CA-125 Results on 13/6/08

Mum had a checkup and CA-125 blood test yesterday. We arrived at the clinic and was told that the blood test results may take longer there was an influx of new patients. We were sitting at the clinic when my mother whispered to me urgently.

Mum: ‘Girl……’
Me:  ‘Mmm…..ugh????’ (I almost fell asleep at the comfortable sofa)
Mum: ‘I don’t think the magnetic field in the clinic is too good today.’
I looked around at the clinic and agreed. There were lots of new patients on the day and we did not know any one of them. Everyone looked anxious and glum. My mum’s chemo buddies were not around so there was no one to swap stories. The newly diagnosed patients looked so glum that we feared that one wrong word and there would be a tear crying festival.
Mum: ‘Let’s go shopping instead of waiting at the clinic’
Yes….shopping!!!!! The lady at the counter agreed to call us on the handphone when the blood test result was ready.

That’s the good part of choosing a hospital in the middle of the shopping district. Instead of languishing in the clinic and biting your nails nervously, you could get some retail therapy. My mum and I forgot just one tiny detail. The shopping complex which we wanted to go opened at 11 am. We only realized that when we arrived at the shopping complex at 10.45. Fortunately, we only needed to wait for another 15 minutes. When the shopping complex opened in 15 minutes time, we were the first customers!

Shopping…..ah……takes off your mind of little things like CA-125 results. Mum ended up buying 2 pair of shoes. She agonized which pair of shoe to get and she ended getting up both pair because there was a massive 40% off. I saw a wallet I wanted but unfortunately it was out of stock. Fear not, I whipped out my handphone and SMSed my friend who was in Hong Kong to get that wallet for me. Both my mum and I stood in front of a promoter selling this new stainless frying pan and watched him cook 3 dishes under 5 minutes. So when the hospital called us to return to the clinic, we returned to the clinic with bags of shopping goodies including one huge frying pan.

The CA-125 result is good. It is 12.8 down from 13.4 last month. I am still hoping that it would drop to a single digit. The doctor said my mum was doing really well and that although the CT-scan result is still unclear, there is now a very good chance that the ‘thickening’ in the CT-scan could be scarring. We also happened to meet up with the surgeon who operated on my mum. When told of the less-than-perfect-sterling-CT-scan report, he told mum not to worry. He was quite sure that he removed all visible cancer at the area where there was ‘thickening’. And if my mum is feeling well and the CA-125 blood test result is good, we should not worry unduly.

The doctor wanted to see us in 2 months time but we thought it would be prudent to get a blood test done every month until 6 months later. Mum would be getting her next CT-scan in 2 months time.

All-in-all, not a bad result. Considering that my mum was diagnosed with stage 4 ovarian cancer and given maybe 6 months to live at the initial diagnosis, she being alive and well and in remission now is a miracle.

Support PinkTissue's new blog - shameless self-advertisement
She adores Reviews and Comments
http://www.diaryquirkylady.com