Yet another update on Tabrecta

[Deb W]

Hi friends,

As I mentioned I went for my follow-up appointment yesterday after the hospital stay for anaphylactic shock from Tabrecta.  There was a period of time - days 11 and 12 when I had to stop the drug due to side effects.  During those 2 days I felt energetic and whole like I did before cancer.  Then when the drug was reintroduced on day 14 - it went downhill from there.  At the appointment I told my oncologist I was still gaining strength back and I noticed that I no longer had any pain near my left shoulder that I used to have.  He said he thought the Tabrecta worked.   He sent me down for a CT and it was resulted (unofficial) but he showed me the scan.  The tumor had shrunk and there was no sign of it in the two lymph nodes.  Small scatters in the pleura.  He said I was one of those people who had an immediate response.  The issue is that I can't take the drug due to the allergic reaction.  So, he is consulting with others on Tepotinib and maybe an older MET inhibitor drug.  Also, when they figure out the drug, he said I'll have to be in the hospital  at first due to the recent allergic reaction and an allergist would be involved as well. So, I just wanted to let you know that the drug can work very well and that's my hope for all of you taking this drug - my system can't handle it, but wow - it was quite remarkable how quickly it worked.  So, we'll figure out a new treatment plan over the next week or so.

[LexieCat]

Well, at least your baseline now is a much smaller amount of cancer.

That's sort of how I feel after my recent progression. The early response greatly reduced the size of the primary tumor; all the lymph nodes were back to normal, and my sacral met was basically gone. Now, the tumor has grown just slightly, and so have the lymph nodes. But the sacral met is now undetectable (well, at least so far--haven't seen the latest PET CT results yet). And if I'm able to start this trial, any hot lymph nodes--at least those readily accessible--will be removed. 

I hope they are able to get you on an effective drug to wipe out the remaining cancer. Fingers crossed!!