CEA: How low can you go?!

[Mtngrl]

Oh, hi Juls,

Thank you for asking.

My onc wants me to get a biopsy, and I agree. It's been awhile, and my cancer might have mutated into a different type. (Though if it has changed it won't be for the better. Such is life with "cancer as a chronic illness.")

My biopsy is scheduled for April 4. In the meantime, I got Herceptin only last week, and next time we'll add Perjeta and Xeloda. I think my one bone met is already triple negative, so I asked for "some kind of chemo." I've been on this combination before and it is probably a good choice for a maintenance treatment while we sort things out.

I didn't mention that my right lower jaw lit up on the scan. There was no identifiable lesion, just some glucose uptake. When the Dr. told me about that I said I thought it was a dental issue. I had been having tooth and jaw pain at that spot. Sure enough, I had to have a tooth pulled yesterday. For some reason it broke and split all the way down, and it was infected. The dentist showed it to me after he extracted it. I'm sorry I lost the tooth, but I'm glad it's gone now and I'm super glad it's not cancer progression.

I'll start a new thread when we come up with a new plan. It'll be another 4 weeks or so, I think.

Amy