A Brief but Major Update

As you might recall, the CA-19-9 is an important blood test for the measurement of pancreatic cancer. A normal score is below thirty-seven. 

 

On Friday, February 13th, Peggy’s spleen and lower pancreas were removed in the hope that her CA-19-9 level would plummet. When it instead soared by thousands of points per month, we approached despair.

On April 1, a pancreatic malignancy in Peggy’s right hip was excised. Five days after her April 1 surgery, her CA-19-9 level reached an all-time high of 7,755 because the surgery hadn't had time to make a difference. Fifteen days later her CA-19-9 level dropped to 3,241. Our hope is that it will continue to drop.

 

Thanks to her two surgeries and to a powerful new drug called daraxonrasib that is likely to be FDA approved this summer, Peggy’s odds of long term survival are greater than they have been at any time since her May diagnosis.