Noticing rising AFP levels and persistent pain in lower left quadrant of my abdomen

[Mike]

Hello,

I wouldn't personally be concerned in the least about the change's in AFP. I would think they are just minor fluctuations in the labs that are completely normal.

As far as the abdominal pains, especially if your imaging has been normal, then it could be something completely unrelated to testicular cancer. Or perhaps it is related to the surgery itself, so I would think mentioning it to the surgeon might be a good idea.

Obviously, pains are not normal and should be brought to the attention of a doctor but our minds do tend to link everything back to the cancer. Hopefully, this is all unrelated.

Mike

[J0N3]

Hi all I guess I was just hoping to see if I could get an opinion on here. A brief history, I was diagnosed with stage 3b non seminoma testicular cancer(pathology 95% embryonal carcinoma, 5% yok sac and choricocarcinom) in May 2021, I had a tumor in my left testicle and in my abdomen on the left side in my retroperitoneum cavity. I had a radical inginual orchidectomy to remove the main tumor on 28th of May 2021 then 28 sessions of chemo or 4 cycles of BEP to shrink the mass which started on June 28th 2021 and ended on September 13th 2021, the mass did not shrink as expected and I was slated for a RPLND which occurred on the 22nd of February 2022, the pathology indicated a mature testicular teratoma which was removed and no evidence of cancer in the remaining specimens that was taken. So I have been consistently been doing blood tests and CT scans, for surveilance purposes.

My last CT scan in December had indicated no changes in my retropertioneal cavity however the past two months I have been having consistent sharp pain in my abdomen, its a heavy feeling and it radiates up my back. If I sit up too long it hurts and if I stand up too long, it hurts so I have to lie down alot, if I am lying down I can feel the heavy feeling but it doesn't hurt as much, its like a pain of 2/10 but if I move around alot or walk or do too much physical activity it hurts and can become a 6/10. Its always there, it doesn't go away, it started last year and went away a bit, but has come back and for 2 months I have been in chronic pain daily, its really aggravating.

I have been to doctors, have had X-rays, Ultrasounds and even MRI, my last MRI was of the spine and a few days ago,my doctors had suspected a herniated disc but the report indicated that my spine is normal, a urologist has also checked for hernias which is not present.

Its frustrating not knowing what is going on and my last CT scan was in December of last year which was clear for the most part. I don't know what's going, just thought I'd post to see if anyone on here has experienced something similar or knows who I should contact for advice. I have noticed since chemo my and all my treatments my AFP has dropped from the high value of 1222 but it has been slowly rising. It was 1222 ng/dl, then dropped to 2.47 ng/dl after all my chemo sessions were done and my next sample it was 1.41mg/dl and it further dropped to 1.08 ng/dl(nanograms per decilitre) however the values have been rising over the past year from 1.08 ng/dl, its now 2.21ng/dl as of the past two days. I'll attach a chart showing the rise of my AFP and the blood test forms. Important to note my AFP values are normal since normal values are below or equal to 7 ng/dl so I am still in a normal range, but the small rises and my consistent pain worries me.

Anyone experienced something similar or is willing to weigh in? It would be really appreciated.