Cancer has a habit of teaching you to read numbers differently. Early on, you look for absolutes — normal versus high, good versus bad. Over time, you learn that the truth lives in direction, slope, and timing. It’s not whether a number is elevated. It’s what it’s doing now.
Yesterday’s CEA result came back at 65.5 µg/L.
My second infusion is today.
Those two facts matter together.
The Shape of the Curve Matters More Than the Height
Over the past several weeks, my CEA has moved like this:
- Mid-November: 58.7
- Early December: 61.6
- Mid-December: 64.3
- Yesterday: 65.5
On paper, that’s still “high.” It’s still well above the normal reference range. But biologically, this is not an accelerating curve. The increases are slowing, not steepening.
The most recent rise — from 64.3 to 65.5 — is smaller than the previous jump. That matters. It suggests that whatever momentum the disease had going into treatment is no longer increasing at the same rate.
CEA doesn’t fall overnight. Especially not with targeted systemic therapy. What you look for first is loss of acceleration.
That appears to be happening.
Timing Is Everything
The most important detail here is timing.
This latest CEA draw reflects biology before my second infusion. It captures the tail end of the first cycle — a period when:
- The drug has already been introduced
- Tumour cells are beginning to respond or resist
- Inflammation from cell stress can temporarily elevate markers
- True biochemical response often lags behind clinical action
In other words, this number is not a verdict on treatment failure or success. It’s a snapshot taken mid-adjustment.
What matters is that the curve hasn’t steepened.
Stability Is a Signal, Not a Cop-Out
In oncology, stability is often misunderstood. People hear “stable” and think “nothing is happening.” In reality, stability during early cycles of systemic therapy is often the first sign that something is happening.
Unchecked disease tends to accelerate.
Treated disease often flattens before it falls.
Right now, the data suggests flattening.
Not reversal.
Not remission.
But containment.
And containment is how you earn time for the deeper work of treatment to take hold.
Why This Is Encouraging — Carefully, Not Casually
Encouraging does not mean celebratory. It means directionally favorable.
- The rise is slowing
- There is no sudden spike
- The marker is behaving in a controlled way
- Treatment has not yet had enough time to show its full effect
If the number had jumped sharply — 70s, 80s, or higher — that would tell a different story. It didn’t.
This is not the kind of result that forces a pivot. It’s the kind that allows a plan to continue.
What Comes Next
The real signal will emerge over the next one to two cycles. That’s when you look for:
- Flattening → plateau
- Plateau → decline
- Or, if the drug isn’t working, renewed acceleration
Right now, none of those endpoints have declared themselves. What has declared itself is restraint.
And in cancer, restraint is meaningful.
Where I Stand Today
I’m walking into my second infusion not with certainty, but with something just as important: no evidence that the treatment is failing early.
The numbers are still high.
The work is still ahead.
But the curve is not running away.
That’s enough to keep moving forward.
Today isn’t about celebrating a win.
It’s about recognizing that the ground under my feet hasn’t shifted against me.