When the procedure was finished, I was told they would analyze the result, but I had a cancerous tumor and they sent me for a CT scan which confirmed stage iv colon cancer with liver metastasis. I'm now 8 months into chemo and after having my sigmoid colon removed, seem to have "stable disease" in my liver. I was otherwise asymptomatic.

Another chap at my company wasn't so lucky. He got hit by a car and lost consciousness. They did an MRI to check out his brain - and found tumors. A CT scan showed the same don't diagnosis as me, but his was far more advanced, with mean mastastasasis to the liver, lungs and brain. He passed away about 5 months later and was otherwise asymptomatic.

In both our cases, A blood test given after the diagnosis (CEA) showed highly elevated numbers - perhaps two orders of magnitude from nominal.

So my question would be: given that this blood test was a marker for our disease, why can't it be given more regularly as part of a routine checkup? I realize there are other reasons for a false positive, but couldn't it be an indication that further testing should be done? Yes a CT scan can cost $1500, but my chemo costs $12,000 per month.