COspouse

Good luck, Simon and Tracey! 

My husband has 3 brain mets now after progressing on Dabrafenib/Trametinib.  Gamma knife was immediately mentioned by his oncologist. We meet with the Gamma knife guy tomorrow to discuss things.  Tentatively scheduled for a week from Thursday – 11/9.

His mets are in the cerebellum (2) and left parietal lobe (relates to coordinated muscle movement, I think). No symptoms, no headaches.  I’ll be asking that same question:  are there areas that can’t have gamma knife?

My husband had a 15month run on intermittent (trial) Dabrafenib/Trametinib (5 weeks on/3 weeks off) with stable/shrinking lung mets before developing the brain mets.

Ipi-Nivo is in the present plan too, though I read it’s not as effective post BRAFi/MEKi progression.

-Bette

My husband chose Dabrafenib/Trametinib as he's also a Type 1 Diabetic.  The potential side effects of immunotherapy meant they would have had him in ICU to monitor him closely (steroids maybe a no-go since he's diabetic).  He's on the intermittent trial (randomized to 1 week on/3 off/4 on). His tumor load was small (lungs only), initially reduced slightly, now stable.  9 months on trial so far.  Side effects have been fever/chills, so he's been dose-reduced.

I feel like we're holding our breath, waiting for progression, but studies have shown some nice long-term data, and he feels pretty decent, all in all.

Thanks for answering the “how many times can Gamma knife be done?” question.  I was wondering that one, too.  

Regards to you and your wife,

Bette