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Re: Thinking outside the box
Hi AlaskaAngel,
I've wondered the same thing about those tests - the CA 15-3 is just a blood draw but every time I'd ask an oncologist about it, they'd shrug it off, saying the test is not reliable, blah blah blah. I don't know why it's not - haven't done much research on it yet - and I don't know why it'd hurt the patient to offer it. Maybe it's an insurance issue?
I never got one myself, until yesterday that is - I asked the oncologist who's running the vaccine trial I'm on for a test, and he immediately said sure. Mine came back normal at 12.7 (yay!) but I have no idea what this means since I never did a baseline when I was diagnosed.
In any case, my experience in trying to get this test done just proved again how much we need to be our own advocates and talk to multiple doctors until we get what we want.
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ER+ (30%)/PR-/HER-2+, stage 3
Diagnosed on 02/18/09 at 38 with a huge 12x10 cm tumor, after a 6 month delay. Told I was too young and had no risk factors. Found swollen node during breastfeeding.
March-August 09: neo-adjuvant chemo, part of a trial at Stanford (4 DD A/C, 4 Taxotere with daily Tykerb), loading dose of Herceptin
08/12/09 - bye bye boobies (bilateral mastectomy)
08/24/09 - path report shows 100 % success in breast tissue (no cancer there, yay!), 98 % success in lymphatic invasion, and even though 11/13 nodes were still positive, > 95 % of the tumor in them was killed. Hoping for the best!
September-October 09: rads with daily Xeloda
02/25/10 - Cholecystectomy
05/27/10 - Bone scan clear
06/14/10 - CT scan clear, ovarian cyst found
07/27/10 - Done with Herceptin!
02/15/11 - MVA-BN HER-2 vaccine trial
03/15/11 - First CA 15-3: 12.7 and normal, yay!
10/01/11 - Bone scan and CT scan clear, fatty liver found
now on Tamoxifen and Aspirin
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