@jessica_f
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- December 16, 2015 at 2:18 pm
I just came off my Yervoy treatments and have three kids at home, ages 7, 6, and 4. They do go to school full time and I ended up getting a babysitter as backup help for school pickups because I wasn't sure how I'd handle the treatment. I did have colitis from the Ipi and only made it through three treatments, but the colitis was manageable through the use of steroids and a bland white bread/white rice type of diet. I had a lot of fatigue, but again, all was manageable.
Like some other posters here, I'm also of the mindset that I had to do something proactive to make me feel like I was really managing my disease. I was originally diagnosed as a stage III nearly 15 years ago, and although people love to bash on Interferon, I feel that my year on Interferon was part of the reason that I achieved such a long remission. And long remissions can be life saving. I'm now an NED stage IV patient now that my lung mets were surgically removed this June, and had my cancer come back as a stage IV even 5 years ago, I'd have a very different outlook on life. The meds available these days are so much more advanced.
That being said, I just came back from a cancer retreat in Canada where two of the women have decided to treat their own cancer using natural methods (healthy diet, meditation, supplements etc) and are seeing their tumors regress. It renewed my feeling, particularly when you're already NED, that you can be confident in your choice to follow a healthy lifestyle, as long as you're honest about whether you're truly making healthy choices. I like to say that I'm healthy since my food is, but I do carry a lot of stress which would need lots of work/therapy/etc.
Best of luck.
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- December 16, 2015 at 2:18 pm
I just came off my Yervoy treatments and have three kids at home, ages 7, 6, and 4. They do go to school full time and I ended up getting a babysitter as backup help for school pickups because I wasn't sure how I'd handle the treatment. I did have colitis from the Ipi and only made it through three treatments, but the colitis was manageable through the use of steroids and a bland white bread/white rice type of diet. I had a lot of fatigue, but again, all was manageable.
Like some other posters here, I'm also of the mindset that I had to do something proactive to make me feel like I was really managing my disease. I was originally diagnosed as a stage III nearly 15 years ago, and although people love to bash on Interferon, I feel that my year on Interferon was part of the reason that I achieved such a long remission. And long remissions can be life saving. I'm now an NED stage IV patient now that my lung mets were surgically removed this June, and had my cancer come back as a stage IV even 5 years ago, I'd have a very different outlook on life. The meds available these days are so much more advanced.
That being said, I just came back from a cancer retreat in Canada where two of the women have decided to treat their own cancer using natural methods (healthy diet, meditation, supplements etc) and are seeing their tumors regress. It renewed my feeling, particularly when you're already NED, that you can be confident in your choice to follow a healthy lifestyle, as long as you're honest about whether you're truly making healthy choices. I like to say that I'm healthy since my food is, but I do carry a lot of stress which would need lots of work/therapy/etc.
Best of luck.
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- December 16, 2015 at 2:18 pm
I just came off my Yervoy treatments and have three kids at home, ages 7, 6, and 4. They do go to school full time and I ended up getting a babysitter as backup help for school pickups because I wasn't sure how I'd handle the treatment. I did have colitis from the Ipi and only made it through three treatments, but the colitis was manageable through the use of steroids and a bland white bread/white rice type of diet. I had a lot of fatigue, but again, all was manageable.
Like some other posters here, I'm also of the mindset that I had to do something proactive to make me feel like I was really managing my disease. I was originally diagnosed as a stage III nearly 15 years ago, and although people love to bash on Interferon, I feel that my year on Interferon was part of the reason that I achieved such a long remission. And long remissions can be life saving. I'm now an NED stage IV patient now that my lung mets were surgically removed this June, and had my cancer come back as a stage IV even 5 years ago, I'd have a very different outlook on life. The meds available these days are so much more advanced.
That being said, I just came back from a cancer retreat in Canada where two of the women have decided to treat their own cancer using natural methods (healthy diet, meditation, supplements etc) and are seeing their tumors regress. It renewed my feeling, particularly when you're already NED, that you can be confident in your choice to follow a healthy lifestyle, as long as you're honest about whether you're truly making healthy choices. I like to say that I'm healthy since my food is, but I do carry a lot of stress which would need lots of work/therapy/etc.
Best of luck.
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- July 16, 2015 at 1:09 am
I had that issue big time with Interferon. Short-term memory was shot to the point where I couldn't speak in long sentences because I'd forget the beginning. It slowly came back but I do lose my train of thought much more than I did years ago. I'm not that old either, can hardly blame it on old age 😉
The stress of my re-diagnosis a few weeks ago was causing forgetfullness too- going to the fridge and forgetting what I meant to get…
Hope everything goes well with your trial. I'm starting on Ipi on the 27th, am curious about what lies ahead.
Best of luck to you,
Jessica
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- July 16, 2015 at 1:09 am
I had that issue big time with Interferon. Short-term memory was shot to the point where I couldn't speak in long sentences because I'd forget the beginning. It slowly came back but I do lose my train of thought much more than I did years ago. I'm not that old either, can hardly blame it on old age 😉
The stress of my re-diagnosis a few weeks ago was causing forgetfullness too- going to the fridge and forgetting what I meant to get…
Hope everything goes well with your trial. I'm starting on Ipi on the 27th, am curious about what lies ahead.
Best of luck to you,
Jessica
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- July 16, 2015 at 1:09 am
I had that issue big time with Interferon. Short-term memory was shot to the point where I couldn't speak in long sentences because I'd forget the beginning. It slowly came back but I do lose my train of thought much more than I did years ago. I'm not that old either, can hardly blame it on old age 😉
The stress of my re-diagnosis a few weeks ago was causing forgetfullness too- going to the fridge and forgetting what I meant to get…
Hope everything goes well with your trial. I'm starting on Ipi on the 27th, am curious about what lies ahead.
Best of luck to you,
Jessica
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- July 15, 2015 at 6:39 pm
Hi, I don't want to worry you but I would take a lung nodule seriously. My lung nodule was tracked for two years- growing very slowly and I ended up having it removed 6 weeks ago. Despite my oncologist's thinking (even as it grew to 8mm) that it was a benign granuloma (other poster is right, these are fairly common), it was in fact melanoma.
From what I've learned, stage IV melanoma often goes to the lungs first. I would keep an eye on it, get scanned to see if there's growth, and have it removed if it's growing consistently (and above a certain size).
Though I was a stage III 14 years ago, my original primary was not very thick- melanoma is unpredictable like that.
Best of luck…
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- July 15, 2015 at 6:39 pm
Hi, I don't want to worry you but I would take a lung nodule seriously. My lung nodule was tracked for two years- growing very slowly and I ended up having it removed 6 weeks ago. Despite my oncologist's thinking (even as it grew to 8mm) that it was a benign granuloma (other poster is right, these are fairly common), it was in fact melanoma.
From what I've learned, stage IV melanoma often goes to the lungs first. I would keep an eye on it, get scanned to see if there's growth, and have it removed if it's growing consistently (and above a certain size).
Though I was a stage III 14 years ago, my original primary was not very thick- melanoma is unpredictable like that.
Best of luck…
