Two Lucky

Medarex, or MDX-010

Rusty had his fourth and final infusion last Thursday. The side effects of the drug are cumulative. In the last few days, he is more tired, more dehydrated and despite my care, still losing weight.

The pain in his right abdominal area also seems to be getting worse. Dr Wolchok said this is due to his liver being inflamed. “The liver gets angry. It’s not an uncommon reaction among other trial patients.

“It could either indicate tumor progression, or the tumors may be shrinking.” I sit up, but he is reluctant to give an opinion as to which is more likely.

For now, we wait to take scans. That will shed some light on what’s going on. Of all of Rusty’s scans, these next ones are possibly the most significant. I have learned not to ask for much, just a sign that we can still beat this.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 23rd, 2007 at 7:30 pm and is filed under New York, Melanoma. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.