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Trying immunotherapy now


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First off, I am a stage 3 NSCLC patient who was first diagnosed January of 2015. I underwent surgery (thoroscopic wedge resection) to remove a lime size tumor from my right lung. Everything seemed to be going good until a year later when a recurrence occurred in both lungs and the lymph nodes in my chest. More surgery was not an option so I was scheduled to begin radiation therapy and chemo. the radiation had some unpleasant side effects but resolved the issue with my lymph nodes. The chemo had very limited success so after a few months off to recover I started my second round of platinum based chemo and one other drug. I guess I was lucky since the side effects of the chemo were not that severe. I lost all of my hair of course and had a lot of fatigue and loss of appetite, but that was about it. Once again the chemo had limited success although it helped to keep the cancer from spreading to other organs. Last March my oncologist suggested Immunotherapy, so I began Opdivo infusion once every two weeks. Two great things about this. 1) I can tolerate the Opdivo a lot better with no side effects to speak of. And 2) My last CT scan showed some incredible results. the tumors in my right lung were stable (no growth) and the tumor in my left lung was gone ! I realize this is not a cure, but as they say it is a chance to live a little longer. 

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What great news!  I am hearing so many wonderful things about immunotherapy!  My mom just started immunotherapy for a recurrence.  We were a bit hesitant at first because it wasn't the normal mode of treatment we were accustomed to.  Now that I've done research into immunotherapy a bit more, I am so hopeful for the future for this option of treatment.  I am very happy to hear that your tumors are stable or gone, with no side effects from treatment! I hope all continues to go well for you, take care!

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Zaphobd,

How about that!  Thanks for sharing good news about your immunotherapy treatment.  

Most of us go down the path of conventional radiation and chemo but now targeted therapy and immunotherapy have become effective weapons to control and hopefully eliminate lung cancer.  I really appreciate you sharing your first hand experience with Opdivo.  There are many who look to this forum for hope and you've just shined a beacon.  

Stay the course.

Tom

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  • 6 months later...

I have stage 3 sclc & I too, am on Opdivo. I did 15, 3 day sessions of chemo every 21 days, then radiation. The Opdivo is wonderful! I had my second PET scan on December 27 & the results showed no tumor & no cancer anywhere! I think this is a great course of treatment. I'm infused every 2 weeks. Only side effect is being lazy the next day!😀

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  • 3 months later...

Wow, thanks so much for the uplifting info regarding Opdivo.  To give you a little background on my adventure, I was first diagnosed with Stage 2 NSCLC in January of 2017. I went through radiation (36 treatments) and chemotherapy (6 treatments); and was cleared and active treatment was ended.  At the time of completing treatment, it was decided that I would have a CT scan after 6 weeks to ensure that all remained clear. The first CT scan remained clear; then it came time for CT #2.  CT#2 indicated some fluid showing up in the right lung, which is the lung which had the cancer. My Oncologist contacted my Pulmonologist to perform a bronchoscopy to ffing out what was going on. Well, the bronchoscopy indicated some moisture and the pulmonologist's took several tissue samples which came back okay.  Then after my most recent CT scan, it was detected that the NSCLC had come back and was now at Stage 4. It was determined at that time that, we would initiate immunotherapy using Opdivo, since on the last CT they were able to identify some PL-D1 markers.  So beginning tomorrow (06/18/2018), I will be undergoing training on the Opdivo program, and hope to start with the infusion process on Thursday (06/19/2018).

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That is great news and similar to my situation that jan last year had a lobectomy and a wedge resection followed by 6 rounds of chemo ( gen / carbo )and next scan was all clear then next scan at 12 month showed lymph nodes enlarged and biopsy confirmed to be recurrence anyway 3 months with opdivo and nodes all shrunk and nothing new to see and best of all no side affects so im very happy for now ..

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bigheart,

Great news about being a candidate for immunotherapy! It is doing so many great things.  My mom has been on Keytruda for nearly a year and things are going well for her cancer-wise.  Hope things go well for you too!

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  • 2 weeks later...

My opdivo is still going very well except one little side effect of some little itchy bumps on my forearms and legs and apparently its quite common but some moisturiser or if really itchy a little steroid cream and the itch goes so im not complaining and no comparison to chemo so i feel blessed to be able to have the opdivo and 3 weeks till next scan but im not rushing to that date ...

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Thankyou Tom i hope your right and i keep thinking if all my blood tests are Very good every fortnight then things should be going well ....keeps me optimistic so thats good for the body lol

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  • 6 months later...

My name is Charles, I had been diagnosed with stage 3b NSCLC  and a brochoscopy w/biopsy confirmed. A pet scan also confirmed a tumor 13 cm x 8cm in my right lung with suspected partial lung collapse. went through 35 radiation treatments and 10 chemo infusions with taxol and carboplatin with relatively no side effects until after treatments were through. lungs continue to make excess mucous and  inflammation 1 month and 8 days after treatment stopped. had initial ct scan after treatment and scan showed tumor at least 50% smaller (7cm) but they don't know exactly how much smaller because a lot of what is seen on the scan is suspected to be inflammation and/or dying tissue.so shrinkage could be exceptionally more than 50%. continued to cough up and expel less and less matter and pinkish to red mucus until today. coughing continues to improve slowly and lungs appear to feel like they are healing. I am scheduled to start immunotherapy (durvalumab) tomorrow Jan. 22 and I am very anxious and nervous. The difference between my whirlwind with cancer and others on immunotherapy blogs, mainly durvalumab blogs seems to be that I am trying to be more proactive in my plan than others seem to be in theirs, I could be wrong though. I had to disqualify my first radiation doctor after the consultation  because he did not fit the criteria in my treatment expectations. He seemed to be too complacent and non-chalant about my case without even seeing my scans and seemed to want to put the radiation part of my treatment off until after chemo, which research has shown that chemo and radiation concurrently killed tumors better than consecutive treatments in my type of cancer, boy I'm glad I did my research on that one because that part has been a success as far as tumor shrinkage goes. Also, since I am a part of my own treatment, anything I can do to help the treatments, I feel I am doing, like trying to eat more healthy foods like fresh vegetables as close to raw as I can stand them and maintaining my bodily ph levels at 8.0 to 8.5 (due to my research and beliefs) with the help of ph test strips, during chemo and radiation. and will continue to keep ph from 7.5 to 8.0 during immuno. all with the blessings of my onc dr., primary care provider, and radiation dr. So far, by indications and research all has gone very well. I haven't read anywhere that a 13x8 cm tumor was shrunk so much, so I have to believe that my contributions to the medical treatments have worked hand in hand. And one of the biggest factors of it all is GOD! I have prayed for God's help and presence in all this and know at the time of his works that he is here with me and the direct cause of the miracle at hand. I consider my decision to help with my treatments a part of his miracles. I am nervously awaiting the time for my initial pet scan after treatments and hope that my immuno goes well. I know that durvalumab is not given with curative intents but in my eyes it cannot hurt but my goal is curative. I this comment is long winded, which I hope I will be when this whirlwind subsides and I hope this is the correct place to air my comments as I have never had to comment in this way before. I will try to monitor and post as the immuno and pet scans progress and answer ones who reply if any, Thanxm Charlie....

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