Hi again,
Just got home from seeing Dr. Wolchuk.
PET showed no new activity except a tiny spot in my lymph node, which Dr. W thinks is the Ipi, especially since he didn't feel anything there upon exam. He said he's seen people get much worse at week 12, where I am now, and respond completely by week 16. Here's hoping.
I'm seeing Dr. Halpern Monday; he will biopsy one of the small pieces near my eye. (he's head or co-head of Melanoma service @ Sloan.
Hi again,
Just got home from seeing Dr. Wolchuk.
PET showed no new activity except a tiny spot in my lymph node, which Dr. W thinks is the Ipi, especially since he didn't feel anything there upon exam. He said he's seen people get much worse at week 12, where I am now, and respond completely by week 16. Here's hoping.
I'm seeing Dr. Halpern Monday; he will biopsy one of the small pieces near my eye. (he's head or co-head of Melanoma service @ Sloan.
Dr. Shaha, the surgeon, is bringing my case to the "Head and Neck Surgery Board". Normally they wouldn't hesitate to try to excise again, but the location is so difficult and also would entail a large graft–nothing left to stretch together!
Dr. Halpern did say that if I don't respond that we should consider IL-2 (at Yale) or Chemo. Of course I didn't write down what he said, but the Chemo would be a mix of 3 separate drugs. He said that only a small percentage of people respond to IL-2, but those that do have amazing sustained results.
Stay tuned, and thank you for the support,
karen
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