I was diagnosed with likely renal cell carcinoma, and had a partial nephrectomy of my left kidney. The tumor was small at 2cm, but was path'd at Stage 3 clear cell renal cell carcinoma; the tumor had gone into the fatty tissue around the kidney. The surgeon was able to get clear margins, an 8 week post surgery CT with contrast of the pelvis, abdomen and chest show no signs of metastasis.

The urologic oncologist who did the surgery referred me to an oncologist, who wants to put me on an every 3 weeks for 15 months regimen of pembro, aka Keytruda.

I don't have cancer right now, but apparently the Stage 3 spooks the oncologist and therefore a seemingly difficult year plus of immunotherapy seems to have about as many potential side effects as chemo - with a minimal (5%) 5 year life expectancy bonus. I haven't decided to do the Keytruda, or just wait to see if cancer returns and then deal with it the usual ways.

Anyone here gone through immunotherapy, but not chemo or radiation? How was it?

aileron - 75 years young

(Not a doctor) Dad (95yo) was diagnosed with bladder cancer that metastasized to his spine, lungs, lymph nodes. He was put on Keytruda 4 years ago - and he is doing well. No side effects and the cancer has not continued expansion. Your success/side effects may vary.

I would jump on the immunotherapy. I’ve worked in medical research in the past and I feel like this is a good option.

Hopefully insured - Averages 18K for 3 weeks
Good luck - Cancer Sucks

quote:

I don't have cancer right now, but apparently the Stage 3 spooks the oncologist and therefore a seemingly difficult year plus of immunotherapy seems to have about as many potential side effects as chemo

^^^^^^^^^^
To clarify things you probably still have cancer cells in your body but they are nondetectable. Stage 3 is serious stuff. Side effects from both are unpleasant. Some people have few side effects others wish they were dead, My oncologist told me I had many more side effects than the average person. However, I continued to work which seemed to help me, I had a couple of hospitalizations along the way. Chemo is often done in a group setting which is interesting. I have read your posts in the past and sensed your determination.

Sorry to hear you have to go through this, cancer sucks. My sister, melanoma that spread to brain and liver, has been on immunotherapy for a year now and it has been great for her. She is 66 diagnosed at 65. Yes she has side effects. Mainly change in taste. Has had to adjust her diet a lot over the year. Only other side effect is being tired. But she has a B12 IV booster, I think it's 12 but it's a vitamin booster also, given to her at same time as infusion IV. This has helped her a lot from being tired. Has her energy back. She was going every 4 weeks for the infusion. She did get a port to keep from being stuck every time. Which greatly improved her quality of life and attitude about the infusions. Port is also used for all blood draws and for contrast when she has MRI and/or CatScans. Which are done every 90 days since that's how often insurance will pay for them. The IV time is about 30min. But she has to go to the infusion office for "setup", gets her room/chair assigned and orders out into the pharmacy and blood work done. Then walks down the hall to see her oncologist who has the lab results by then. Has her consult with doc goes over results and how well or not things are going. Then back down the hall to IV room for the infusion. Overall takes 2-3 hours pending how busy they are. Unfortunately they have no lack of cancer patients, which can be depressing but I hope they have good results like my sister has had. It's been a very easy process and the docs, nurses and staff are all top notch and very caring and inspire all the patients. After about 9 months she went to a every 6 weeks infusion treatment. She is responding exceptionally well to the treatment. Her nodules have gone down in size with every scan results. Her doctor has been been very impressed with her outcome so far. Her last scan recently showed her nodule sizes are what they call "could be" cancer since they are smaller than what is classified for cancer but still there. If that makes since. I have gone with her in several of these visits and have seen firsthand the treatment and talked to the doctor and seen the results. The first iirc 3-4 infusion treatments he did do a double dose like IV, two bags instead of one but two different drugs, like a booster dose. Then he went the single bag. Immunotherapy is tailored to your individual needs and is supposed to target just the cancer and not the whole body like chemotherapy.


Her brain cancer was treated with direct radiation once a day for like 10 days. That made her loose her hair but it has grown back to about 50% now. Immunotherapy has not affected her hair. She has a different doc for her brain. So far only the one radiation treatment from a year ago. But the scans of her brain every 90 days also show greatly reduced masses.

Only you can determine why you want to do but from what I've seen my sister go through it appears immunotherapy is promising.

I do have a first cousin that was diagnosed with breast cancer 16/17 years ago now. She has been doing a chemotherapy regimen for all these years and has had good results aside from the bad side effects, which so far my sister hasn't had.

Good luck with your outcome and hope you beat this. Cancer sucks.

Whatever the side effects, do it… you don’t want any part of stage 4.

Chemo is much more fraught with side effects and generally reserved for patients with a higher burden.

Each case is different, if you wish, get a second opinion from a cancer center of excellence.

All the best wishes for beating this.

My daughter-in-law’s sister owes her life to Keytruda. It’s been so successful that Merck ( IIRC) is focusing ALL their immunotherapy research on finding more uses for Keytruda. Immunotherapy for most people is vastly superior to chemotherapy as far as side effects AND effectiveness are concerned. Renal cell cancer historically has had poor outcomes over time.
I’m not familiar with specific data on Keytruda for this indication; personally if urological oncologist is offering it I would jump at it.
(Retired cardiologist, history of bladder cancer).

Thanks to all, I see the oncologist today and should hear the results of what seems to be the tumors or bodies sensitivity to Keytruda's PD-1 effectiveness.
Scary stuff, although the surgery went well and was done out of state by a doc who does 50/year of these partial nephrectomies with his robot, it isn't one and done... and I'm now likely in a life long wait and see... and maybe wack-a-mole with the RCC. Hard to get my head around this as I've been pretty healthy up to now.

Stage 2 melanoma led to Keytruda in 2021. That ended the function of my adrenal gland, a couple miserable months before diagnosis. One of the cancer docs told me they wouldn't have gone with the Keytruda a year earlier, they were just starting to use it beyond its original purpose, lung cancer I think. Keytruda is proving effective for most and, more importantly, immunotherapy in general is the future of cancer treatment.

I'm the exception rather than the rule but yeah, there are risks.

Wow, this is interesting and of course I am sorry for your difficulties. I cannot add anything to the conversation. Just checking in. I’ve had 4 unrelated cancers since 2010 (last one within the last year. Going in tomorrow for colonyonknow what to see if I have another cancer. Getiing old is not for the weak.

My father in law is looking at immunotherapy for recurring tumors appearing on his head. It may be a fight to get insurance to pay for it though. Its extremely expensive.