Immunotherapy works but has Adverse Effects --11/29/2025

 This week I had my first adverse effects from the immunotherapy and went back to the hospital for the 4th time. On Monday 8/24 I woke up from nap in the morning and Yas though my voice was slurred. Our oncologists told us to report every suspected symptom, so we called and they advised us to go to the Emergency Department, so Yas drove me down and they ran a CT scan of my head and torso and did blood tests.

The good news is that the CT scan of my torso showed that all of the big tumors in my chest had shrunk by about 25% since the last scan (4 weeks ago).  

Yay!  The immunotherapy is working.

They checked me in to the 8th floor of the Feldberg building. The staff had all recently moved from Reisman 11 where I spent the last 3 hospital visits so there were lots of familiar faces. On the intake exam they noticed some rashes on my forehead and back, so I needed a dermatology consult. After 2 days they discharged me from the hospital on Wed 11/26, the day before Thanksgiving with 6 additional prescriptions.

I seem to have a flare up of rosacia, which is nearly gone due to the twice daily creams I apply.

I also have a rash on my arms, back, belly, and legs which looks horrible but doesn't hurt or itch. This is a very common side effect of Pembrolizumab/Keytruda and I'm treating it with Allegra (60 mg twice a day) and a topical steroid.  The nurse said it will probably get worse before it gets better, but it is nothing to worry about.

Other side effects are that my tongue felt raw (that is getting better) and my sense of taste has changed so the turkey we had for Thankgiving tasted like cardboard  :(   Hopefully my sense of taste will return.

There will almost certainly be more side effects and more trips to the Emergency Department as they want to be extra careful to catch any potentially dangerous side effects early.

I had a lot to be thankful for this Thanksgiving. My sister Nora came up from New Mexico which was fun and my step-daughter Shaye and her partner Kyndra flew up from New Orlean, and my nephew Josiah took the bus up from Queens. We also had our close friends Chris and Lisa Sjoholm and two of their three children (now in their 30's) joining us for the 25th time, at least. My daughter Caitlin and her boyfriend Scott joined us as did my son Ryan, but his girlfriend was sick so couldn't make it....

The big news is that my tumors are shrinking (most by about 25%!) after only 2 infusions (on a 3 week cycles)


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