Naniconi wrote:My husband is going to start keytruda. For those on it, do you get premeds before infusion? What are the side effects? How do you monitor for response to it? His CEA now is 5 and has not significantly increased even if he’s having ascites. How soon do you know that you have positive response. Any other advice?
Thanks so much,
Naniconi
Hello Naniconi, I have been on Keytruda for 1.5 years now. I do not have any premeds at all. I know some have a bit of Benadryl but I have had no reaction of any type. It is a very fast infusion. Meds run for about 30 minutes and then another 15 minutes or so to completely flush the lines. It doesn’t sap my energy so the rest of the day is “normal”.
I knew it was working after about 4 weeks. I had numerous aggressively growing tumours and was in a lot of pain at the start of treatment. By 4 weeks in my pain had started to lessen. By 6 weeks I could see visible shrinkage in my enlarged lymph node in my neck. I had a scan 10 weeks in and it showed basically everything had shrunk by half. That was a great day!
I hope your husband has a similar result.
Beth
42yo At diagnosis. Female in BC, Canada
Dx: CC ascending
Right Hemi colectomy 06/16 clear margins
Adenocarcinoma 6cm High Grade
pT3 pN2a Stage 3
10 out of 16 lymph involved
MSI-h, Kras mut, Braf wild
Finished chemo Feb. 2017
PET scan showing active area April 2017
July 2017 CT showing LN mass and spread to other LN
Stage 4
Aug 2017 failed Fofiri
Sept 2017 keytruda scans every 3 months showing shrinkage and stability
November 2018 CT shows only 1 small tumour left
September 2019 clear CT finally NED!!!