Celebrating Each of the Wins 

Every three months we check my cancer status three ways. 

First, I have CT scans of the chest, abdomen, and pelvis. You may recall that my insurance is not covering my scans at the hospital, forcing my scans again to be performed at a local imaging center, Rayus. Just as before, the report came back with both good and bad news. Good news, no new areas of metastasis. Bad news, suspicious area on my liver. I want to scream! Aren’t I supposed to have scarring on my liver from the one tumor that received ablation versus being cut out!?! Every new radiologist seems afraid to confirm that the area of concern is just the same as the previous scan. Sigh. Why not!?!

Second, Blood is drawn for typical blood work and to test my CEA which is a basic tumor marker often a good measure for colon cancer. My CEA has been commensurate throughout my cancer journey. My result, 1.17! Yes, a win! (Normal is <3.0)

Insert a visit to my oncologist, Dr. Debra Brandt. We celebrate the CEA win, discuss at length my current wellbeing, and review the scan results. After comparing the current scan report to the previous, we agree that the size of the “area of concern” remains at 3mm between the two reports. Dr Brandt and I agree that she will compare the actual scans when she is able and that we will wait for the Signatera test results to guide if additional scans are warranted. 

Third, taken the same day as the bloodwork/CEA draw, three more tubes of blood and a flush of my port (so yuck! I can taste it every time ), were sent to the Natera lab to check my circulating tumor DNA (aka Signatera). Results typically take a minimum of 9 days. You may remember this as the “Angela’s Cancer Cells test” which detects shedded cancer cell DNA in my blood stream. Arguably the most important of all the ways we monitor this beast!

The long awaited results are in! The only acceptable result is negative or zero. My result is ZERO! 

And so, we celebrate! We Celebrate Each of the Wins! 

I celebrate each of you who have supported me during this voyage in every way, big and small. You are each part of my rock and I am forever grateful.  

 If you haven’t already, please celebrate your life/your health and GET YOUR COLONOSCOPY! Remove any polyps so they can’t turn into cancer. Just do it! No excuses. Time matters. Please reach out to me directly if you ever have any questions at all. I am an open book. 

In three months we test again. When my next Signatera is Negative/Zero, I will have made it one year cancer free. This will be a huge accomplishment. My CRS/HIPEC surgeon, Dr Turaga, has stated that once the one year goal is met, I will then have a 40-60% chance that my last treatment/surgery was a cure. #GOALS  

Please continue to keep me in your prayers and pray for a complete cure! I need each and every prayer! 

Much love, 

Angela