May 19th - update - treatment plan

Hi everyone,
Thanks for being patient while Dr. Kaplan and I figured out my treatment plan.

I will be going in on Thursday, 5/21, for my first shot of GM-CSF. It is a 2-week on, then 2-week off schedule. I will be able to self-administer this at home and will remain on this treatment until the almost-newly-FDA-approved cancer drug, ipilimumab, is available at the UW with Dr. Thompson sometime in July or later. At that time and after a 4-week break from GM-CSF, I will change over to that treatment.

Both of these non-toxic treatments have shown some success in prolonging re-occurrence. We hope that my body will respond positively to both of these treatments and that I will not have any adverse side-effects.

Other than that, I am glad to report that since we removed the "met" in my scapula, I am in N.E.D. status - No Evidence of Disease status, and I plan on remaining that way for a long time :-) They will have me tested every 3 months to check for re-occurrence.

Again, thank you for your love and support through-out all of this, it has been invaluable!

And for those of you who watch the popular TV show, Grey's Anatomy, the character Dr. Izzy Stevens had Stage 4 metastatic melanoma, like me, but hers was very advanced in her brain and organs. Can you believe the timing of that story-line ? Crazy!!

Thanks again!
~Keri

PS The girls may be updating the blog with all their "news" now that we should be done with my health updates until later this summer.