Test Results

"O LORD, You have brought up my soul from Sheol;
You have kept me alive, that I would not go down to the pit.
Sing praise to the LORD, you His godly ones,
And give thanks to His holy name.
For His anger is but for a moment,
His favor is for a lifetime;
Weeping may last for the night,
But a shout of joy comes in the morning."
(Psalm 30:3-5)

Well, the test results are in, and we still have "good news".

First, my CEA tumor markers went down from last time. If you recall, Roni and I were concerned that they had continued to rise since my initial surgery with Dr. Sugarbaker in Feb of 2004. In Feb of this year, the CEA results went up to 3.1, 0.6 past the acceptable range of 0.0 - 2.5. We had the test done again a month later, and it went back down to 2.7. Roni and I breathed a sigh of relief. Well, this time it was even better, it went back to 2.5, back into the normal range.

With that out of the way, the next thing was the CT scan. I had that done Monday morning.

To be honest, I really hate having a CT scan. You have to drink about a half gallon of "contrast", which could either be barium, or this other mixture which contains white cranberry juice. The white cranberry juice is just slightly better than the barium. Slightly. After you drink the "stuff", you lie down and they hook up an IV with more contrast that they pump through your veins. This isn't horrible, but I'm really tired of needles and IVs. This time they gave me the IV in probably the most painful spot they could. It's now Wednesday and it's still sore. But, the scan went quickly and I was soon on my way.

I called my oncologist yesterday (Tues) and asked if he had the results. He did and said that for the most part, everything looked good. There was just one thing that he didn't understand and wanted to confer with Dr. Sugarbaker. Unfortunately, Dr. Sugarbaker is busy with surgeries for the next few days, then I believe he is going overseas to do some training. So it might be awhile before we get a good answer for my oncologist's question. But he said with the CT scan, the tumor marker result and the exam he gave me last week, he was very happy and said "I think you're getting better." Always good words to hear from a doctor.

So, after 17 months since my MOAS (Mother Of All Surgeries), and a year after my last surgery, things are looking good. My intestines are still not fully healed, and I still have problems with diarrhea and having to use the "loo" about 5 times a day, but I am much better than I was just a few months ago.

I would just like to thank everyone again (I'll never be able to thank you all enough) for all of your prayers, good thoughts, support, etc. Roni and I wouldn't be where we are if it wasn't for all of our friends and family that helped us through the hard times, to get to today.

Kevin