The information on this site is not intended or implied to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Content within the patient forum is user-generated and has not been reviewed by medical professionals. Other sections of the Melanoma Research Foundation website include information that has been reviewed by medical professionals as appropriate. All medical decisions should be made in consultation with your doctor or other qualified medical professional.

Yervoy and reoccurance

Forums General Melanoma Community Yervoy and reoccurance

  • Post
    MixtaJones
    Participant

      Hey everyone,

      Long time since I have been on here. As a update I finished my last Yervoy treatment on July 11th. I just had my first 3 month CT scan and the orginal tumor is no longer there and there are no signs of it spreading to other  parts of my body. YAY!

      My question is for those of you that have had Yervoy treatment and it has failed. Did it fail imediatly as in the tumors never shrunk or did it work initially then tumors came back further down the road? I am obviouly glad that the scans are clear but still not completly relaxed becuase I don't know how yervoy work long term.

    Viewing 5 reply threads
    • Replies
        Julie in SoCal
        Participant

          Hi MixtaJones,

          I'm in a similar position.  I watched my tumors melt away (YEAAAA!!!) and one year out, all my scans has come back clear.  Yervoy seems to have done the trick. Alas, I was a bit hessitant to just belive that I was completely clear of the beast.

          So shen I asked my Rock Star Dr about recurrance, he told me that if you have a full response, that is all tumors disappear, and no new ones appear, and don't have a recurrance within the first 2 years, you're golden!  He says he's never seen anyone recur after 2 years. This sounds great!

          I still have 1 year to go before I'll reach that magical 2 year mark, but hey someone has to make it.  Might as well be me.

          Trust this will be you, too!

          Julie

          Stage 3c: WLE, SNB, LND, HD-INF, GM-CSF, IPI

          Julie in SoCal
          Participant

            Hi MixtaJones,

            I'm in a similar position.  I watched my tumors melt away (YEAAAA!!!) and one year out, all my scans has come back clear.  Yervoy seems to have done the trick. Alas, I was a bit hessitant to just belive that I was completely clear of the beast.

            So shen I asked my Rock Star Dr about recurrance, he told me that if you have a full response, that is all tumors disappear, and no new ones appear, and don't have a recurrance within the first 2 years, you're golden!  He says he's never seen anyone recur after 2 years. This sounds great!

            I still have 1 year to go before I'll reach that magical 2 year mark, but hey someone has to make it.  Might as well be me.

            Trust this will be you, too!

            Julie

            Stage 3c: WLE, SNB, LND, HD-INF, GM-CSF, IPI

              O_O
              Participant

                Holy crap! Congrats! 

                 

                IPI didn't seem to work for me the first time around, but we're giving it another go. Though I'm in a trial for adjuvant treatment (post op), so I'm worried it's not working simply because there's not enough mel in me to trigger an immune response :/

                O_O
                Participant

                  Holy crap! Congrats! 

                   

                  IPI didn't seem to work for me the first time around, but we're giving it another go. Though I'm in a trial for adjuvant treatment (post op), so I'm worried it's not working simply because there's not enough mel in me to trigger an immune response :/

                  O_O
                  Participant

                    Holy crap! Congrats! 

                     

                    IPI didn't seem to work for me the first time around, but we're giving it another go. Though I'm in a trial for adjuvant treatment (post op), so I'm worried it's not working simply because there's not enough mel in me to trigger an immune response :/

                    Julie in SoCal
                    Participant

                      Hi O_O,

                      Thanks for celebrating with me. I can't tell you wether or not you're responding, but I can say I had very little Mel, that is my tumors were very small.  They were intransits and so small they didn't show up on a PET scan.  

                      Praying that Ipi will kick in and kick some Mel for you!

                      Julie

                      Julie in SoCal
                      Participant

                        Hi O_O,

                        Thanks for celebrating with me. I can't tell you wether or not you're responding, but I can say I had very little Mel, that is my tumors were very small.  They were intransits and so small they didn't show up on a PET scan.  

                        Praying that Ipi will kick in and kick some Mel for you!

                        Julie

                        Julie in SoCal
                        Participant

                          Hi O_O,

                          Thanks for celebrating with me. I can't tell you wether or not you're responding, but I can say I had very little Mel, that is my tumors were very small.  They were intransits and so small they didn't show up on a PET scan.  

                          Praying that Ipi will kick in and kick some Mel for you!

                          Julie

                        Julie in SoCal
                        Participant

                          Hi MixtaJones,

                          I'm in a similar position.  I watched my tumors melt away (YEAAAA!!!) and one year out, all my scans has come back clear.  Yervoy seems to have done the trick. Alas, I was a bit hessitant to just belive that I was completely clear of the beast.

                          So shen I asked my Rock Star Dr about recurrance, he told me that if you have a full response, that is all tumors disappear, and no new ones appear, and don't have a recurrance within the first 2 years, you're golden!  He says he's never seen anyone recur after 2 years. This sounds great!

