Re: help to make sense of my dad's situation

[Guest guest]

Bing,

A CA 19-9 of 15,000 is high, but I've seen it go north of 300,000. I think

his smartest move would be to immediately resume the Chinese herbs. It

would be of interest to the group to know which herbs he was using, and very

importantly, why your father stopped taking them.

_____

From: [mailto: ] On

Behalf Of Bing Ouyang

Sent: Thursday, January 20, 2011 7:01 AM

Subject: [ ] help to make sense of my dad's situation

Hi everyone,

My dad was diagnosed with Pancreatic cancer Aug. 2009 via CT and CA-19-9

(137 at

the time). Since he is 79 and in pretty bad health, we decided not to do any

surgery or chemo therapy. Instead, the doctor put in a bile duct stent at

that

time. Then he just took some Chinese medicine for passive treatment.

Amazingly, his CA-19-9 level first reached 226 then steadily reduced. In

Sept

2010, it went down to 26! So we thought maybe his situation was under

control

and stopped the Chinese medicine. (ly I even thought maybe his

diagnostic

was not correct).

Unfortunately, a month ago(Dec. 2010), he started to have high fever and

developed jaundice. Then doctor found out that the bile duct stent was

blocked

by stones. The doctors put in a second stent to open the bile duct, which

was

able to stop the fever and jaundice.

However, one disturbing news was that the doctor also checked his CA-19-9

level

when he checked into the hospital, and the level was 15000!

I need some help to make sense of his situation. Does this mean the cancer

is

coming back or spreading?

Thanks in advance.

[Guest guest]

,

Thanks a lot for the prompt response.

It was prescribed by a hospital in Xi'an China called " Guoyi cancer hospital " ,

" Guoyi " literally can be translated to Chinese medicine. I honestly don't know

what exactly is in it since I am here in the US. All I know is that it includes

two types of medicine, one was herbs to boil and drink 3 times a day and the

other is a type of capsule contained a variation of ginseng and some other

compound. It was quite pricey -- about 3000 Yuan ($500) each month.

The reason he stopped the medicine was due to a suggestion from the doctor in

that

hospital. Since his CA-19-9 was reduced from 136 to 26 after about a year on

this medicine. In all honesty, I did not believe the effectiveness of this

treatment, I agreed to it only because I felt it in a way is a psychological

comfort for my dad as well as my mom. I attributed his CA-19-9 number change as

probably mis-diagnosis. Now I am not sure what to think.

BTW, my dad's latest CA-19-9 number was taken with his bile duct still blocked,

could that skew the number?

Thanks,

Regards, Bing

________________________________

From: Gammill <vgammill@...>

Sent: Thu, January 20, 2011 1:20:54 PM

Subject: RE: [ ] help to make sense of my dad's situation

Bing,

A CA 19-9 of 15,000 is high, but I've seen it go north of 300,000. I think

his smartest move would be to immediately resume the Chinese herbs. It

would be of interest to the group to know which herbs he was using, and very

importantly, why your father stopped taking them.

_____

From: Bing Ouyang

Sent: Thursday, January 20, 2011 7:01 AM

Subject: [ ] help to make sense of my dad's situation

Hi everyone,

My dad was diagnosed with Pancreatic cancer Aug. 2009 via CT and CA-19-9

(137 at

the time). Since he is 79 and in pretty bad health, we decided not to do any

surgery or chemo therapy. Instead, the doctor put in a bile duct stent at

that

time. Then he just took some Chinese medicine for passive treatment.

Amazingly, his CA-19-9 level first reached 226 then steadily reduced. In

Sept

2010, it went down to 26! So we thought maybe his situation was under

control

and stopped the Chinese medicine. (ly I even thought maybe his

diagnostic

was not correct).

Unfortunately, a month ago(Dec. 2010), he started to have high fever and

developed jaundice. Then doctor found out that the bile duct stent was

blocked

by stones. The doctors put in a second stent to open the bile duct, which

was

able to stop the fever and jaundice.

However, one disturbing news was that the doctor also checked his CA-19-9

level

when he checked into the hospital, and the level was 15000!

I need some help to make sense of his situation. Does this mean the cancer

is

coming back or spreading?

Thanks in advance.

[Guest guest]

Bing,

CA 19-9 is frequently elevated in pancreatic cancer (87%), and CEA is

elevated in only 65% of them. CA 19-9 is the better indicator, but the

combination is better for diagnosis. Sometimes benign liver disease

increases CA 19-9. If there is still a question, other pancreatic cancer

markers may be tested: CA195, CA50, TAG72, CA242, and CA 494. CA 242 can

indicate tumor load.

The Guoyi cancer hospital in Xi'an has a good reputation. I would continue

with their herbal treatment.

_____

From: [mailto: ] On

Behalf Of Bing Ouyang

Sent: Thursday, January 20, 2011 10:42 AM

Subject: Re: [ ] help to make sense of my dad's situation

,

Thanks a lot for the prompt response.

It was prescribed by a hospital in Xi'an China called " Guoyi cancer

hospital " ,

" Guoyi " literally can be translated to Chinese medicine. I honestly don't

know

what exactly is in it since I am here in the US. All I know is that it

includes

two types of medicine, one was herbs to boil and drink 3 times a day and the

other is a type of capsule contained a variation of ginseng and some other

compound. It was quite pricey -- about 3000 Yuan ($500) each month.

The reason he stopped the medicine was due to a suggestion from the doctor

in that

hospital. Since his CA-19-9 was reduced from 136 to 26 after about a year on

this medicine. In all honesty, I did not believe the effectiveness of this

treatment, I agreed to it only because I felt it in a way is a psychological

comfort for my dad as well as my mom. I attributed his CA-19-9 number change

as

probably mis-diagnosis. Now I am not sure what to think.

BTW, my dad's latest CA-19-9 number was taken with his bile duct still

blocked,

could that skew the number?

Thanks,

Regards, Bing

[Guest guest]

Thanks a lot. The reason I asked about bile duct blockage was that an

explanation on CA 19-9 on labtestsonline.org stated that

" Non-cancerous causes of bile duct obstruction can cause very high CA 19-9

levels, which fall when the blockage is cleared. "

Anyway my dad probably will re-check the CA 19-9 level after a couple weeks.

BTW, my dad restarted the herbs last week. I keep my fingers crossed...

Best regards, Bing

________________________________

From: Gammill <vgammill@...>

Sent: Thu, January 20, 2011 3:32:44 PM

Subject: RE: help to make sense of my dad's situation

Bing,

CA 19-9 is frequently elevated in pancreatic cancer (87%), and CEA is

elevated in only 65% of them. CA 19-9 is the better indicator, but the

combination is better for diagnosis. Sometimes benign liver disease

increases CA 19-9. If there is still a question, other pancreatic cancer

markers may be tested: CA195, CA50, TAG72, CA242, and CA 494. CA 242 can

indicate tumor load.

The Guoyi cancer hospital in Xi'an has a good reputation. I would continue

with their herbal treatment.