Well, I just started my treatment yesterday. Had my first monthy dose of Nivo and so far (I know it's early) I'm tolerating it. I also have an appointment with a radiation oncologist next week to begin focal radiation treatment of the single met in my brain. I'm still trying to learn about the different types of focal radiation so I can ask intelligent questions when I meet the oncologist. It's hard to find unbiased comparisons of gamma knife vs cyberknife vs linear accelorator, etc. Any pointers to web resources would be helpful.
Anyway, currently stage IV with mets in brain, lungs and liver, but the doc says my overall disease load is low, so that's a positive (I'm looking for all I can get at this point). It's been a roller-coaster of emotions since my latest diagnosis, both for me and my wife, but I feel like we have a path forward now, whereever that takes us. Fingers crossed, etc.
Also, I asked a few days ago about the possibility of getting my treatment locally while getting my scans read and care managed at a more distant cancer center. Thanks everyone for those responses, Opinions seemed to be event divided betwen doing that and doing everything at a cancer center with melanoma experts. In the end, I decided to do everything at Dana Farber in Boston, even though that is a 5-7 hour round trip drive, depending on traffic. I felt it was important to get coordinated care and I hope I'll be getting that at DFCI. There were some mix-ups yesterday that they seemed to be genuinely embarrassed about, so I'll cut them some slack on that. This time.
Feeling positive today. As my wife has taken to saying, "watch out cancer, there's a new sheriff in town!"
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