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It’s been a year or so since my last post… update and question (brain surgical procedure)
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It’s been a year or so since my last post… update and question (brain surgical procedure)

› Forums › General Melanoma Community › It’s been a year or so since my last post… update and question (brain surgical procedure)

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    • January 1, 2018 at 5:22 am
    Calynda
    Participant

      Last year, I went to the ER on Thanksgiving with double vision and found there were three tumors in my head.

      we did targeted radiation on them within 2 weeks, then 10 whole brain radiation sessions  (isolating my hippocampus for a clinical trial).  I ended up having multiple other lesions around my body (adrenal gland, spine, lungs and ovary).  We tried getting me off my steroids and I ended up in the hospital for two months because I had issues during that.  I started Taf/Mek and have been taking that at lower dosages all year.

      my last MRI (Dec 7th) showed that one of my original tumors had disappeared, one hadn’t done anything for months, but the third had grown back to its original size and it was causing some numbness and other problems on my left side.

      i met with a neurosurgeon/oncologist the week before Christmas and will be seen by a different neurosurgeon on Friday.  Provided there are no issues when I see him, I’ll be having a procedure done on the 9th.  

      The tumor/lesion is too deep to remove, but the plan is to do a laser ablation to kill it.  If all goes as planned, it should be a short recovery period.

      Has anyone else had this done?  What was it like to recover from?

      After recovery, I’ll likely be switching from Taf/Mek to combo immunotherapy ipi/nivo since my last PET showed a slowing of progress from my current meds.

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        • January 2, 2018 at 12:06 am
        Ridingaroundwith27Jennifers
        Participant

          I had a craniotomy last March.  Can't give any advice about your procedure but wanted to wish you well.  I hope all goes well.  I had two rounds of the ipi/nivo combo and then targeted radiation and nivo treatment when it started growing back.  The combo knocked out my first two brain mets and then I had the operation to remove the third.  Followed with targeted radiation and nivo when it started growing back.  That did the trick and my MRIs have been clear since June.  Again – wishing you success.

          Jennifer

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