Hi since I posted on here a few weeks ago things have gone down hill! I had my markers done last week and they came back at 374 which is double the highest they ve ever been in the past I don’t feel unwell or in any pain, so you can imagine my shock when I heard that!! I would be grateful for any information on this, I have had them reduce to 30 in the past but just never had them this high!! ???
Sam TMs can be unreliable and oncs tend to look at the trend of them rising every month. Mine went up to 1000 after only being 33 at start of treatment two years ago.374 is still low but it may be an indication that you may need a different treatment now. All cancers adapt to treatment so the oncs then change. Mine adapt in about three months in other people’s It can take years.
Hugs,Helen xxx
Hi Sarn, TMs…They don’t half cause some confusion!!! Some oncs don’t even use them, mine have been slowly rising and I was getting myself in a right old state over it but I had a good chat with my onc who explain them to me, as Helen has said they look at the trend rather than the actual number plus they look at the bigger picture, scans, TMs, and how you are feeling in general. Try not to get too hung up on them…that’s what she told me. Hope this helps.
Hugs Janette xxxx
Hi ladies, just ben looking at this thread with interest…i have never had TMs done in 4 yrs since i was first diagnosed. However, i have skin mets (2nd diagnosis after being off chemo for just 6 weeks and no response to letrozole) and recurrence in the fatty tissue of my reconstruction and am now told that thses are not picked up on scans…useful!! so i was thinking about asking if my Tms could be done as an extra monitoring system. Only trouble is i would be even more terrified if they kept going up so dont really know if i would benefit but if they highlighted something quicker than a scan i supose thats good?? nothing is ever asy is it? x
Hi everyone I have read your posts with interest my onc’s don’t do tumour markers and when I asked my last onc why they didn’t do them he replied because they are not conclusive. Should I try again with my new onc or would I be doing myself a favour by not knowing. The new onc is young and lovely and I met her for the first time 2 week ago she looked at my breast and skin mets and I told her I had lost spots of blood from somewhere under the breast she said one of the mets where ulcerated I inspected myself with a mirror it is my chest wall tumour she had mistaken for a met. So could tumour markers be worth mentioning???