A little bit of background first. My melanoma started on my upper leg just above my knee, on pretty much the line where my shorts would end. I was diagnosed on 1st November 2017, some months after earlier wrong diagnoses, but that’s another story for another blog post. The tumour was removed in the same month and I was told a wide area excision would be needed after some time.
I was asked to consider a Sentinel…
Having cancer imposes a tough challenge on us and raises at least one big question. Can we take control of the situation and get on with our lives? That depends on many things, not the least of which is the severity of the illness of course. I can only speak from my experience, which is currently responding well to immunotherapy treatment for malignant melanoma after eight rounds of single drug treatment with Nivolumab…
Last week I was told that the results of my latest CT scan showed a Complete Response and that I would now stop my ongoing immunotherapy treatment around 9 months earlier than the planned two year course.
Complete Response is defined as - The term used for the absence of all detectable cancer after your treatment is complete response (CR). Complete response doesn't necessarily mean that you are cured, but it is the best…
This is a difficult subject. I’ve talked about it in other blog posts, but I believe it is so important it warrants more focus. In facing up to melanoma or other cancer being positive is essential, it may be hard sometimes, but it’s possible, and can provide benefits to physical as well as mental health. State of mind can be very powerful in challenging disease and illness.
There’s a huge range of emotions…
This is a question I asked myself throughout my journey with melanoma, but particularly at the start of 2019 as I was half way through my immunotherapy course of ipilimumab and nivolumab combination infusions.
I recently finished that series of four combination infusions and I've come through it pretty unscathed. I have some very good results and I have now commenced on a single drug infusion programme with Nivolumab administered…
