First bimonthly surveillance scans completed

Every two months I will be having a CT scan (neck to thigh) and an MRI of my brain to monitor my lung cancer. I had 12 weeks of immunotherapy (Pembrolizumab) starting last October and it taught my T-cells
how to kill my cancer cells. The scans have shown the tumors decreasing in size every 2 months.

Alas, my T-cells also attacked my liver so I've been on steroids (prednisone 80mg/day) for two months and I'm now tapering down (currently 20mg/day) and will be off it in 2 weeks. The prednisone did not rescue my liver, so my hepatologist also put me on CellCept (2000 mg/day) an immunosuppresssor often used for transplant patients, and that has returned my liver function tests to near normal values. I'll start tapering that in mid May. The prednisone has many side effects, giving me a puffy face and fat deposits on my neck and abdomen, and increased fatigue, and skin rashes; so I'll be happy to be off it!

My most recent CT also showed a possible metastatic lesion in my small intestine, but because I'm on so many immuno-suppressants the risks of doing a biopsy far outweight the benefits, so my oncologist's plan is to just continue surveillance with another scan in 2 months and to watch out for symptoms like vomiting and stomach pain indicating the tumor is growing (and possibly blocking my small intestine).

On the whole the CT and MRI scans are very good news especially since I haven't been continuing the immunotherapy (due to the adverse effect on my liver). It is possible, even likely, that my T-cells will eliminate all of the tumors in my body (brain, lung, liver, adrenal gland, intestines,...) leaving only scar tissue behind.

My quality of life is pretty good. I'm walking a mile a day on the average, eating well, sleeping well, but I do have a lot of fatigue (napping every day) and I can't really walk more than about half a mile without needing to rest.

Still, I am very thankful for the simple life I am able to live. Yas and I have breakfast and dinner together every day, and we watch a few hours of TV at the end of the day before going to bed. My kids that live in Boston (Caitlin and Ryan) stop by to visit every week and Yas and I are going to New Orleans to see Shaye next week. I have a nice Zoom session with my siblings every Sunday evening and I will be retiring at the end of May this year.

I'm hopeful that I'll continue to get stronger and eventually return to my baseline with no cancer (or with the cancer not progressing!) but mostly I'm just grateful for the wonderful life I've been able to live, filled with love, and beauty, and a healthy body and mind to learn about the world! I've learned that worrying about scan results and cancer progressionn is a useless enterprise and so I don't do it. Life is what it is, and I am incredibly lucky to have the life I have! If challenges arise, we'll face them then, but for now there is plenty to appreciate in the here and now!

Comments

  1. JaneApril 15, 2026 at 8:39 PM

    Hooray for your T-cells! Have a great trip to New Orleans! Napping is healing!

    ReplyDelete

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