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Wife DX with T2 Micropapillary Cancer…
Hello,
My wife dx with T2 Micropapillary cancer in September. She has completed 3 cycles of chemo. The first one was CisGem, the remaining two were Gem.Taxol. The fourth cycle will be this coming Friday and I believe will be CisGem now that has he kidney function has returned to normal.
After the fourth cycle has been completed they are going to restage to determine plan from there.
We are located in Houston and she is being treated at M.D. Anderson.
All of this sound like we are on the right track?
Thanks in advance.
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79 Replies
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Thanks once again! Your comment about going 1-2 times a year is very interesting development. You are helping a lot of people by posting!
DX 5/6/2008 TAG3 papillary tumor .5 CM in size. 2 TURBS followed by 6 instillations of BCG weekly with a second round of 6 after a 6 week wait. -
Latest 3 month checkup last Monday. The scans were stable once again!
She remains on Keytruda and has been on it since her cancer returned as Stage 4 in November 0f 2020. She was originally diagnosed in August 2019 with muscle invasive plasmacytoid bladder cancer. She had her RC January of 2020.
Her main side effect is still soreness/fatigue. She still gets around fine and is self sufficient.
There has been one interesting development. Because of the severity of the side effects, fatigue, joint pain, possibly exacerbation of COPD, etc. she is considering reducing the frequency or discontinuing infusions. Her oncologist stated that studies show that once on two years of Keytruda that the body should be trained to fight off the cancer. She will make that decision over the holidays.
Every day is a great day. Will report back in three months, hopefully nothing worth reporting until then.
Thanks,
James
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James,
Thanks for the report and congratulations on the good news.
DX 5/6/2008 TAG3 papillary tumor .5 CM in size. 2 TURBS followed by 6 instillations of BCG weekly with a second round of 6 after a 6 week wait. -
Sorry for the late 3 month checkup report. The scans were stable once again!
She remains on Keytruda and has been on it since her cancer returned as Stage 4 in November 0f 2020. She as originally diagnosed in August 2019 with muscle invasive plasmacytoid bladder cancer. She had her RC January of 2020.
Her main side effect is still soreness/fatigue. She still gets around fine and is self sufficient.
Unfortunately she has also been diagnosed with moderate COPD. Her symptoms are coughing and shortness of breath. She is on an inhaler. She is not on oxygen as her oxygen level stays around 95%. Her oncologist is not sure if the Keytruda is exacerbating the COPD. It may be a balancing act as far as continuing the immunotherapy while watching the COPD closely.
Every day is a great day. Will report back in three months, hopefully nothing worth reporting until then.
Thanks,
James
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Thanks again JamesF for updating us about your journey glad. I am about the good report. All I can add is MD Anderson has an amazing bladder cancer center!
DX 5/6/2008 TAG3 papillary tumor .5 CM in size. 2 TURBS followed by 6 instillations of BCG weekly with a second round of 6 after a 6 week wait. -
Well time for the latest 3 month scan update. The scans were stable once again!
She did have an interesting event occur a month ago. The area around her stoma became irritated and started bleeding profusely. Her ostomy bag filled with blood in short order. She was transported via ambulance to the nearest hospital where they were able to stop the bleeding by cauterizing the wound. Since that time she has met with the ostomy nurse at MD Anderson and the wound is slowly looking better. It was a very scary experience for her as she was visiting her family out of state when the situation occurred.
She remains on Keytruda and has been on it since her cancer returned as Stage 4 in November 0f 2020. She had her RC January of 2020.
Her main side effect is still soreness/fatigue.
She still gets around fine and is self sufficient.
Every day is a great day. Will report back in three months, hopefully nothing worth reporting until then.
Thanks,
James
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That was really good news. Your wife deserves a “Hero” badge…and you deserve one also!
We always hear about bad side effects of drugs. Unfortunately, there are “good” ones also. Feeling good is one bad/good side effect of steroids. And patients don’t want to go off them for this reason and then the bad side effects set in.
Keep up the good work……….
Sara Anne
Diagnosis 2-08 Small papillary TCC; CIS
BCG; BCG maintenance
Vice-President, American Bladder Cancer Society
Forum Moderator -
Every day IS a great day! Thanks.
DX 5/6/2008 TAG3 papillary tumor .5 CM in size. 2 TURBS followed by 6 instillations of BCG weekly with a second round of 6 after a 6 week wait. -
Well we had an interesting event take place during this past three month period. About a month ago my wife had a cough that would not go away. She then started having shortness of breath and an elevated heart rate. Her doctor had her go to the ER at MD Anderson. After a four day stay in the hospital they sent her home with oxygen and steroids. As of the time of this writing she has completed her steroids and uses the oxygen rarely. They never did get to the bottom of the illness, they think possibly COPD or asthma.
Now as far as her scans. They did two of the three scans while she was in the hospital. The following scan was completed a week later as usual. All three scans were in fact clean, no changes.
Before her next appointment she will have a bone scan. They are a little concerned about her elevated heart rate as it is regularly 120-130 with little exertion.
She remains on Keytruda and has been on it 28 months since her cancer returned as Stage 4 in November 0f 2020. She had her RC January of 2020.
Her main side effect is still soreness/fatigue. NOTE: She felt great while on steroids.
She still gets around fine and is self sufficient. In fact she has recently started driving again. Her first trip was to the grocery this week.
Her next milestone will be Easter.Every day is a great day. Will report back in three months, hopefully nothing worth reporting until then.
Thanks,
James
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James, thanks. Very positive and hope for all.
DX 5/6/2008 TAG3 papillary tumor .5 CM in size. 2 TURBS followed by 6 instillations of BCG weekly with a second round of 6 after a 6 week wait. -
Just got news today that the latest scans came in stable again! No news is good news.
She remains on Keytruda and has been on it 25 months since her cancer returned as Stage 4 in November 0f 2020. She had her RC January of 2020.
Her main side effect is still soreness/fatigue. She does have a bump that feels soft near her elbow that they may do a biopsy on.
She still gets around fine and is self sufficient. Next big milestone will be her reunion with cousins in September. Another holiday season is just around the corner.
Every day is a great day. Will report back in three months, hopefully nothing worth reporting until then.
Thanks,
James
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Wonderful news…keep it coming!!
Sara Anne
Diagnosis 2-08 Small papillary TCC; CIS
BCG; BCG maintenance
Vice-President, American Bladder Cancer Society
Forum Moderator -
Congrats and I am happy for both of you! Thanks.
DX 5/6/2008 TAG3 papillary tumor .5 CM in size. 2 TURBS followed by 6 instillations of BCG weekly with a second round of 6 after a 6 week wait. -
Just got news today that the latest scans came in stable again!
She remains on Keytruda and has been on it 22 months since her cancer returned as Stage 4 in November 0f 2020. She had her RC January of 2020.
Her main side effect is still soreness/fatigue. She does have a bump that feels soft near her elbow that they may do a biopsy on. Will keep that posted if it occurs.
She still gets around fine and is self sufficient. Next big milestone will be her reunion with cousins in September. Another holiday season is just around the corner.
Every day is a great day. She is not done fighting. We will continue on this road as long as we can.
Thanks,
James
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Thanks for the updates. You ARE helping people!
DX 5/6/2008 TAG3 papillary tumor .5 CM in size. 2 TURBS followed by 6 instillations of BCG weekly with a second round of 6 after a 6 week wait.
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