Kevin2016

Hey Tex, it was great to hear your good news! Question, I've been on Keytruda since the spring of 2017 when the melanoma metastisized to my liver and lungs. The Keytruda has worked well and my liver and lungs have been clear since last fall. My PET scan 2 weeks ago had 2 lymph nodes in my stomach area light up. They believe it's just inflammation, but we won't know for sure until my next scan in 3 months. Did the lymph nodes in your abdomen initially present as possible inflammation at first, or did they know it was melanoma right away? Just curious…thanks!

Just curious about your horrible arthritis…I've been on Keytruda since the spring of 2017…I get an infusion every 3 weeks. In February, I had a viral infection and they said as my immune system was dealing with that and my immune system being boosted by the Keytruda – they said my immune system "over heated" and triggered an autoimmune response that was absolutely brutal. My joints (hands, knees and ankles/feet) were in extreme pain. They stopped treatments and put me on 60mg of prednisone and then titrated me off of that reducing it by 10mg every 3 days. When it got down to 10mg the pain all flared up again, so they put me on 40mg of prednisone and titrated me by reducing it by 10mg every 5 days instead (making it more gradual). I've had some pain at now at 10 mg. I just had an infusion of Keytruda last Friday. The last infusion I had before that one was Feb. 2nd. Today, I have felt more pain returning and I'm holding my breath that it doesn't get as severe a last time. Right now, I can barely open the cap on a water bottle…this has been a tough stretch, although my most recent PET scan was good showing only 2 lymph nodes lit up in my stomach area that they believe is only inflammation.

Great news!! So happy for you!!

Kevin

Meant to say Dr. Markovic then started me on Keytruda.

That's great to hear! In 2016 I was diagnosed with stage 3a melanoma. I had it in a lymph node in my neck. They started me off with Yervoy and then in the spring of 2017 it metastisized to my liver and lungs. Dr. Markovic at Mayo then started me on Yervoy. This fall the melanoma in my liver and lungs were gone! Keytruda has worked well. My latest PET scan down at Mayo two weeks ago showed the liver and lungs to still be clear. Two lymph nodes in my stomach area lit up, but they're thinking it's just inflammation…they'll be keeping an eye on it as they don't like to biopsy those lymph nodes due to their location. Lymph nodes in the stomach area are tough to get to.