Pembro - Should I be scared of side effects or not?

I am pretty sure the BRAF doesn't matter with Pembro. I think it is important with targeted therapy. Immunotherapy is nothing like chemo. Don't worry. Only a very small percentage of patients have bad side effects and Pembro does help 

Many thanks, if you don’t mind me asking did they give you many treatment options to consider ? 

I went to Churchill Oncology Hospital in Oxford. They went through everything that had happened to me and recommended Pembro.  My consultant specialises in Melanoma so I wasn't going to argue. Had researched it before so was comfortable with their choice.

Many thanks, I will be meeting with the Glasgow Beatson team next Thursday 

(I had a  2.5mm on my eyebrow so WLE and SLNB) 2 nodes at my ear were found to contain trace of melanoma. CT scan is clear so adjuvant treatment going forward was all I was told. 

I had a 4.1mm on back of my right hand. Like you 2 nodes in my right armpit but they took out all 29. We are so much better off now than 10 years ago.  Immunotherapy is a game changer. Hope all go weeks for you next Thursday.

Thank you for your insight and information. Glad you are keeping well

pembro for me too and will Hopefully be starting A week on Monday. 

That's great. I hope it goes as well for you as it has for me. No side effects. Be grateful. It costs the NHS tens of thousands of pounds for a one year treatment.

Hi, I thought I would update you all! It's been 2-3 months since my first post, and things have changed a lot since – Basically after the scans and MRI, needed to decide whether Pembro was a good option, they couldn't find any trace left in my body, so what they recommended was against Pembro, as there was virtually no need for it. So here I am, 3 months later, I consider myself cancer-free as the doctors mentioned, and going for check ups every 3 months and scans every 6 months. And being super careful in the sun!

Thanks so much to all of you for your replies and information and shared experiences. I wish you best of health on your journey!

Pleased for you Lucia.