Tumour markers

Hi,

My mum had an abdominal hysterectomy yesterday! She is 47, has had IUD for 5 years now. Accidentally three weeks ago a large 6cm mass was detected on ultrasound. She was having frequent UTI and urinary Incontinence issues. We were not overly concerned as it was described as an anechoic functional cyst. When we saw the gyno he also characterized it as being simple and ordered some blood tests. He rang concerned 2 days later saying the blood results were elevated. He didn't tell us exactly what was elevated or what the numbers were. My mum didn't mind not knowing because she was going to have the hysterectomy anyway and didn't want to stress about it.
Three months prior on CT scan of abdomen and pelvis with contrast nothing showed up. No significant lympadenopathy, no free fluid etc. For this reason I also have not been overly stressed. The recent ultrasound 3 months post ct scan also noted no free fluid. We saw the surgeon and he said everything went 'very well' not sure exactly how to interpret this but sounds positive. He said the mass shrunk a little also.My mum does have a minimally fatty liver, three uterine fibroids etc. We just have one last hurdle, which is the pathology report. I anticipate the results will be positive. Just a little frustrating that there is no real conclusive diagnosis of ovarian cancer prior to surgery. I can see how this can create a lot of anxiety for women. For the above reasons above we are positive the diagnosis will be good but it has still played on my mind 'what if'. These blood results have been the only real issue in my mums case. I wonder how accurate they really are? What are the statistics on this?

[Cherie762]

Hi
how lucky your mum is to have a nice son like you..be sure she rests alot, does no housework, basically literally nothing for 6 weeks, she will start feeling better in about 2 but must realise insides take longer to heal en the outter scar,,get her movies, crosswords etc to do

shes likely on narcotics which are always constipating, ask her Dr about stool softne and encourage her to drink lots of water and eat high fiber foods
no use of eat a ice pack helps 15 min on 15 off with a barrier like a wash cloth.

when dr says all went well sounds encouraging,,,perhaps the blood showed elevated white blood count,,you have every right  to ring Dr and ask exactly what was off w blood work..to be certain there is no cancer ask if they did a CA125 test,,this is a marker for female cancer,

the fibroids should be gone Id asume removed w uterus.no free fluid is aways good functional cts are almost always begnine...

she likely had the bladder issues cause of mass enlarging uterus putting pressure on the bladder if bladder frequently does not empty properly increases UTI's

ct scans are very good and she either had a micoscopic beginnng of cysts or obviously a very ast grow one..the fibroids could cause bladder problems too

when dr phoned concned about blood work what did he suggest as next plan of action?

if your mom develops a fever over 100.5 , starts bleeding , or pain is not controllable, or if her insticts just tel her something is wrong get her to drs or hospital right away always best to err on the side of caution

and as she was cathed her odds of another UTI are increased

good luck please let me know how she is and any more questions feel welcomed to ask !

hugs.

C

[penny236]

Hi,

Thanks for your response. My sister lives at home with mum and she is fantastic. She is taking time off work to look after mum, cooking, washing, cleaning etc.

When doctor called he said that her results were elevated 'tumour markers' and where one point of being an 'alarm'. Not to sure what he meant by this.

As a result he booked her in for a complete hysterectomy which occurred 10 days after getting the results. This is her 3rd day recovering from the OP and seems to be doing really well.  Just awaiting for pathology report...

Will let you know what happens but we are confident everything will be fine.

[Cherie762]

it sounds to me also that everything will be fine, you have a good Dr to catch what he did and to phone you and schedule surgery...sometimes things fall through the cracks and issues like your mum had can progress rapidly

Im very glad for her she has such a supportive family...I think I forgot to mention she should take it easy on trips up and down stairs also

any questions feel welcomed to repost or pm me

I will be waiting/praying on the test results it does all sound very positive.