Next Up

I had a successful trip to Los Angeles on June 12, where I met with Dr. Steven O'Day of The Angeles Clinic. He is Chief of Research and Director of the Melanoma Program, and is well known nationally for his work with melanoma. The John Wayne Cancer Institute (JWCI) sent me to him after they had reviewed my files in preparation for my visit, as he was a better fit for me than was JWCI, which handles more surgical oncology.

The doctor recommended that I proceed with the MDX010 trial that my regular doctor, Dr. Minor, had suggested. Both doctors have had patients with brain metastases which have had positive responses to this treatment, so they are hopeful, which makes me hopeful as well. No guarantees, but definitely hope.

Interestingly, both doctors said that, in general, I do not qualify for most clinical trials that are or would be available. That is because, in most cases, the patient needs to have larger tumors (1 CM or greater) to qualify. All of my tumors that have been discovered in the past year have been in the brain, and all have been 2 MM or less. This is good for me because they are relatively easy to remove with stereotactic radiation and are less likely to demonstrate negative side effects that would impact how I live. But this prevents me from qualifying for clinical trials.

I am able to try MDX010, which is in clinical trial, because it has a 'compassionate use' exception. This reduces the number of hurdles that are required to qualify, mainly not requiring a minimum size of tumor. Instead, I just need to have melanoma that recurred after completing other treatments (such as biochemo) and the doctor must believe that MDX010 could help. Check and check!

I start this new set of treatments in early July. I go into the doctor's office for an infusion of MDX010 once every 3 weeks. The infusion takes about 2 hours. After 4 treatments over about 2 months, I then get the same treatment every 3 months ongoing, assuming that it appears to be helping my situation.

There is potential for side effects, some easy and some not so easy. However, the doctors have said that, most likely, this treatment should be much less toxic than the biochemo. Also interesting to note is that the doctors said that having some side effects, even on the more severe end of the range, has typically been a good sign that the MDX010 is working.

While I have been waiting to start the new treatment, Michelle, Lucy and I have been having fun. Here is a picture from Father's Day and another from our trip to see Elmo Live. And we are heading down to Disneyland at the end of the week.

Thanks for everyone who has been sending articles on different melanoma treatments. They are all very helpful.