I have now had 7 doses of Cetuximab and much to my relief
and delight, my CEA is continuing to drop. After the first dose it had dropped from
265 to 211, then to 132, then 97, then 82 after 4 doses, and as of Monday this week (a week after my 6th dose) my
CEA was just 56.5.
The plan is to keep going with the weekly doses of Cetuximab until my CEA plateaus and then do
a CT scan to see how things are looking. The CT results would then be used as a
baseline for monitoring how long things remain stable after that (and we would still continue on weekly doses until the tumours started growing again).
The other good news is that the only side effects I seem to
be experiencing are related to my skin. I seem to be on top of the acne-like
rash now and am experiencing extremely dry skin on my face and neck, however
this is also largely manageable and a small price to pay for the excellent
results we are seeing.
I continue to be relieved that Cetuximab does not make me feel unwell, infact I have been feeling so good lately that I have joined the gym and have been doing BodyBalance (a mix of yoga/pilates/tai chi) twice a week and a gentle cardio workout once a week. Who would have thought? Long may it continue......
