Blood Markers

[BigBoss32]

Going for my first blood test since being diagnosed and was wondering if I would ever see any spike in levels since I did not have any issues initially. Also if blood levels do rise for someone does that automatically mean chemo is the next step or do they need actually need to see a mass somewhere? Thanks in advance

[Davepet]

Going for my first blood test since being diagnosed and was wondering if I would ever see any spike in levels since I did not have any issues initially.

Normally if you didn't have markers originally, you would not have them on relapse, there have been exceptions, though.

Also if blood levels do rise for someone does that automatically mean chemo is the next step or do they need actually need to see a mass somewhere? Thanks in advance

Nothing is automatic, it would depend on which markers were high & how high. they went. Markers often move up & down a bit, it's generally not a concern unless an upward trend develops, or they spike very high out of range.

Dave