Stage IV NED 30 mos and counting! (& unable to login as Kim K anymore!)

Just finished more scans.  No one is ever going to use the "C" word, but I am pretty much there.  It is a nice problem when the docs don't know what kind of follow up scans to do since I have become so boring.  Other than tearing my other ACL which ironically started my mel journey 11 years ago, I am doing well.  Emma is almost 5 and Jade almost 8.  I can't believe it has been 2.5 years since undergoing IL-2.

Just finished more scans.  No one is ever going to use the "C" word, but I am pretty much there.  It is a nice problem when the docs don't know what kind of follow up scans to do since I have become so boring.  Other than tearing my other ACL which ironically started my mel journey 11 years ago, I am doing well.  Emma is almost 5 and Jade almost 8.  I can't believe it has been 2.5 years since undergoing IL-2.

My onc tells me Queen's here on Oahu is about to become a melanoma center as well.  Dr. Charles Balch himself will be meeting with the Queen's cancer center this week.  They will be starting MEK/Braf combo trials that have regular biopsies of monitored masses over time to see how the genetics change over treatment.  It is the next step in trying to determine how quickly tumors develop resistance and how they can in the future pulse therapy to delay escape pathways.  How cool is that?!

I am now full-time permanent with the HI Dept. of Agriculture as a veterinary medical officer after almost 6 years.  I love my job and work with wonderful people.  I am also in the process of becoming a full-fledged sheep farmer.  Unfortunately my 14 month Anatollian Shepard x Akbash developed a mass around her windpipe.  I biopsied it this weekend and am awaiting results.  I know it is cancer, just what kind, and can I put her into a long term remission……

You know you are a survivor of Stage IV when you once again begin to worry about retirement, putting the kids through school, gaining weight etc.  The time in limbo though was pure hell.  Anyone about to undergo IL-2 I am happy to talk with.  with all the new therapies it seems IL-2 is being forgotten or worse not recommended because of its toxicity.  It still is one of the very few therapies to date that can promise a small subset of patients a durable and permanent remission.  I am one of those patients.  I am happy to say I will probably die from old age, or something stupid.  I am not planning on showing up as a story on 100 ways to die, so I think old age and bad genes for heart Dz will eventually take me.

Please don't discount IL-2.  It is brutal but has a quick recovery.  Who knows, it may even enhance some of these other immune modulators even if not a complete responder.

I know on my CT scan, my thymus is still activated thanks to IL-2.  Way to go natural killer cells!!!!!!!

Take care all.

I hope to be able to post as Kim K, but this stupid site won't let me log in as Kim K saying it is already taken :(….. I am not about to reset all my patnet etc. and wish I knew how to reset my password and e-mail without having to give up Kim K.  If anyone knows how, please let me know.

kimkdvm719@gmail.com

Aloha all.

PROUD TO BE AN OFFICIAL OLD TIMER!!!!!