Journal entry by Andrea Keck —
1st Opdivo infusion is in the books! 11 more to go, once a month for the next year. They said any adverse reactions would likely come within the next couple days. Most likely are fatigue, rash and diarrhea. The oncologist even said you might want to have some Immodium on hand because it could come on in the middle of the night. We got a chuckle out of that! Explosive diarrhea in the middle of the night! 😅 Why the hell not after everything else?!?!! It doesn't take much to entertain us, apparently. TONS of other things that we are to watch for, but more uncommon. He's doing just fine now, like nothing ever happened.
In other news, we learned that each of these 12 infusions cost approx. $57,000!!!!!! Mind blown! 😳 The pharmacy literally made the drug as we sat there because it's so expensive - can't risk wasting it! THANK GOD FOR HEALTH INSURANCE!
The genetic testing came back negative. We think that's a good thing. Had he been Braf+ it would've meant the cancer was very aggressive, but it also opens up some additional oral meds to target it specifically. Seems like kind of a toss up to us.
He'll have a CT scan every 3 months during treatment to monitor spreading and then a PET scan at the end of treatment in a year. All outcomes have been the best we could hope for at this point. Melanoma is a sneaky beast though. The oncologist made it clear that this is something that needs to be watched closely for the rest of his life! It can (and probably will, if I'm being honest with myself) return. Hopefully that won't be for a very LONG time and with the progression in treatment over the last 10 years we're very hopeful! 10 years ago this would have likely been a death sentence for him.
We're all holding strong! Learning to deal with this new normal. He has 2 more weeks until he goes back to work. Still working on recovering from that initial surgery, although he really is doing great! He has some cording which is painful and he is still working to get that range of motion back. Another 2 weeks is definitely needed and I'm so thankful that he has that time!
Without going into detail, I'm SO incredibly thankful that Brad has this treatment option as I know entirely too well that there are SO many others who don't!
😘
In other news, we learned that each of these 12 infusions cost approx. $57,000!!!!!! Mind blown! 😳 The pharmacy literally made the drug as we sat there because it's so expensive - can't risk wasting it! THANK GOD FOR HEALTH INSURANCE!
The genetic testing came back negative. We think that's a good thing. Had he been Braf+ it would've meant the cancer was very aggressive, but it also opens up some additional oral meds to target it specifically. Seems like kind of a toss up to us.
He'll have a CT scan every 3 months during treatment to monitor spreading and then a PET scan at the end of treatment in a year. All outcomes have been the best we could hope for at this point. Melanoma is a sneaky beast though. The oncologist made it clear that this is something that needs to be watched closely for the rest of his life! It can (and probably will, if I'm being honest with myself) return. Hopefully that won't be for a very LONG time and with the progression in treatment over the last 10 years we're very hopeful! 10 years ago this would have likely been a death sentence for him.
We're all holding strong! Learning to deal with this new normal. He has 2 more weeks until he goes back to work. Still working on recovering from that initial surgery, although he really is doing great! He has some cording which is painful and he is still working to get that range of motion back. Another 2 weeks is definitely needed and I'm so thankful that he has that time!
Without going into detail, I'm SO incredibly thankful that Brad has this treatment option as I know entirely too well that there are SO many others who don't!
😘
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