Keytruda results

It is a good question.

It does seem to vary from person to person

My doctor told me on first visti that three or four infusions should be the right amount to tell if things are working.

Then on my second visit he told me five or six and yesterday on my third visit he told me it could be up to eight.

He seems to keep raising the bar every time i go there so i dont really know but I have seen the stats from the cilinical trials and the median response time was about 90 days or three months but i guess within that score some people responded quicker than others.

The problem is also the first scan for some people may not  tell you if it is working or not because there is inevitably a time delay from first treatment and scan and also the time it takes for it to work. The luck ones will see something straight away on the first scan while others may have to sweat it out til a second scan.

I dont really like to think about it failing but more people fail than succeed and then what is the next step?

It is a good question.

It does seem to vary from person to person

My doctor told me on first visti that three or four infusions should be the right amount to tell if things are working.

Then on my second visit he told me five or six and yesterday on my third visit he told me it could be up to eight.

He seems to keep raising the bar every time i go there so i dont really know but I have seen the stats from the cilinical trials and the median response time was about 90 days or three months but i guess within that score some people responded quicker than others.

The problem is also the first scan for some people may not  tell you if it is working or not because there is inevitably a time delay from first treatment and scan and also the time it takes for it to work. The luck ones will see something straight away on the first scan while others may have to sweat it out til a second scan.

I dont really like to think about it failing but more people fail than succeed and then what is the next step?

It is a good question.

It does seem to vary from person to person

My doctor told me on first visti that three or four infusions should be the right amount to tell if things are working.

Then on my second visit he told me five or six and yesterday on my third visit he told me it could be up to eight.

He seems to keep raising the bar every time i go there so i dont really know but I have seen the stats from the cilinical trials and the median response time was about 90 days or three months but i guess within that score some people responded quicker than others.

The problem is also the first scan for some people may not  tell you if it is working or not because there is inevitably a time delay from first treatment and scan and also the time it takes for it to work. The luck ones will see something straight away on the first scan while others may have to sweat it out til a second scan.

I dont really like to think about it failing but more people fail than succeed and then what is the next step?

I already felt better after two infusions. Previously I was coughing day and night as its in my lungs and that really improved and I went off morphine at night. They don't scan you for 12 weeks but I saw my Drs after 6 and they said they could tell by the look of me that it was working. I started to get my appetite back. How does your husband feel ?  I hope it keeps working well for him!

anne-Louise 

I already felt better after two infusions. Previously I was coughing day and night as its in my lungs and that really improved and I went off morphine at night. They don't scan you for 12 weeks but I saw my Drs after 6 and they said they could tell by the look of me that it was working. I started to get my appetite back. How does your husband feel ?  I hope it keeps working well for him!

anne-Louise 

I already felt better after two infusions. Previously I was coughing day and night as its in my lungs and that really improved and I went off morphine at night. They don't scan you for 12 weeks but I saw my Drs after 6 and they said they could tell by the look of me that it was working. I started to get my appetite back. How does your husband feel ?  I hope it keeps working well for him!

anne-Louise 

My first scan showed that one (the smallest) had shrunk a little but my larger tumor hadn't changed. I was a little disappointed but still it was not a bad result. Isn't it so that a tumor can look larger cause of T-cells are infiltrating it? I just had my sixth infusion and are really tired and have hedache, am not feeling myself at all. I do someting little I planned for, then to bed for a rest and do something more and to bed and so on. Even think it's tyring to reade. I am bored. 

My first scan showed that one (the smallest) had shrunk a little but my larger tumor hadn't changed. I was a little disappointed but still it was not a bad result. Isn't it so that a tumor can look larger cause of T-cells are infiltrating it? I just had my sixth infusion and are really tired and have hedache, am not feeling myself at all. I do someting little I planned for, then to bed for a rest and do something more and to bed and so on. Even think it's tyring to reade. I am bored. 

