Dear Melanoma has always been about sharing the rollercoaster that is Stage 4 Melanoma – the highest of highs, the lowest of lows, and everything in-between.
There is absolutely no denying that the last few months have had more lows than highs, and just when you are feeling that you are reaching the highs again you’re sent plummeting to reality.
Yesterday I shared my most recent scan results. They were largely positive after starting back on Keytruda and a dose of radiation to my ‘monster’ lesion that is just outside my pancreas. Everything appears stable. But one lesion on my adrenal gland has doubled inside and my LDH levels have increased again in the last 3 weeks. This lesion on my adrenal gland does not, and will not, respond to Keytruda, so our plan of action is to have some radiation in hope that it can be controlled.
Read MoreIt is hard to believe that tomorrow I have my PET scan. It has really snuck up on me this time. It was just over 3 months ago I was sent to have a PET scan because it looked like Debrafenib and Trametinib did not work, and it most definitely did not work. I was once again faced with the reality of terminal cancer and concerned that I was running out of options. It was not a good time physically and emotionally.
Here I am 3 months on in a totally different frame of mind.
Read MoreA quick update...
Last week I shared the news that my latest CT scan wasn’t great. A lesion on my adrenal gland had grown and there appeared to be activity in my lymph nodes.
It is really difficult to explain the emotions that were triggered by this scan. On one hand, I felt silly that I was so upset by these results because the big picture was not that bad – everything else was stable, which is great! But, this one naughty little lesion had the potential to change the direction of my treatment, a treatment that essentially bought me back from death’s door.
It feels like a lifetime ago that I was given three months to live and being told that my only hope of more time would be gaining access to a clinical trial of the drug Keytruda and hope that it would work.
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