October 29th Visit to HCH

So on October 29th, I had a visit up to the Huntsman Cancer Hospital for a visit with my oncologist and an infusion...maybe. After my October 8th visit, Dr. Hu, my oncologist, decided that we should restart my immunotherapy infusions, but only if the neuro-ophthalmologist cleared it and my body continued to improve. These are the side effects I'd dealt with from immunotherapy and the steroids...

-Swelling in my face, stomach, knees, and ankles
-Nausea
-Vision problems
-Lack of energy
-Tender to the touch
-This weird zinging/tingling sensation in both legs (Feels kind of like your legs are waking up, but all the time)

All in all, it's been quite the journey since starting my immunotherapy. My last infusion of immunotherapy drugs was on August 22nd, over two months ago. During the time since then, I've also been able to get off of my steroid completely. As of my visit on the 29th, I was on NO DRUGS! Since entering the hospital on January 24th for my emergency brain surgery, I have been on medications every day. It's a nice feeling to be drug free and not relying on them just to get through my day. Hopefully it stays that way...

So all of this was discussed with Dr. Hu. She was also informed that the neuro ophthalmologist cleared me to proceed with the infusions, if I chose to do so. After some discussions with Dr. Hu, we decided that instead of proceeding with the normal 480 ml of nivolumab every four weeks, I'd do a half dose of 240 ml every two weeks. While there haven't been many studies done/completed on the impact of this, her theory is that the side effects are less and the body endures a more consistent level of treatment instead of hitting a high and then dropping back down over the four week break. So, we restarted the immunotherapy infusion later that day. It's been over a week since that infusion and so far the side effects haven't been coming. That's great!

The best part of the day, though, was when they cut a giant crater in the side of my head! Just before meeting with Dr. Hu, I was informed they'd be cutting the mole out of my head. During my last visit on the 8th, I was told they'd shave part of the mole off so they could biopsy it. Apparently, somewhere along the way they decided to just cut the whole mole out. So... My head was numbed and they used a circular knife to cut the mole out of my head and create a gigantic hole! Fortunately, the numbing agent worked AND the biopsy came back normal. So nothing to worry about! We did get some awesome pictures though! They are down below.

We also discussed some other issues with Dr. Hu. We discussed the zinging/tingling sensation in my legs. She originally wanted to do an MRI of my spine to see what was going on, but she later reviewed an MRI done at Gunnison Valley Hospital two weeks before that showed nothing abnormal. The source of the zinging has yet to be determined. We also discussed this sharp pain I've experienced in my left hamstring. An MRI at GV Hospital showed a small lesion in my hamstring, but Dr. Hu didn't seem to think it was worth looking more into since I was responding to the immunotherapy. Fortunately, my leg pain has improved. I haven't been able to exercise for quite a while because of the pain (trying to allow it to heal), but hopefully when I start back up my workouts in the next few days I don't re-aggravate it. We will see what happens!

While at the hospital, I also had some follow up x-rays done on my left arm/shoulder. Dr. Groundland wanted to see how my bone was healing. He has since cleared me for all activities and told me to use pain as my guide for backing off certain activities. He also said that I need to have the bone growth drug for the next two years and that I need to have some follow up x-rays after that two year period. So that drug will become a monthly infusion to help my arm continue to heal.

All in all, it was a productive day. Restarting immunotherapy is a good thing in my opinion. While I'm not a fan of these synthetic drugs going into my body, I've seen the impact they can have and am willing to tolerate it while the cancer is still in my body. Hopefully I reach a point before too long where the cancer is gone and I can re-evaluate the immunotherapy treatment.

Enjoy the pictures!
















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