My first scan showed that one (the smallest) had shrunk a little but my larger tumor hadn't changed. I was a little disappointed but still it was not a bad result. Isn't it so that a tumor can look larger cause of T-cells are infiltrating it? I just had my sixth infusion and are really tired and have hedache, am not feeling myself at all. I do someting little I planned for, then to bed for a rest and do something more and to bed and so on. Even think it's tyring to reade. I am bored. 

Some decrease, stability and no new stuff is pretty good. Too early to say how long that will continue or get better but it is a good start. Might want to be thinking of plan b just in case. But in my opinion it means the med is getting the disease under control for now which is good. Plan b would probably be adding something to the pd1. 

Artie

Some decrease, stability and no new stuff is pretty good. Too early to say how long that will continue or get better but it is a good start. Might want to be thinking of plan b just in case. But in my opinion it means the med is getting the disease under control for now which is good. Plan b would probably be adding something to the pd1. 

Artie

Some decrease, stability and no new stuff is pretty good. Too early to say how long that will continue or get better but it is a good start. Might want to be thinking of plan b just in case. But in my opinion it means the med is getting the disease under control for now which is good. Plan b would probably be adding something to the pd1. 

Artie

I agree with what Artie said. The results sound encouraging for now. Here's my experience with Keytruda.

I had ipi last winter. It stabilized things for a while, and a scan in May indicated one spot in my lung had shrunk. Others in the lung and several on my skin were stable. But in late spring we noticed several new, small spots on my skin. We went back to the cancer center and my oncologist decided to go ahead with Keytruda.

I noticed that the spots on my skin were getting thinner after the first infusion. I had a CT scan after 3 infusions, and everything on it was slightly smaller than on the previous scan, save for three or four spots on my chest wall, which were slightly larger. But my new oncologist (the old one left the area) said that was likely due to t-cell infiltration. I think it's also possible that things had grown between the time I had a scan in May and the time I started Keytruda in July, and when I had the repeat scan in September they all appeared slightly smaller, but maybe they had actually shrunk quite a bit from their largest size. 

At any rate, my tumor burden isn't too high, and since starting Keytruda, everything is either shrinking or stable, and, as of September at least, there was nothing new. There's still nothing new visible. I've had 5 infusions at this point.

So the short answer to your question is I'd say that your husband's response up to this point has been excellent. No growth or a slight decrease in size, and nothing new? Yeah, that's where I am, and I'm taking that as a sign that eventually I'm going to get rid of this!

Best wishes to you and your husband!

-Bill

I agree with what Artie said. The results sound encouraging for now. Here's my experience with Keytruda.

I had ipi last winter. It stabilized things for a while, and a scan in May indicated one spot in my lung had shrunk. Others in the lung and several on my skin were stable. But in late spring we noticed several new, small spots on my skin. We went back to the cancer center and my oncologist decided to go ahead with Keytruda.

I noticed that the spots on my skin were getting thinner after the first infusion. I had a CT scan after 3 infusions, and everything on it was slightly smaller than on the previous scan, save for three or four spots on my chest wall, which were slightly larger. But my new oncologist (the old one left the area) said that was likely due to t-cell infiltration. I think it's also possible that things had grown between the time I had a scan in May and the time I started Keytruda in July, and when I had the repeat scan in September they all appeared slightly smaller, but maybe they had actually shrunk quite a bit from their largest size. 

At any rate, my tumor burden isn't too high, and since starting Keytruda, everything is either shrinking or stable, and, as of September at least, there was nothing new. There's still nothing new visible. I've had 5 infusions at this point.

So the short answer to your question is I'd say that your husband's response up to this point has been excellent. No growth or a slight decrease in size, and nothing new? Yeah, that's where I am, and I'm taking that as a sign that eventually I'm going to get rid of this!

Best wishes to you and your husband!

-Bill

I agree with what Artie said. The results sound encouraging for now. Here's my experience with Keytruda.

I had ipi last winter. It stabilized things for a while, and a scan in May indicated one spot in my lung had shrunk. Others in the lung and several on my skin were stable. But in late spring we noticed several new, small spots on my skin. We went back to the cancer center and my oncologist decided to go ahead with Keytruda.

