Just wanted to share my husbands story……. Aug 09 he had melanoma on his back, wide excision & sentinel node biopsy which came back negative for malignancy. So, in the clear until Mar '12, headaches which we contributed to stress due to his Air Force retirement, we moved, both started new jobs and bought a new house!
Just wanted to share my husbands story……. Aug 09 he had melanoma on his back, wide excision & sentinel node biopsy which came back negative for malignancy. So, in the clear until Mar '12, headaches which we contributed to stress due to his Air Force retirement, we moved, both started new jobs and bought a new house! NO STRESS THERE!!! Then the start of the 3rd wk of these headaches, he threw up on Mon…. so got him to the doctor that day, MRI Thurs 3/22, then in the hospital about an hr later after our family practice doctor came to our home to tell us the devastating news that he had about 13 brain tumors. We got him to the hospital so he could be put on I.V. steroids, within 24 hrs he was back to his old self, had other scans & everything was clear.
He then had a biopsy to determine if he had the BRAF mutation for Zelboraf… yeyyy!!! He did, but before that, we gave WBR a shot… 18 treatments, melanoma fought back… 🙁 DEVASTATED!!!!! Radiation did make him feel like crap after the 3rd week or so, but now we also think that may have been because the melanoma grew. :/ Other then that, no side effctes from WBR. Anyway, started max dose Z first week of June, severe sun sensitivity first few wks, few new skin tags that have fallen off, very minimal side effects & MRI 6wks later…. REDUCTION in ALL tumors! Then labs for his liver were extremely high, off Z for a few wks, labs normal and on lower dose )3 pills twice a day… even fewer side effects & next MRI more reduction in the now only 11 tumors!
My husband has been on Z for 4 mos, hair is coming back, feels great, looks great… people just meeting him thinks he's in remission! He's been back to work full-time since July 9th, takes a nap when he gets home, but who wouldn't want to do that. 🙂 He's been back to yardwork, helping with the house, etc..
Now, I always wonder what kind of health people are in who are doing well, not so well, etc….. my husband is 41, non-smoker, worked out atleast 5 days a week, excellent health, we had always had a pretty good diet, but ate junk food here and there & of course the occasional cocktail… 😉 but since all of this, he has not had an ounce of alcohol, no soda, almost no sugar & hasn't had any fast food. We do not eat 100% healthy ,I try to stick the the basic cancer fighting foods. We mostly eat salads with dark leafy greens & he LOVES tomatoes, antioxidant smoothies (berries, flaxseed), try to load him with lean protein and he's loving cottage cheese. We don't do a raw diet and we still eat meat, but it's not very often & he drinks a ton of water.
We know people can build a resistance to Z, we'll cross that bridge IF we come to it, but for now we are just living life and enjoying it!! He feels great and we are running with it! So to all of you wondering about the brain mets…. for us it IS WORKING!!!!! Hang in there, keep strong, BE POSITIVE!!
.
