Jane

I did have 2 test tubes done of blood after my operation both normal , did they do your then before the operation for ca125 or just afterwards 

My ca125 was checked with every blood test before, during and after treatment. If you are concerned speak to your CNS but I would expect them to have told you if there was a problem.