Current status:
- Short of breath after moderate exercise - Still there, but way better
- Blue lips fairly frequently - Still noticeable, but I am doing more activity
- Chest pains - Rare now
- Fatigue - A real issue. One hard day of work stuffs me for 2 days, need to take a break after lunch most days to keep functioning
- Joint Pains - Not noticeable
- Not able to concentrate and cannot multi-task at all - Still a real issue. I have to be very careful and aware when driving etc.
- Fingers and toes numb - Fingers 70% better, toes/feet about the same. Cold makes it worse
- Sometimes abdominal tenderness - No longer there.
I was not actually seen by the oncologist, but by one of his medical doctors. She reviewed my case and current situation. My head MRI shows no suspect tumours, and my CEA is 1.5, which she considered normal. Normal next step is a checkup and further CEA test in 3 months, it could be done at the oncology unit, I said I felt it best for my GP to do it, she was quite happy with that.
So all normal, and apparently good - but I don't think so.
There has always been a 65% chance the cancer would reoccur after surgery, so normal is reoccurence. My CEA, while in the normal range has crept up for the 3rd time. The CEA result is closely following the previous levels after my earlier liver surgery, only difference is that this time it did not drop to my normal level of 0.8.
Most likely in 3 months my CEA will be significantly up, in 6 months from now the medical team will be looking at some form of intervention, likely chemo. At this stage it looks like I have 6 months of good living left, before we have to confront some hard decisions again.
This may not sound so good, but it is the normal progression for someone with my cancer. Unfortunately my cancer looks to have mutated (as normal in about 50% of cases) to one which is hard to knock out with surgery and chemo won't kill it.
At the moment I don't feel great about the situation, but I know I will get over it.
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