as these posts usually begin... my dad had colon cancer about a year ago, had surgery, removed most of his colon, did chemo, etc. and the cancer appeared to have subsided.

he was doing well for a number of months and went on a month-long trip to south america. he returned home recently and started to experience increasing CEA counts. x-rays showed it to be a problem in his liver. sorry, i don't know all of the details, but about a month ago it was determined that whatever was found in the liver was not cancerous but instead something to do with the fact that he had hepatitis-a when he was a young child. things seemed fine for about a week until his CEA counts started to rise again. his CEA progression went something like this:

- before departing on his trip - around 3
- after returning - about 13
- a week or two later - about 18

he went to the hospital a couple of days ago to have a liver biopsy but the doctors were unable to perform the biopsy because they could not find anything. he was released.. everyone is happy.. a little confused but at least there doesn't appear to be any cancer. and his CEA counts were down to 13.

now, this afternoon his new CEA counts are at 30 and we're all trying to figure out what the heck is going on. the doctors are unsure. my dad is feeling depressed.

does anyone have any insight as to what could be contributing to the fluctuation of the CEA counts? or any insight at all would be SO greatly appreciated.

could he possibly have caught some weird bug while in South America? could the liver problems be related instead to the fact that he was drinking a few whiskeys a day for a month while there when he had hepatitis-a as a child? i'm not sure what to make of the whole thing. i know that you don't neccessarily have the answers but any thoughts would be appreciated.

thanks! happy new year to you all.

Hi,
Welcome to the Board... sorry about the circumstance. I have a friend who is receiving her treatment now at Hopkins... she keeps having recurrences. Whenever her CEA goes up as your Dad's levels, their response is she has a recurrence, they just don't know where yet. In order to determine where, sometimes you have to wait, other times it is found on PET Scan. He DEFINITELY should be having a PET.

3 is the highest acceptable normal to begin with. The fact that it went to 13 means in all liklihood he is having a recurrence. I WOULD NOT trust the fact that what they are telling him that he is fine... from my experience, I'm sorry, but he is MOST LIKELY having a recurrence. He may be hiding this fact from you.

Good Luck,
CancerDad