@srvilly
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- May 25, 2021 at 9:39 am
Hi Christina,I was DX’d in May of 2016, stage 1b. By Dec. of 2017 a PET scan showed mets (about 10) in my liver. I was put on Opdivo only (due to pre-existing colitis) in January of 2018. I did 2 infusions a month for 3 months before my next PET. In April of 2018 I had the PET which showed all mets in the liver were gone! So, the Opdivo not only worked, it worked with amazing speed! I finished about 2 1/2 years of Opdivo only (with one occurrence of a met in my small bowel, which was removed surgically, during the treatment). I have been done with treatment since May of 2020 and have had clear PETs ever since.
So there is hope that these immunotherapies will work on the liver. Remember, we are all different and respond differently to treatment. Just because you read it on the internet, doesn’t mean that will be your outcome. Stay positive and keep on fighting!
Best of luck.
Steve
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- April 13, 2021 at 11:48 am
Hello,I’ve had a history of colitis before being diagnosed with Stage 1b in mid 2016. When things progressed to lymph nodes and liver in late 2017 my oncologist and I sat down and came up with a game plan. We decided that due to my pre-existing condition of colitis and not wanting to flare it up, we would do Nivolumab only infusions every two weeks. Besides the once is a while, very mild nausea, I did great on Nivo alone. My first PET scan in early 2018 after 3 months of infusions showed all mets in liver had disappeared and the lymph was not showing any uptake in the PET. I had a recurrence in my small bowel, in Dec. 2018 that was removed via surgery, and did another year of Nivo only after the surgery. I’ve had nothing show up on my PET since then and have been done with immunotherapy since April of 2020. So, to make a long story short…you can have great results with Nivo only, without any of those side effects.
Best of luck.
SRV
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- May 22, 2020 at 3:28 pm
Hi THMoore,
I was DX in 2016, stage one, June 2017 it was found in lymph node in groin, then Dec. 2017 PET showed spots on liver…stage 4. My onc put me on Opdivo only due to pre-existing condition of colitis and not wanting to flare it up. By March of 2018 all spots on liver were gone. I had a recurrence in Jan of 2019 in my small intestine that was removed surgically. I have been on Opdivo only for 28 months and recently stopped due to over a year of clear PET scans. I forgot to say I had an inguinal node in my groin that lit up as well along the way, but went away after about 6 months on Opdivo.So from my experience, you can have success with only one of the immunotherapies. I know I am very lucky with the results I have had so far, and I know that if something new were ever to pop up I can go back on that therapy and hopefully have the same results.
Good luck!
Steve -
- May 29, 2019 at 2:57 pm
Hello – I’m so sorry I missed your question. I ended up having two “spots” on my small bowel found via a PET/CT scan. I opted to have surgery since nothing was working to get my Red Blood cell or Hemoglobin up and we had to find out if it was a recurrence of Mel or inflammation due to the Opdivo. The surgical oncologist removed the two spots on my small bowel, tied them back up, and tested them. It ended up being melanoma on both spots. After 5 crummy days in the hospital, I was released and within a few weeks I was feeling 100% better and all my blood work has been back to normal. I’m back on my bi-weekly Opdivo treatments and feeling great. My last PET/CT was “fairly” clear, a couple bright spots here and there, but nothing that my onc was concerned about.So, it ended up not being a side effect of the Opdivo, which was good, so I could continue treatment, but it was a recurrence while I was on Opdivo. The surgery removed all findings of Mel so since I did have such a good response to Opdivo, we opted to start back up on the Opdivo only. I think if anything else pops up, we may move to the Ipi/Nivo combo. But for now, I’m taking my bi-weekly trek for my infusion, enjoying a couple hours of “relaxing and music” and living life. A couple months of inconvenience, but hopefully back on the right track.
Best of luck to you, your relative and everyone else.
SRVilly -
- November 29, 2018 at 7:55 pm
Hi Brian,
Thanks for the reply. I did have that blood test and it was positive. I met with my Onc today and went over all the biopsies from colonoscopy. All were clear so that is good. My Red Blood cell count and Hemoglobin were still low, but were steady so she let me get my infusion. I am also scheduled for the pill endoscopy in a couple weeks. Gonna be a busy December!!
Thanks again for the reply. Have a great weekend.
SRV
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