I noticed that the spots on my skin were getting thinner after the first infusion. I had a CT scan after 3 infusions, and everything on it was slightly smaller than on the previous scan, save for three or four spots on my chest wall, which were slightly larger. But my new oncologist (the old one left the area) said that was likely due to t-cell infiltration. I think it's also possible that things had grown between the time I had a scan in May and the time I started Keytruda in July, and when I had the repeat scan in September they all appeared slightly smaller, but maybe they had actually shrunk quite a bit from their largest size. 

At any rate, my tumor burden isn't too high, and since starting Keytruda, everything is either shrinking or stable, and, as of September at least, there was nothing new. There's still nothing new visible. I've had 5 infusions at this point.

So the short answer to your question is I'd say that your husband's response up to this point has been excellent. No growth or a slight decrease in size, and nothing new? Yeah, that's where I am, and I'm taking that as a sign that eventually I'm going to get rid of this!

Best wishes to you and your husband!

-Bill

My results with Keytruda were mixed at first.  After 3 months on it, most of my lymph nodes went back down to a normal size and the big mass on my liver disappeared.  But my biggest and worst lymph node had doubled in size.  5 months into treatment of Keytruda that tumor again doubled in size and the docs were going to take me off Keytruda as they thought it wasn't working.  But I begged to just give it a bit more time.  

So they gave me another month.  And a couple weeks later….boom….I woke up in the middle of the night with extreme stabbing pains to that tumor every 5-8 seconds.  I called my doctors and I thought I was going to end up in the ER and in surgery.  The docs said that they think it means the drug is working and the tumor is dying.

Over night that tumor grew from the size of a peach to the size of a baseball and it was hanging out of my arm pit.  Two days later it vanished back into my body.  I scanned a few days later and it showed that the tumor had liquified and was likely dead tissue now.  

So Keytruda did indeed work for me right away, to get rid of most of the melanoma.  But it did take a solid 6 months before my biggest and worst tumor stopped growing and was defeated.  

All my best, Laurie

My results with Keytruda were mixed at first.  After 3 months on it, most of my lymph nodes went back down to a normal size and the big mass on my liver disappeared.  But my biggest and worst lymph node had doubled in size.  5 months into treatment of Keytruda that tumor again doubled in size and the docs were going to take me off Keytruda as they thought it wasn't working.  But I begged to just give it a bit more time.  

So they gave me another month.  And a couple weeks later….boom….I woke up in the middle of the night with extreme stabbing pains to that tumor every 5-8 seconds.  I called my doctors and I thought I was going to end up in the ER and in surgery.  The docs said that they think it means the drug is working and the tumor is dying.

Over night that tumor grew from the size of a peach to the size of a baseball and it was hanging out of my arm pit.  Two days later it vanished back into my body.  I scanned a few days later and it showed that the tumor had liquified and was likely dead tissue now.  

So Keytruda did indeed work for me right away, to get rid of most of the melanoma.  But it did take a solid 6 months before my biggest and worst tumor stopped growing and was defeated.  

All my best, Laurie

My results with Keytruda were mixed at first.  After 3 months on it, most of my lymph nodes went back down to a normal size and the big mass on my liver disappeared.  But my biggest and worst lymph node had doubled in size.  5 months into treatment of Keytruda that tumor again doubled in size and the docs were going to take me off Keytruda as they thought it wasn't working.  But I begged to just give it a bit more time.  

So they gave me another month.  And a couple weeks later….boom….I woke up in the middle of the night with extreme stabbing pains to that tumor every 5-8 seconds.  I called my doctors and I thought I was going to end up in the ER and in surgery.  The docs said that they think it means the drug is working and the tumor is dying.

Over night that tumor grew from the size of a peach to the size of a baseball and it was hanging out of my arm pit.  Two days later it vanished back into my body.  I scanned a few days later and it showed that the tumor had liquified and was likely dead tissue now.  

So Keytruda did indeed work for me right away, to get rid of most of the melanoma.  But it did take a solid 6 months before my biggest and worst tumor stopped growing and was defeated.  

All my best, Laurie