The CA125 for Thur Mar 29 was 21 where less than 35 is normal. This is down from 25 on Mar 18. Great news. This drop is at almost exactly the same rate/day as the previous drop from 40 to 25. Wonderful, especially since Janet was not on chemo after Feb 16 when the CA125 was 40. Janet’s Seattle Oncologist, did not have a definite answer for this good news, but speculated that Janet’s imune system may be getting awakened.
I think that I have established that the various CA 125 methods are not convertible from one kind of test to another. There are about 6 or 8 tests made by various companies. It looks like rather than being an exact conversion factor, like from Centigrade to Fahrenheit, or pounds to kilos, most think that one should just stay with one test and lower is better. Also, most say that one should stay with one lab as the same test, run in various labs, or even the same lab on different days may give different results.
And other things, other than ovarian cancer, can give high readings. Like certain non-life threatening infections.
So, in summary:
Right now we are using the same lab and (hopefully) the same test. So, the results should be very meaningful. Lower is better, but don’t have a heart attack if they go up as it might be one of the "other reasons" like a minor infection.
And old readings cannot be exactly compared to these readings. Just the ‘lower is better’ part.
Dave & Janet
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