Chemo didn't last; starting Immune therapy next week.

Hi Tanya,
I'm new to this site and I related to your message as my dad is on Keytruda at the moment (total of 11 doses so far). How is your husband doing?

My dad was diagnosed with stage 4 urothelial carcinoma in May 2016 (at 71 years old) and has been on Keytruda since June 2016. He was only on 100mg and only have it every 4-8 weeks as we need to fly to Malaysia for this treatment (dad lives in Indonesia). In September 2016, pet scan showed that the metastasis on the neck and chest lymph nodes have regressed. He has been doing reasonably okay with some side effects including hypothyroidism and skin rashes, then in October 2017 he had a week course of hypofractionated radiotherapy to relieve bleeding in urine. He continued having Keytruda in Dec 2017 and Feb 2018 then late Feb his bile duct got blocked and he turned yellow, despite normal liver function in early Feb! His liver function just went all over the place within 3 weeks. We flew to Malaysia and he had biliary stent put in. He seems to be doing not too bad now, not yellow anymore and no blood in urine also no pain. However, he has lost a bit of weight after the jaundice. So we are anxious to see what his pet scan shows in 2 weeks time. We are thinking to switch to Ipilimumab, both the oncologist in Malaysia and Singapore seem pessimistic, but fingers crossed!

Best wishes,
Mena

Tanya,

Wishing, along with you, for positive results from the new medication.
Good to hear that it was well tolerated.
I'm sorry there was not much info to offer here - you are on the leading edge of the science.

Best,
Jack

Thanks Jack for you reply. First treatment went pretty easy yesterday. Much easier than chemotherapy. We have been counseled to have 3 sessions, 1 every 3 weeks an then repeat the PET or CT scan to check on progress in halting the spread or resolving the cancer. So now we wait and pray.

Tanya,

I recalled only a couple of comments on this board about Keytruda, so I searched the forum; there are only questions, no answers.

Keytruda is newly approved for bladder cancer - it received very fast approval based on encouraging results for a percentage of patients.

The problem with new medications is that they do not have an extensive track record. The good news is that they are available now.

Best to you and your husband,
Jack

We found out this week that the Chemo didn't last for my husband more than a couple months. PET scan shows it has now spread to lymphs outside the pelvis. With the chronic renal failure as a result of the Cisplatin the only option, which the doctors don't agree on, is to try the Immune therapy.
Conflicting impressions from the oncologist; so I'd love to hear how others with Stage IV Urothelial Bladder cancer that failed chemotherapy have done with the Immune therapy Keytruda. The only option is to do nothing at this point and get his affairs in order. Pretty sobering visits this week.