Bobby, Dan and I returned from Charlotte on Wednesday. It was week 48 in the clinical trial....48/60. More on this in a bit. I'm sure you want to hear about the scans and any news. Well, the news is (still) terrific. The scans showed nothing new. There is still that one tumor that won't budge. We are talking about melanoma here--perhaps it would be a bit unreasonable to expect EVERY tumor to cooperate? That one tumor hasn't changed. It is small and it isn't growing-we won't let it take away from the miracle we are seeing. Bobby hasn't had problems with side effects which is icing on the cake.
There is a study that was done comparing melanoma patients who received Ipi, Ipi + vaccine, and vaccine only. The overall survival for the patients in this study was just over 10 months. Since advanced melanoma doesn't offer many miracles, it is hard to even describe with words.
What's next? The next trip to Charlotte is in November. That visit will be the same as others (scans, labs, Ipi) and that will wrap up the original clinical trial. Ending that trial with a "COMPLETE RESPONSE" will be the goal...and will hopefully open doors for Ipi to obtain FDA approval. Ipi has the best outcome of any treatment for advanced melanoma so far. 10-15% of patients do well and those are considered high numbers. Bobby may be a rare specimen--very special to all of us and to other melanoma patients forever.
Bobby's doctor said that there is no data to tell us what will happen next. They plan to continue giving Bobby Ipi like he has been getting it over the last year. When the drug gets FDA approval, there could be some changes but we don't know what those might be. The future will be what is happening now...and is a definite blessing.
The kids start school on Wednesday. Summer ended quickly. We have pictures from our vacation that I'll post soon. I've been trying to get this update posted since Thursday...getting pictures up will be a work in progress.
