Thank you everyone for the comments. Dr. Melnyk told me before my second infusion that she thinks Keytruda may turn out to be a miracle drug. I think she may be right.
I told my wife last night that if it wasn't for Yervoy, and now Keytruda, I just might be in the ground by now. Her nursing school roommate's husband was diagnosed with melanoma several years ago, and in less than six months he was dead. My disease has been "low volume," as my previous oncologist called it, but it seemed to be progressing rapidly. I had surgery last September to remove three lumps under my skin that had developed near the original excision site, and when the dressing was removed, there were already two more spots that had appeared.
Ipi seemed to slow things down, and maybe even reversed some of the growth, but new things were appearing, which is why Dr. Asif, my previous doctor, decided to go ahead and start me on Keytruda. Now everything appears to be moving in the right direction. There were a couple of small spots that were noted on the CT scan that the radiologist observed were slightly larger than in May. But because things had seemed to grow so fast, I'm wondering whether they were actually larger than they are now, and are also shrinking, because something like 6-8 weeks elapsed between my May scan and my first infusion with Keytruda in July.
I have a granddaughter who turned 2 in July. My desire ever since I learned of the recurrence of my melanoma last year was to live long enough for her to remember me after I was gone. Now, for the first time, I'm thinking that I just might be able to dance with her at her wedding.
-Bill
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