I'm Screwed

[tccancercop]

Just went back to the doctor's today. Finished chemo up at the end of feb - beginning of march. AFP was 5 now its 22. BHCG remains unchanged <2. Cat Scan is all clear. I was initially diagnosed with Embryonal carcinoma.

Doctor says he doesn't understand. So, he ordered another blood test and says depending on that result (to determine if there is an error or not) he will have me do yet another cat scan.

Question: WHAT IS GOING ON???? I responded so well to chemo, heck even my 2 lymph nodes that were slightly enlarged were normal on the last post-chemo scan.

Why would my AFP go up, but BHCG stay low if i had embryonal carcinoma???

[dadmo]

The blood test may very well be wrong. I agree with the doc, run the blood work again and if it's still elevated take a look at the nodes.

[Scott]

Hmmm, I suppose the units of measurement (ng/mL) really are the same on both reports, right?

[Vinny]

Chill, man. Realize there are lots of things that can give off false positives in the AFP test:

http://www.kantrowitz.com/cancerpoints/tumormarkerfalsepositives.html

Smoking, tylenol, alcohol consumption, sex, drugs, rock-n-roll (well maybe not the last one) can all cause increases in AFP.

Get a retest, relax, and see what transpires. Cancer can't be assumed until AFP has risen to at least 25 ng/ml, and that's assuming a trend, not just a single testing episode.

[tccancercop]

OK new question. I read on here about "fluid". My cat scan came back clear but did say there appears to be "fluid" in the pelvis area, but less than what was there before. Someone on here said that this fluid could cause the AFP to rise???