Hi everyone!
I know it has been quite some time since I provided any updates with my blog - about two years actually - so much has happened. Time has flown these last two years, and it has been no less of a crazy ride dealing with life and melanoma. It is so easy to push the disease to the back of my mind when I'm doing well, and although the last two years have been anything but easy, I wanted to provide some updates for friends and family to know what is going on.
I guess I can start with my current situation where I am sitting in my hospital room here at Moffitt Cancer Center. I was admitted July 30th and we are hoping I'll be released sometime this week. I ended up with colitis which is a very common side effect from my current treatment (Ipi/Nivo). The inflammation was very extreme and I've had many days where I could not eat and am currently receiving high doses of steroids to correct the issue. Today is one of the first days I could start eating some real food! It has been a very miserable experience, and definitely my longest hospital stay EVER!
I've been extremely lucky to have my mom stay with me every day/night while I've been here, and also had some great visitors to keep me company.... (Thank you Dad, Zack, Jenn, Kirsten, Sam, Eric, Scotty B, Kevin, Deeana, Matt, and Sue).
I had started this current treatment, which is a double dose of two different immunotherapy drugs, about 9 weeks ago. Everything seems to be going well, and the tumors seem to be responding. We will find out for sure in a few weeks when I go for scans once I have recovered from my current situation.
Prior to this treatment, I was prepared to go through a pretty extreme clinical trial that ended up not working out. It was pretty disappointing, as the trial is promising for a possible full response. I had a surgery to remove part of my tumor and they actually would have used my tumor to create cells that would be put back into my body to fight the cancer. The downside was the chemo regimen that I would have to go through before the cells were given back to me. It was going to be very risky, but I was hoping for the best. Unfortunately my cells didn't grow fast enough and I was unable to proceed. The option is still on the table for the future, but it just isn't the right time to consider trying again at this point.
I also went through about three other treatments since I updated this blog last... each worked for a period of time and then I would stop responding. It gets scarier each time a treatment stops working, as I've been through almost all the FDA approved treatments and many trials. I can only hope they keep coming up with more trials and promising treatments until I finally can beat this cancer.
For now - I just can't wait to get out of the hospital and home to recover!
-Nicole
