I successfully navigated the drop to 15mg of prednisolone at the second attempt, in fact I seem to have improved my lung function over the 2 weeks at the lower dose, by relentlessly doing whatever exercise I can. Latest blood tests also suggest I have achieved a bit more improvement in my kidneys too. So I will be reducing to 10mg prednisolone tomorrow and hoping this isn’t another false start.
Meanwhile I have received an appointment date for a CT scan, so will soon know whether the cancer has started to progress again, in the absence of treatment. And also the progress in kidneys and steroid weaning indicates I may be fit enough to go back on some form of treatment in the near future, if that is indicated.
I have not had any further discussions about what that treatment might be. More Pembrolizumab seems very unlikely, given the scale and extent of the immune related adverse reaction I experienced, and the high likelihood it would happen again. I am hoping I can have a few months of watch and wait before being treated with anything else, to give me some time to have holiday and do other nice things, after the horrors of the IRAE. I will enquire whether it’s worth trying another microwave ablation - whilst I got a quick recurrence last time, it would allow me a few months without the side effect payload of another systemic treatment. Trodelvy is the only treatment that has been mentioned in the past, and other users report it as being quite unpleasant.
Looking forward to spending Christmas with my loved ones. They are all here for Christmas this time, I think they are expecting it to be my last Christmas. I will do my best to prove them wrong.
