Dear all,
I haven't written for a some time. While building a house, going back to work, taking a lot of responsibility in raising our 2 year old, my husband had also a hard time fighting this disease. In February it was clear that Vemurafenib couldn't stop it anymore, in April he started 6 weeks radiation to his parotis and neck (only lymph node mets were left after partial response of Ipi in 2012 and Zel and Vem for more than a year) while staying on Vem. May/June he discovered two more subcutanous mets in his axilla. Luckily EAP for Merck's Anti-PD1 started in Europe and after almost four weeks of waiting he received his first infusion. We are more than happy becaus the fear that mel could spread to more areas is big.
My husband received the first infusion last thursday. On the same day we noticed a reddish coloring ot the area of visible tumors in parotis and neck area. Until today the coloring has increased, the area feels very firm, seems to swollen, and the area is very painfull. My question, has anyone experienced this under PD1, especially right after the first infusion? We hope that this is a good sign but it is a little frightening. My husband had a similar but much more light reaction to Ipi.
My thaughts go out to all of you brave melanoma fighters.
All the best, Jenny
