CA 27-29 numbers rising: Does anyone else have an issue like this?

@tessspike. Good for you for being on top of your numbers. I am a big advocate on this site for tracking all your numbers on a chart for two reasons: 1) it helps a patient to know what is going on with their body & 2) to see trends. In your case, absolutely the knee replacement surgery can impact numbers. It might be helpful to track all your numbers a bit further back to day one. Maybe talk to your doctors to get a sense of when you can expect the surgery impact to lessen or request /look at your other numbers to see if the inflammation/surgery is reflected elsewhere. Docs like to see trends and like you pointed out, backup with scans, how you are feeling, etc. Fingers crossed for you. I am going on my 4th year as a MBC patient and have rebounded really well from when my initial meds stopped working 18 mos in. 2nd meds didn’t work but this third round seems to be doing the trick!

I am stage 4 ILC, doing well after a year of treatment on ribociclib, fervescent, and zomata, with numbers falling generally and clear scans. My CA 27-29 has been in the 32 range for 2 months, but this month jumped to 40. I have had knee replacement surgery and a stomach bug in the meantime and on various meds. Is this number ever effected by other situations/conditions? I know the CEA can be affected by inflamation. And it has stayed level at 10.

I am stage 4 ILC, doing well after a year of treatment on ribociclib, fervescent, and zomata, with numbers falling generally and clear scans. My CA 27-29 has been in the 32 range for 2 months, but this month jumped to 40. I have had knee replacement surgery and a stomach bug in the meantime and on various meds. Is this number ever effected by other situations/conditions? I know the CEA can be affected by inflamation. And it has stayed level at 10.

Peggie,
Thank you so much for sharing. I was in a group through Cancer Care, but was only allowed to be in the caregiver group, and most of the people were the wives of men that had other types of cancer, I prefer to talk with people that share our journey and understand MBC, and the lab tests, scans and results. I have been reading posts to my wife, hoping to encourage her to join. She has a great support system of family and friends, but no one can really know what she is going through. As you are entering year four post diagnosis, I hope your quality of life is good. Jen's days are like a roller coaster, but thankfully the past few days have been good. We feel blessed that she has good days. I hope you don't mind me reaching out, thank you.
Sam

Hi Sam. I'm so sorry your wife is going thru such issues; much more than I had imagined. Having a bit of her history now it becomes much clearer. I've had the same base of skull and C2 - C7 issues. They have waffled between 2 spots that lit up on my bone scan, thinking metastasis to arthritis. I also have compressed discs but have not, thankfully, suffered any fractures. I don't have any real experience in that area but it sounds like her doctors are on top of it with treatments to try to control the pain. As far as the radiation, they were thinking of doing my neck but decided to wait and see if there are any changes. They had forewarned me that there would be some temporary side-effects to the Esophagus (a couple weeks of a burning type feeling). I know others who have had radiation to other areas of the spine/ribs that unfortunately have that same effect along with some heartburn type feeling. We are all different though and as such may or may not suffer the same effects.
I do not have LDH or CEA tests. Also, I was diagnosed stage 4 in April of 2019 although I had never been early-stage.
Feel free to communicate if you like or if your wife would like someone to talk to.
Peggie

Hi Sam. Sorry you and your wife are having to deal with a stage 4 MBC. I received that same diagnosis 1 1/2 yrs ago, a recurrence from 2006. I’m mets to the bones (everywhere, mostly pelvis, legs, spine) and liver. My onco said that I lite up like a Christmas tree on my first PET scan. At that time my 27/29 was in the 2000’s. We got it down to the 600’s pretty quick with Ibrance/Faslodex, and when they stopped working with Afinitor/can’t recall the combo (post menopausal meds). The 27/29 never went below 300’s. We use the 27/29 as an indicator only and rely on a scan of some sort for a diagnoses. I’m curious that your onco is using CT scans whereas mine relies on PETs and your wife and I have the same diagnosis? If you think the CT is possibly missing something you could ask for a PET.
Fatigue is a constant (extreme) and I agree with another reply that it comes from a combo of the meds, pain/extreme discomfort, and in my case the inability to walk well let alone exercise. I don’t think there’s much that can be done to improve fatigue. It was suggested to me that I might be depressed which wasn’t the case but I can certainly see how it’s possible. All the best to you both.
Adana

Peggie,
It wasn't until after I made my post that I saw yours-I'm still learning how to navigate this site. Thank you for your kind reply, it was encouraging, as far as the CA not being very trustworthy, especially when I read that most women's numbers are in the low double digits. My wife, Jen, will be 61 in Feb., her pain is all over; joints, spine, ribs, hips, metatarsals, etc., the most severe pain recently is at the base of her skull and throughout her cervical spine. Being that most of the cancer is in the spine and that she had the fractures, nerve pain is a huge possibility, she tried Gabapentin, but didn't like the side effects. At diagnosis she had multiple compression fractures in her spine. About 8 months ago she went to see a rheumatologist, he prescribed Diclofenac, the assumption was that as her bones were healing from the treatment it was causing arthritis, the diclofenac has helped. Her last Onc. appt. was almost two weeks ago, she is waiting to hear back from someone to get a consult on radiation, my concern with radiation on the neck is that the esophagus is so close, but I'll wait until we get a consult so that I can get fully educated on the pros and cons of the procedure. How long ago were you diagnosed ? I'd love to hear if the radiation on your femur helps. May I ask if you have LDH and CEA tests as well, if you don't want to share-no problem. Jen's LDH was 1000, and the CEA was 13 on her last visit. Thank you again, Sam

Hi, I'm new here. in Nov 2020, my wife was diagnosed with stage IV breast cancer-(hormone receptive) it has metastasized throughout her spine, and is in most of her bones. She takes Verzenio daily, gets scans every 3 months, sees oncologist and gets Zometa, and Faslodex every 4 weeks-(on this last visit we got him to change the Zometa to every 3 months, after we researched it and thought maybe it is causing some of her pain). Upon diagnosis she was in really bad shape, after months of treatment she improved, but recently her pain has been getting worse-(she wears a patch, and has some oral pain meds), her most recent CT showed no growth. That's the short of it, our concern is with her CA 27-29, her oncologist tells us not to pay too much attention to it. Upon diagnosis it was 676, it went down with treatment, and stayed between 90-105, 6 months ago it was 121, and has continued to go up, last week it was 213. Her Oncologist is an optimist, and won't give any prognosis, maybe we shouldn't worry, but with the severe pain, fatigue, high CA, we're wondering if the CT scans are missing something.. Does anyone else have or has had CA numbers this high?