I always wondered just how aggressive my cancer is. Did it take years to grow, or just months? Until I stopped chemo, I had no way of knowing and no oncologist was able to provide an answer. They said that chemo could be keeping the cancer in check, or it could be doing nothing and the few millimetre monthly growth could just be the normal growth rate. There was no way to tell till now.
Before I left for Germany, I had an MRI done to use as a baseline. 19 days later, as part of the TACE procedure another MRI was done. As I made the decision to take some time off from all treatments to have more time with the family, I could now objectively compare the results. No chemo, no IVs, just some basic supplements. This gave the cancer a chance to show its true colours.
I already knew that the results were not going to be great as my CEA jumped by another 300 points to an all time high of 3308. I was however not prepared for what I saw. Even in my wildest dreams, I did not expect such aggressive growth rate. In the 19 days, all of my liver mets grew by an average of 15%.
Taking 3 weeks off from all treatments was a critical mistake. The up side however is that I now better understand the beast that I am dealing with.
Note: The illustration image is not current. Add 15% to the volume of all tumours (the darker spots) to get the true idea.