                          I still have 1 year to go before I'll reach that magical 2 year mark, but hey someone has to make it.  Might as well be me.

                          Trust this will be you, too!

                          Julie

                          Stage 3c: WLE, SNB, LND, HD-INF, GM-CSF, IPI

                          arthurjedi007
                          Participant

                            Congratulations. That sounds awesome.

                            For me they did a 2 week scan right after the 4th dose. They said they didn't put much weight on the scan because it is very soon and so forth. But once they saw the results they said ipi had failed. Everything was growing especially the one in my left shoulder had grown a whole lot. Plus new stuff. Granted I did zelboraf before that which also failed with everything having some growth and new stuff which I've read after braf fails there is rapid growth so maybe that is what I experienced. I dunno. But yeah yervoy failed right away with nothing shrinking and new stuff showing up. At the time I thought he was wrong but looking back I have to agree with him.

                            Otherwise though from what I've read people who respond to yervoy typically have long term durability. So I would say congratulations you are in that group. I also remember reading there is a 4 month maintenance cycle where you get a dose every 4 months. But my doc said he never did that because the insurance usually doesn't pay for it.

                            Artie

                             

                            arthurjedi007
                            Participant

                              Congratulations. That sounds awesome.

                              For me they did a 2 week scan right after the 4th dose. They said they didn't put much weight on the scan because it is very soon and so forth. But once they saw the results they said ipi had failed. Everything was growing especially the one in my left shoulder had grown a whole lot. Plus new stuff. Granted I did zelboraf before that which also failed with everything having some growth and new stuff which I've read after braf fails there is rapid growth so maybe that is what I experienced. I dunno. But yeah yervoy failed right away with nothing shrinking and new stuff showing up. At the time I thought he was wrong but looking back I have to agree with him.

                              Otherwise though from what I've read people who respond to yervoy typically have long term durability. So I would say congratulations you are in that group. I also remember reading there is a 4 month maintenance cycle where you get a dose every 4 months. But my doc said he never did that because the insurance usually doesn't pay for it.

                              Artie

                               

                                Marianne quinn
                                Participant

                                  My husband was in the ipi vs interferon trial. He had 10 mg. ipi. At 14 weeks. He had  a small mets in the liver. We were devastated. He was removed from the trial and didn't receive any maintenance doses. He had microwave ablation in May and is still NED. The mets in the liver slightly shrunk between diagnosis in March and surgery in May. We think the yervoy worked.?congrats on your scan!

                                  Marianne quinn
                                  Participant

                                    My husband was in the ipi vs interferon trial. He had 10 mg. ipi. At 14 weeks. He had  a small mets in the liver. We were devastated. He was removed from the trial and didn't receive any maintenance doses. He had microwave ablation in May and is still NED. The mets in the liver slightly shrunk between diagnosis in March and surgery in May. We think the yervoy worked.?congrats on your scan!

                                    Marianne quinn
                                    Participant

                                      My husband was in the ipi vs interferon trial. He had 10 mg. ipi. At 14 weeks. He had  a small mets in the liver. We were devastated. He was removed from the trial and didn't receive any maintenance doses. He had microwave ablation in May and is still NED. The mets in the liver slightly shrunk between diagnosis in March and surgery in May. We think the yervoy worked.?congrats on your scan!

                                    arthurjedi007
                                    Participant

                                      Congratulations. That sounds awesome.

                                      For me they did a 2 week scan right after the 4th dose. They said they didn't put much weight on the scan because it is very soon and so forth. But once they saw the results they said ipi had failed. Everything was growing especially the one in my left shoulder had grown a whole lot. Plus new stuff. Granted I did zelboraf before that which also failed with everything having some growth and new stuff which I've read after braf fails there is rapid growth so maybe that is what I experienced. I dunno. But yeah yervoy failed right away with nothing shrinking and new stuff showing up. At the time I thought he was wrong but looking back I have to agree with him.

                                      Otherwise though from what I've read people who respond to yervoy typically have long term durability. So I would say congratulations you are in that group. I also remember reading there is a 4 month maintenance cycle where you get a dose every 4 months. But my doc said he never did that because the insurance usually doesn't pay for it.

                                      Artie

                                       

                                  Viewing 5 reply threads
                                  • You must be logged in to reply to this topic.
                                  About the MRF Patient Forum

                                  The MRF Patient Forum is the oldest and largest online community of people affected by melanoma. It is designed to provide peer support and information to caregivers, patients, family and friends. There is no better place to discuss different parts of your journey with this cancer and find the friends and support resources to make that journey more bearable.

                                  The information on the forum is open and accessible to everyone. To add a new topic or to post a reply, you must be a registered user. Please note that you will be able to post both topics and replies anonymously even though you are logged in. All posts must abide by MRF posting policies.