So I had my first post Yervoy follow-up CT/PET Scan a couple of days ago (Thursday the 13th) and met with Dr Lufkin yesterday (Friday the 14th - you know that date certainly rings nicer than the last day of the Templars).
The scan gave us pretty much the better end of the results we were expecting. The mets/nodules have grown slightly and I have a couple of new spots in my right hip area. Not really a jump up and down-and run to eat a big steak moment, but frankly better than what we saw in my follow-up scan from the IL2 treatments from July.
In the last scan the general growth rate had the cancer spots double in size (larger mets went from 10mm to 20mm in my lungs). This time the growth was only 2 to 4 mm at the most, and the spreading was minimal, and not in any critical areas.
To have had such a small amount of change vs. the last time shows that the Yervoy is doing more than the IL2 managed, yet should give us enough leverage with my prescription drug provider (insurance) to be approved for Gleevec pills. Reading the description for Gleevec and how it acts on cells that generate the "kit" protein (which is the C Kit mutation in my melanoma we discovered), gives me a tremendous amount of hope for my cancer cells to be successfully targeted by these pills.
In the meantime I have a my next appointment with Dr Lufkin scheduled in a month, and am waiting to hear from a surgeon's office at the Portland Providence for another bum surgery... I've been experiencing some non painful bleeding during most movements, and the latest scan shows a little something in the area where my original operation occurred that removed the anal melanoma. I can't tell you how thrilled I am to have the opportunity for another surgery this year... but it should be a pretty simple recovery I hope, and doesn't have me any more concerned than I was before (which just means we're at alert level cantaloupe... you know that just sounds better than orange).
Of course now I need to get on the ball and get a mobility chair
(they were so much cooler when they were called "rascals" but oh well)
approved before I get better. I mean how cool would it be to have one
of those thing for free! :)
Bottom line... Still hanging in there and doing well.
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