The last few weeks have been rough on me. My cancer – melanoma – is now resident in my lungs as three distinct spots. I have been assured that a new drug is available and is specifically produced to eliminate this melanoma. It has taken a few weeks to get this drug but I now have it.
My oncologist has prescribed these two drugs (Tafinar and Mekinist), a combination therapy to treat my melanoma that has spread to other parts of my body (metastatic) or that cannot be removed by surgery (unresectable). My previous melanomas were removed by surgery (resectable) last December
I take two capsules (total of 150 mg) plus one other small pill – 2 mg – at 9 a.m. with no food for two hours before taking the pills, and no food for one hour after taking the pills. The doctor is very specific for this regime. I am not allowed to touch the pills as they are apparently quite toxic to touch. The pills are made by Novartis – Tafinar (da-BRA-fe-nib) and Mekinist (tra-MET-i-nib) – known as BRA and MET.
The same routine happens at 9 p.m. with these two cancer capsules and no food for two hours before and one hour after food. I figure that it important for these pills to get into the blood stream as fast and a complete as possible. I go to the oncologist this coming Tuesday. He does some sort of evaluation and, I guess, that I will continue until a CT Scan in mid-June to see if the melanoma spots have been removed. BRA is a very strong cancer capsule and is very expensive, so I hope it works in a short time (covered by OHIP). The MET is a small pill that helps the BRA get into my system.
They do have some side effects that are comparable to the steroid (prednisone) that I am taking for my dermatomyositis (an autoimmune disease). Including other prescriptions and vitamins I take approximately 12 pills per day. This pill BRA has a weird effect on me. Up to now, and for the last four months, I have been getting up early (8 a.m.) after a good night sleep of 6-7 hours. Now, for the last few days, I am sleeping late after a good night’s sleep. For example, this morning my wife woke me up just after 11 a.m. I had slept for approximately 9.7 hours. This was after a 1.4-hour snooze in the living room in front of the TV that evening. Unbelievable! Now I wonder at what time I will be able to get to sleep tonight. I am also dreaming pleasant dreams, something that is also new to me. I wonder what will be next.
This is a major change for me. I am a good sleeper but this is out of the ordinary. I wonder what the oncologist will say on Tuesday. Maybe he will fill me in on the effect that the BRA and MEK are having on my system. Sometimes I wonder if the doctors really know what effect their prescriptions will have on me. I am confident that they will not harm me as they have been authorized by Health Canada. I am a very curious person and wonder how these prescriptions will change me.
Time will tell and time does march on and I am feeling pretty good considering what I have put my body and brain through in the last 10 years or so.
I do keep wondering what the future will bring on for me. Maybe I am running out of diseases? I hope so!
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Bob Murray is retired from the graphic communication (printing) industry and has been living in Seaforth since 2015. Murray was diagnosed with Dementia in 2013 and works hard to stop the progress of the disease to AD. He shares his experiences in his column entitled “My Voyage with Dementia.” Follow him on his blog entitled Voyage with Dementia – https://myvoyage553264702.wordpress.com.
