Well done Brad – I agree too that TVEC is a promising option. For me it shrunk a steadily growing tumour, but sadly it has probably stopped working. but it did bring results and if i have to go to surgery then the tumour is much smaller so should be an easier operation.
i did find it very time consuming though – first the ultrasound, then they make the TVEC or unfreeze it so this takes a long time at the pharmacy then back for injection. While all this was going on i would then have to see my melanoma doc who was on a different floor who would decide on the amount for injection and then i would do my keytruda infusion and then back to tvec. This takes a good four hours. Then the first few injections i too had really heavy fever. I was at work and sensed something was wrong. I should have taken the day off. On keytruda alone i never experienced this.
that said, my guess is that the fever is part of the cure, that this guides the immunotherapy so it knows what to attack. I did this for one year every two weeks which was pretty tough but i could see on the ultrasound each week i was making progress. Dont be put off if you get progression the first month or six weeks – this could be inflammation. This happened to me and then staerted to shrink. It is a bit scary seeing the tumour on ultrasound every visit, but if it is stable or shrinking then seeing it is ok. I remember writing down the measurements each visit and praying that they would be smaller.
good luck and please keep us updated but i think for certain cases its a grear option – combined with keytrud as you seem to be doing
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