Coasting toward remission

 


I met with my main oncologists today, Drs. Costa and Caradonna, and we reviwed my medical history and made a plan.  My brain MRI came back with no new mets and some of the lesions have shrunk. My LFTs dropped (by about 50%) today.  They are still quite high but moving rapidly in the right direction. I have an appointment with my hepatologist on March 5th and if the blood tests are close to the normal range then they'll start tapering me off the CellCept and Prednisone, and I'll only be on my anti-seizure medication Kepra, which I can stop taking in May.

We probably won't do any more Pembrolizumab (Keytruda) infusions; partly because I had a Stage 3 adverse effect as my immune system has been attacking my liver; and partly because it seems that the Pembro has trained my killer T-cells to effectively kill my cancer cells, so I don't need any more immunotherapy at this point.

From now on I will just be getting CT and MRI scans every two months and we hope (and expect) to see no new metastases and some shrinkage of existing lesions.  Some of the lesions won't shrink because they are mostly scar tissue, blood vessels, etc.. all of the infrastructure that the tumor created as it was growing, but now that the cancer cells seem mostly dead or at least stable, the scar tissue won't vanish but it isn't threatening.

I'm feeling healthier and stronger every day and I'm trying to walk a mile or two and do PT exercises.  I can now easily walk up and down stairs without using the railing. I can also maintain mental focus for several hours at a time (which is great as I'm working fixing bugs and adding features to my Mastery Learning App). I'm getting much more independent which feels great!

For the first time in a long time (since my craniotomy in August) I can now start to make long term plans and work on major projects.  We are still in surveillance mode, so the cancer could start growing again and if it does we'll deal with it, but for now I'm very happy with how my life is going and I'm determined to enjoy spending time with my loved ones and appreciating my good fortune!  


Comments

  1. Pito SalasFebruary 10, 2026 at 2:19 PM

    Wow, Tim, that’s amazing progress. So happy to hear it! Keep strong.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Elizabeth DienerFebruary 10, 2026 at 7:43 PM

    Glad to hear it!!

    ReplyDelete
  3. JaneFebruary 11, 2026 at 11:43 AM

    Thank you as always, for these last 2 detailed reports. It is so good to hear that you gaining back your strength, mobility and appetite! Way to go!

    ReplyDelete

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