Wednesday, February 18, 2015

Welcome to Opdivo, Bye to Keytruda

I'm currently getting a bag of saline infused, and my oncologist Dr. Blanchete got me approved for the "other" Keytruda. It's called Opdivo, and is FDA approved as of late December 2014. It's similar to Keytruda, except it has a higher success rate, and is being offerrered in studies in conjunction with Yervoy. 

This means I could potentially get both Yervoy and Opdivo during the same time frame, although Obtivo is administered every 2 weeks and Yervoy is typically every 3, so I don't know but would expect if I were to go this route exactly how to expect it to be scheduled. Likely seperately.

We're going with just Opdivo to start and only if I need it would we do the combination therapy.

Also Dr Blanchette is checking to see if the govt has any studies with Opdivo and Gleevec.

My blood counts are holding which is great, but I'm still struggling to gain weight. I'm able to tolerate quite a bit of different solid (normal) food but am still counting on the high calorie shakes Ki makes for me for the most part.

That's most of the latest bits, other than I'm about to sell some gear to pay for part of our wedding expenses. Anyone looking for a like-new Fender Twin amp? How about a black and yellow swirled frankenstrat with lots of upgrades?