Friday, July 24, 2015

Keytruda miracle mesothelioma cancer

Hi from Lou

On Weds 22 July 2015 overnight in hospital I had my no. 6 dose of the wonder drug Keytruda infused (similar to chemotherapy).  A blood test prior to the drug showed that all my bloods were up including my haemoglobin at 124!  Since Nov 2014 it has been around 100, 90s and as low as early 70s needing blood transfusions every few weeks, so an amazing turnaround to see my blood making red blood cells and the reading going up!
Haemoglobin is an iron-containing protein in red blood cells. Haemoglobin carries oxygen around the body and without enough of it your muscles and organs don’t get all the oxygen they need.

My weight has also increased in the last 3 weeks going up to just under 50 kilos (3 weeks ago 43.5 kilos).

I was given the all clear to fly 2 hours to Queensland (Gold Coast) in between my treatment No. 5 and No. 6.  The last 30 mins of my flight to Queensland saw my tummy/chest tightening and swollen making breathing slightly difficult, however coming home it was much less laboured.  Considering that flying was not an option from Jan 2015 due to my body shutting down, Keith and myself could not stop smiling at each other knowing that this really is a miracle how my health thanks to Keytruda has kicked started my immune system giving me a lifeline/my quality of life back.   To be able to travel/fly even though a short one is so fantastic as we love travelling so much.

We enjoyed our time on the Gold Coast/Brisbane catching up with family and friends in between having rests to recuperate/get my energy zapping and loving the warmer weather and bright sun!

Lou Williams's photo.
My beautiful daughter Debbie, and her 2 little girls (my grandkids) Meadow and Evie.

I believe so much in this wonder drug Keytruda.  January 2015 my body was shutting down and there was nothing that could be done, I literally had no control over my mind/body - on oxygen, weight dropping off fast, nausea, pain .... .  Now no pain, no medication, no oxygen!  It has shown to have significant shrinkage for pleural mesothelioma.  In my case I have both pleural and peritoneal mesothelioma and my recent scans have shown significant shrinkage in both areas including fluid shrinkage.
This photo was taken on my birthday in April 2015 using oxygen, extremely fatigued and weight dropping off fast.

I am so wanting it to be available to all mesothelioma patients as another choice of treatment option to be discussed with their oncologist team.  Today Keith and myself had a meeting with our local Federal Member of Parliament to discuss the process of getting Keytruda put on the PBS/free list to be available for Mesothelioma cancer.  It has been approved and will be on the PBS list as of 1 September 2015 for Melanoma cancer however not for Mesothelioma cancer.  Thank you to our Federal Member of Parliament who was very helpful and I feel will help me to do this for myself and other Mesothelioma patients.

Lou's email address
louise_w_2000@yahoo.com
eradicateasbestos@gmail.com

Friday, July 3, 2015

Keytruda shrinks Mesothelioma tumours

Hi from Lou

As you can see from my subject title - Keytruda is having remarkable shrinkage on my tumours!  As I have peritoneal and pleural mesothelioma Keytruda is amazingly shrinking both areas and including shrinkage of fluid! Results below of scan compared to my last scan on 19/5/15.

CT CHEST; ABDOMEN AND PELVIS
Postcontrast imaging and comparison made with the study of 19/5/15.
Chest: The patient is cachetic . No pericardial or pleural effusion; norpleurally based soft tissue mass. No enlarged lymph nodes. There are several very small pulmonary nodules bilaterally; the largest of which lies within theapico-posterior segment of the left upper lobe. These have not progressed. No aggressive bone lesion.

Posterior right thoracotomy.Abdomen and Pelvis: An ovoid hypodense lesion within the periphery of the rightlobe measures 16mm in diameter and is entirely unchanged. It is solid rather than cystic and was not present in an earlier CT from 2006. Remaining solid viscera are unremarkable. There is a fat containing lesion of the left kidney consistent with an incidental angio myolipoma.
The gallbladder and biliary tree are normal.No ascites.  No significantly enlarged lymph nodes. Acystic lesion adjacent to the inferior tip of the liver seen on the previous examination is no longer present. Within the region of the Pouch of Douglas; a mildly thick-walled irregularly shaped cystic lesion; which appears to be separate from bowel loops; has reduced in size since the prior examination and is less complex in appearance. It currently measures approximately 80 x 30mm axially. Pelvic surgical clips. No aggressive bone lesion. L2 anterior vertebral body height loss.

Conclusion: Improved appearances compared with the previous examination including resolution of a cystic lesion adjacent to the right liver lobe; and size reduction of cystic lesion in the Pouch of Douglas. Elsewhere the disease is stable.

Lou's comments:
So amazing are these results especially on peritoneal and pleural mesothelioma given that I was prior to this treatment dying - weight was rapidly decreasing ... it is stable atm  45.3 kilos, my body was shutting down and I was extremely fatigued.

Today I am off all medications including morphine/anti nausea tablets and if I have a niggly ache then I just take some panadol osteo tablets and have a lie down for an hour or so.

Every day I am getting stronger, back to basic cooking and housework, enjoying going out for a couple of hours and starting to walk faster and for longer periods.  Plus oxygen is needed less and less!  So amazing results.  I had No. 5 Keytruda dose overnight in hospital on Weds 1 July along with 2 units of blood in a transfusion.  I am not making many red blood cells ... .

Keytruda on PBS (free list) from 1 September 2015 
Keytruda was announced by the Government on Sunday 28 June 2015 that it will be put on the free list, unfortunately it will only be for melanoma cancer as it has had remarkable results.  I would like to see Keytruda on the free list for all cancers including Mesothelioma as it has the potential to help so many others, especially where other treatments have failed.