I wanted to give everyone an update on my Mom who was diagnosed in November of last year with Stage IV melanoma.
My Mom ended up having gamma knife radiation 26 days after diagnosis followed by Yervoy/ipi 4 days later. (She is BRAF and PD1 positive.) – Since we knew she was BRAF positive and that the brain mets (8) were treated we elected to start with Yervoy/ipi, due to the positive retrospective analysis shown in patients with brain mets.
Within the first week of treatment the subcutaneous melanoma tumors found on her scalp and neck began changing and by the time she was to have her 3rd infusion most were either "gone" or much smaller. She still had 6 tumors in her lungs, liver, kidney and adrenal glands that we didn't know what was happening with, but we could all see the changes on her scalp and neck, which gave us great hope.
Unfortunately, my Mom did get colitis and was hospitalized a few times due to the severity of it. Once the colitis was "under control" she had the 3rd treatment of Yervoy/ipi. But she ended up getting colitis again. She won't get her 4th infusion.
In April we ended up getting a second opinion on the MRI results for the brain mets and she had 16 more brain mets treated by gamma knife radiation. – These had developed since her ordinal gamma knife radiation treatment in December. – Other than a bit of bruising and having a bit of hair fall out she's experienced no other issues with the treatment. (Cognitive or otherwise.)
Last week she had her 60 day follow up for the gamma knife radiation and the end of her Yervoy/ipi treatment. So far everything looks great. She has no new brain mets an those she had treated are stable or shrinking. The other tumors are smaller (in some cases stable) than what they were in 2/14 and 11/13. There is also nothing new to report. – Those on her head and neck are virtually gone.
She's back to all of her normal activities and feels great. She will have another checkup in 60 days and we all pray that the next MRI of her brain shows nothing new. – She can't wait to drive her car again and she'll be quite upset if anything new is found…
I hope this gives everyone hope whether you've just been diagnosed or considering treatment or new treatment.
PS
As many of you know, she was misdiagnosed at first and I strongly recommend a second and even third opinion with someone who will look at all CT and MRI scans with you. – She ended up having brain mets and we would not have known this if we had not gone for the third opinion…
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