Tumor Size ??

mom2mande · Regular Joined: 29 Jan 2008 Posts: 11

Well we got awesome news today from my grandpa's oncologist. He walked into the room I guess with a smile that went from ear to ear. The CT scan results were in and back in Jan the CT scan showed the size of the tumor as being 73,000 and as of last week it's 800. I have no idea what these numbers mean so if anyone could shed some light on how they measure using numbers like this I would appreciate it! Needless to say we are all shocked and thankful that he is going so well. The dr was not concerned at all about the edema. He just told him to continue taking double the water pills and double the potassium. He says it's from the chemo, him being almost 80 years old and also with how humid and hot it's been outside. We have so much to celebrate this Father's Day and for that I know who to give all the praise and glory to.

Vee Smith · Moderator Joined: 12 Feb 2006 Posts: 817 Location: UK

Hi - what lovely news to receive! You must be so pleased. Nothing like being told that the tumour has reduced so much! Have a lovely celebration. Very Happy

brainman · Posted: Wed Jun 11, 2008 12:30 pm Post subject: Re: Tumor Size ??

mom2mande, I agree with Vee that this is a dramatic reduction in size and cause for celebration. However, like you, I am confused as to the units of these numbers. I have never seen the size of a tumor described in terms of 10's of thousands Shocked

. Ask you grandmother's medical team and let us know what you find out. It might not be the actual size of the tumor but a tumor maker that is related to the size.
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audib · Regular Joined: 29 Jun 2007 Posts: 19

On a similar topic, My father in laws CA-19 marker is going down-it started out in the thousands and now the latest one was 92. However, the doctors say they still can't operate due to its location near the hepatic artery. While I am trying to be positive (especially around him and my mother in law), I feel like the "shoe will drop one day soon". He is talking like he has beat this thing and with continued chemo, he will be cancer free. From everything I know of this disease, I feel like it will metastasize and show up elsewhere. But these numbers are so low-so what does this mean? Can anyone shed light on this? I was under the impression that the CA-19 shows tumor activity-it doesn't mean its gone. Perhaps his chemo has slowed down its growth for now, but if its still there, doesn't that mean that it still can cause problems down the road, or has chemo ever destroyed the tumor so that someone is considered cancer free?

mom2mande · Regular Joined: 29 Jan 2008 Posts: 11

Brian- I plan on asking my grandma when we see them on Sunday, to see if I can get anymore facts. He had a blood test back the end of March after 6 or 7 rounds of chemo and it started at 23 and was down to 6. Once again I have no idea what any of it means. And my grandpa said from the ct scan results the tumor started at 73k and was down to 800. Could it have been 7300, instead of 73000?? I have said time and time again I really wish someone could/would go to some of these appointments with them. I don't know, whatever it is we just know it's good news according to the dr. Another thing they haven't mentioned since the beginning was how it had spread to his liver and lungs but I haven't heard anything more about that.

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