Nathan Calhoun's Blog: Archive

There is no sign of cancer anywhere

After my last two rounds of IL-2, I had to wait for 4 weeks to get my scans done and see where we stood with treatment. My last 2 rounds were by far, the most difficult of the treatment. Even now, a month later, I’m still struggling with side effects. I wanted to wait to update live life loud, until after I got my results back. But, it was all worth it. My scans came back great! I had...

Nov 8th

Treatment working, but not out of the woods

I had my scans done yesterday and found out today that my tumors have had a partial response to Interleukin 2. This is good news. Only 14 percent of melanoma patients have any response, so we’re moving in the right direction. I’m immediately starting IL2 now and when these last 2 rounds are over, we’ll reevaluate treatment. Some tumors have gotten smaller and some have...

Sep 3rd

Sunday, August 30th

I reported back for my second round of Interleukin and felt pretty confident since I did so well with the first treatment. Unfortunately, I was completely wrong. My first round of Interleukin I actually slept through the first 4 injections. I thought it was just because I was tough. :) Not the case. I found out the hard way during the second round your body recognizes the chemicals...

Aug 30th

Friday, July 17th

Just got home from my first cycle of Interleukin 2 and I’m recovering well. Here’s how the treatment went. Day 1 They put a port inside my arm so I don’t have to receive multiple injections daily. They have to take 12 tubes of blood each morning and the interleukin can destroy veins. So, I have a line that enters through my bicep and goes all the way to my heart for immediate...

Jul 17th

Thursday, July 2nd

Back in treatment. We collectively decided to start Interleukin 2 on Friday, June 3rd. Interleukin 2 is by far the most toxic and brutal treatment on the market. I had to pass a full physical exam, blood work, organ function tests, etc. just to be eligible to do this. I will be monitored closely but the common side effects are nausea/vomiting, “rigors” or uncontrollable...

Jul 2nd

Thursday, June 18th

Treatment Objective: I’m back in Baltimore to harvest my stem cells. I have to hook up to a machine that takes my blood and filters out all of the white cells, then puts the blood back into my body through the other arm. Probably sounds confusing. They are taking my white blood cells to use as food for my stem cells, which they will extract later in the week. I’m giving myself 2...

Jun 18th

Overall Experience

This was by far, the most difficult medical procedure I have endured thus far. Even though my docs agreed that my recovery was extraordinarily fast, I felt like I was in the hospital forever! They told me similar surgeries take patients weeks to recover before they can go home. In a weird way, the severity of this first surgery gives me more hope that something good may come of all this. ...

Jun 9th

Mon. June 8th

I actually felt an improvement today! My mobility is better, and the pain is manageable though still high. I was given the ok to be discharged Tuesday and I am so excited. I’m not allowed to lift anything over 10lbs for a month or drive for 3 weeks. This recovery is very slow and at this point, I’m only good to walk around for about an hour. I can’t wait to go home.

Jun 8th

Sun. June 7th

I’m excited my chest tubes are out, but my pain is way up. I kept it a secret again, scared it may delay my discharge. I made myself walk and move around, focusing on recovery. That night they removed the epidural from my back. They also removed the catheter, which is as bad as you can imagine. Ouch!

Jun 7th

Sat. June 6th

Another sleepless night, but I’m always glad to wake up one day closer to going home. My pain is still consistently an 8, on a scale of 1 to 10, but I’m walking more. Can’t really eat, and I’m so sick of these tubes! My mother and girlfriend are here which helps tremendously. My throat and lungs are on fire and my back feels like knives are stuck in it. Kind of makes sense though,...

Jun 6th

Fri. June 5th

What a huge improvement! Because the epidural was fixed, they were able to reduce my pain meds and I was able to put thoughts together! I’m the last person to knock pain medication, but I was so drugged that I couldn’t follow basic instructions. I drifted in and out of a dream world which did nothing for my recovery. As fun as it sounds, I was glad to think clearly. I underwent many...

Jun 5th

Thurs. June 4th

They decided to keep me in ICU for an extra day due to the pain complications. The thoracic surgeon came in and they realized that the epidural they implanted into my torso wasn’t working. They immediately got me back on the table and replaced it. Still very foggy from the meds at this point!

Jun 4th

Wed. June 3rd

I woke up wed morning, the morning after surgery, in excruciating pain. I had an IV in my left arm, a blood pressure cuff on my right, 2 chest tubes, oxygen tubes in my nose, and a catheter. I was unable to do much on wed because the pain was unmanageable. They added a morphine drip which helped the pain a bit.

Jun 3rd

2 tags

Tuesday, June 2nd “Surgery Day”

Surgery Objective: To remove 3 tumors and enough of the lung to extract “t-cells” also called lymphocytes, and successfully grow them outside of the body. Lymphocytes attack the tumors and try to destroy them but can’t do it in such small numbers. The institute is going to grow them by the thousands and when I start chemo/radiation/interleukin, they will infuse my body with these cells...

Jun 2nd