Numbers up: Sometimes scoring up is what we want (basketball, football, Scrabble); sometimes down is better (golf). In human terms, we love to live longer (numbers up), even though we hate to admit our age (we truly are "messed up," aren't we?). Last week, my age number increased and the celebration was terrific. Lots of surprises came my way: both of my bros showed up totally out of the blue, Bill from Texas -- Dave from New York; along with my way cool sisters-in-law. I digress.... sorry...
Numbers down: CEA marker (which I will try to explain in another post, perhaps) for cancer is DOWN, DOWN, DOWN. When I was first diagnosed last September, the number was 7.3; this was high and a definite indicator of the presence of cancer. My most recent blood work (mid-March) showed a CEA marker at 3.3; DOWN 4 points! This is huge. My oncologist stated that 3.3 is in the "normal" range for a female non-smoker.
Tumor size is also diminishing. It is palpable. I can feel that it is smaller, and my oncologist confirmed this. She also indicated that the ancillary lymph node, which had been initially pretty swollen, had gone down considerably.
In early May, an MRI will be done to electronically check things out. Stay tuned, report will be forthcoming.
Links and videos: I finally figured out (thanks to son Nick) how to add links and videos to a side bar. Many of the videos that are embedded in these posts will be added to that bar. Hope you find them helpful.
More later, 'gator!
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