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Mksews
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Mksews

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      • September 6, 2018 at 10:12 pm
      Mksews
      Participant

        Interesting what you said about the immunotherapy. MY husband had been on opdivo for about 6 months and had it return to the original site, being BRAF positive they swithched him to TAK-MEK. First couple of weeks were awful, fevers, chills, nausea, then he got really dehydrated. So they took him off of it for about 2 weeks, they started back at half dose, this time his hands swelled up, and had fevers, and chills. Doctor reduced it again to every other day.  There has to be something said for quality of life. We will see how his scans look in about a month. Hopefully all stays well on this dose. Take care. mk

         

        • August 2, 2018 at 10:37 pm
        Mksews
        Participant

          Good to hear your husband is doing well!  These drugs seems like they can be really rough….my chemo was really bad but at least I had an end point and time to recover in between the treatments.  These side effects seems really scary to me.  Thanks for your replies, it really helps to know someone else out there is dealing with this.  mk

          • August 2, 2018 at 12:33 am
          Mksews
          Participant

            Thanks for the reply. We spent the afternoon at the onc. office after he about passed out. I knew he had been feeling bad but he wasn't really upfront about how bad. Today he hit the wall.  I almost brought him to the ER but the NP called me back and said to bring him in to the office right then. He had lost 4 pounds in 2 days and was really dehydrated. The nurse had been on vacation and had not really gone over the side effects with him. The doctor kind of blew him off a bit when he said he wasn't feeling well when he saw him on Monday. The NP said they are going to temp. stop the tak -mek and get him back to feeling better. She said that it  could also be the opdivo that is still in his system. They gave him lots of fluids and instructions to drink lots more and call tomorrow. Next week if he is feeling better they will start back again with a lower dose.  At the very least the worst part of my chemo is over so I can help take care of him.  This melanoma is way scarier than the breast cancer was for me. How is your husband doing? 

            • August 1, 2018 at 1:13 am
            Mksews
            Participant

              Thanks so much for your reply.  I am discouraged to hear that this might be our new normal.  I am just finishing up chemo for breast cancer. I did tchp which made me sick but I still worked everyday. His diagnosis came at the same time as mine so it has been a rough time. This was my 3rd go round with breast cancer. He had just retired when he was diagnosed. He does more scans I think in about 4 weeks. So far nothing anywhere else, but I am concerned that his feeling so awful means that the cancer has spread somewhere else. It is hard not knowing what to expect. Since I had been thru chemo twice and my oncologists office explained how everything would be in detail I knew what to expect. Melanoma is a different beast. Thanks! Mk

               

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