My First Anniversary With Keytruda

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  • Post
    • July 16, 2016 at 5:04 pm
    mrsaxde
    Participant

      Hi Everyone!

      I haven't had much time to read or post here lately. I hope things are going well for all of you.

      I just had my 17th (I think) infusion of Keytruda yesterday. My last scan in April was good…spots on my back are stable, with one being slightly larger (9mm vs 7mm in January), but my oncologist thinks that may be due to a different radiologist reading this scan. She says visibly they don't appear to be any different to her. As of that scan the spots in my lung continue to slowly decrease in size, and nothing new has appeared. My doctor was happy enough with my results that she decided to postpone my next scan for a month, so I'll get it done in August now instead of this month.

      One thing that has concerned me a bit lately….my eosinophil count seems to be returning to normal. I've read and been told a fair amount about high eosinophils being a marker for response to immunotherapy, so the fact that my EOS Absolute level is now within normal values after being elevated the entire time I've been receiving Keytruda is a bit concerning. I'm worried that my response may be coming to an end. (My EOS Auto level is stil high, though.) I've also been much less itchy in recent weeks, and my oncologist has told me in the past that "itchy is good."

      So I'm curious about a couple of things.

      1) Has anyone else had a similar experience? That is, had elevated eosinophils that returned to normal during treatment. If so, what did that mean for your response?

      2) If you got an initial response to Keytruda, but then later stopped responding, what treatment did your oncologist move you to next?

      Thanks, and all my love to all of you.

      -Bill

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    • Replies
        • July 18, 2016 at 7:54 pm
        Mat
        Participant

          Bill, I know that Celeste had a post about eos levels on her blog, but I haven't seen this reported on extensively.  Perhaps your level is returning to normal because the melanoma is in check (perhaps even just scar tissue at this point)?  As for your second question, I failed Keytruda after 5-6 mos (following minor reduction).  After failing Keytruda (and ipi well before that), I am stable (or better) on ipi/nivo for 6+ months.

          • July 18, 2016 at 7:54 pm
          Mat
          Participant

            Bill, I know that Celeste had a post about eos levels on her blog, but I haven't seen this reported on extensively.  Perhaps your level is returning to normal because the melanoma is in check (perhaps even just scar tissue at this point)?  As for your second question, I failed Keytruda after 5-6 mos (following minor reduction).  After failing Keytruda (and ipi well before that), I am stable (or better) on ipi/nivo for 6+ months.

            • July 18, 2016 at 7:54 pm
            Mat
            Participant

              Bill, I know that Celeste had a post about eos levels on her blog, but I haven't seen this reported on extensively.  Perhaps your level is returning to normal because the melanoma is in check (perhaps even just scar tissue at this point)?  As for your second question, I failed Keytruda after 5-6 mos (following minor reduction).  After failing Keytruda (and ipi well before that), I am stable (or better) on ipi/nivo for 6+ months.

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