The Latest

As those of you who see my posts on Facebook know, my CEA was 1.6 last Friday. It makes me nervous when it goes up. The next one will be interesting. I'll have that one done on Thursday March 1st because I don't think I can get to the lab to have it done on Friday.

Part of my treatment every two weeks includes infusions of Avastin through my mediport. One of the side effects of Avastin therapy can be high blood pressure. My baseline pressure is actually pretty low, lower than normal. But, it seems as if it's now getting high enough to cause some concern. My primary care doctor told me to get a blood pressure monitor and keep track of it at home. And yesterday when I went for my Avastin the pressure was high enough that I was wondering if they'd still do the infusion. It was given to me but I need to keep a very close eye on it. I don't know if the Avastin would be stopped if the pressure continues to build or if blood pressure medications would do the trick and control it. I'll learn more in the next few weeks, I suspect. Yesterday (since it was a holiday) the oncologist was off so I didn't get a chance to discuss this with him, but I will do so in due time.