So the anti inflammatories are working splendidly, just as advertised. I'm down to 2 per day so the burning gut isn't quite so bad. It also gives me a nice little pep, which, if I'm not careful, will disallow me to sleep some nights. I'm even off the cane with barely a limp.
Anyway, I was looking into Ipilimumab (my "plan b" drug), side effects and what not. Looks like it can cause a lot of intestinal issues (like colitis) and other auto-immune manifestations. In some cases, it caused hepatitis, liver failure and death, so hopefully that doesn't happen. The drug is effective at stopping tumor growth, but not at shrinking tumor size. It's another band aid, just like my current drug. It's not meant to throw cancer into remission, just prolong survival by an average of 4 months. That's right, 4 extra months (on average). The drug is only effective in 20% of patients and may take months to even become effective. So once you start, you have a giant time window where no treatment is actually taking place, and the cancer can do what it wants. But 6 months down the road when it finally starts to kick in, only then can it be known if the drug is even working.
Hope everyone is having a nice weekend.
Anyway, I was looking into Ipilimumab (my "plan b" drug), side effects and what not. Looks like it can cause a lot of intestinal issues (like colitis) and other auto-immune manifestations. In some cases, it caused hepatitis, liver failure and death, so hopefully that doesn't happen. The drug is effective at stopping tumor growth, but not at shrinking tumor size. It's another band aid, just like my current drug. It's not meant to throw cancer into remission, just prolong survival by an average of 4 months. That's right, 4 extra months (on average). The drug is only effective in 20% of patients and may take months to even become effective. So once you start, you have a giant time window where no treatment is actually taking place, and the cancer can do what it wants. But 6 months down the road when it finally starts to kick in, only then can it be known if the drug is even working.
Hope everyone is having a nice weekend.