Hi William,

I hope that you are doing great with the treatment that they are providing you and I'm sorry that I didn't see your post earlier.
In 2023 I had an issue with my left thumb that wasn't bothersome at all. I ignored it. When in got worse I went in and had my Primary Physician look at it. After the usual test came back negative the whole team was stumped. They sent me to a dermatologist who ordered a biopsy. On May 15 2024 they removed the entire thumbnail on my left thumb and took a biopsy. On May 20, 2024 I was told that I had a stage IIb malignant melanoma tumor under my left thumbnail and that may thumb will need a partial amputation down to the first knuckle. Very uncommon and described as aggressive... I still had my doubts and struggled with the removal of my thumb.
On May 29, 2024 they removed half of my left thumb down to the first knuckle and they took out the sentinel lymph node. The Sentinel lymph node was negative. Thank God!
The oncologist put me on Keytruda to reduce the chances of melanoma returning. I was scheduled for the IV infusions of Keytruda every 3 weeks for a year. I had MRI's PET scans, CT scans and Ultrasounds done galore.
Fast forward to May of this year (a year from when the original Melanoma showed up) A Ct scan and ultrasound showed that the melanoma cells metastasized to my lymph nodes. It was a disappointment to everyone including on my care team. 12 treatments of Keytruda didn't work so the oncologist switched me to two treatments of Opdivo and Yervo mixture before surgery to remove the lymph node. They melanoma should not have re-occurred during the Keytruda treatments, but it did, everyone was bummed out for sure. This meant that the next step was surgery.
On June 19, 2025 they removed 32 lymph nodes, 4 of which had melanoma. None of the immunotherapy work on my melanoma. I went through almost a year of immunotherapy side effects for no results.
My side effects from Keytruda were relatively mild considering the terrible possibilities. I was itchy on my head and body but that was manageable with creams and such, so not too bad. I also had fatigue from about the third day for up to a week after the treatment. That was insane because I'm usually really active. The Keytruda wiped out my thyroid gland. The thyroid readings were normal before Keytruda and then went through the roof with Keytruda. This was a possible explanation for some of the fatigue.
The side effect of the two Opdivo/Yervo treatment were minor also. One of them is dry mouth, saliva dried up. I've never experienced anything like this before. Food has little flavor and hard to eat. I'm really hoping that this improves as time goes on.
Now that surgery removed the melanoma, we're in a watch and see mode. Moving forward, the oncologists is transferring my case to the tumor review board at the Mayo clinic in Rochester MN and getting me hooked up with their melanoma treatment center. Should the melanoma return, and since the immunotherapy hasn't been effective, the next step will be do the TIL melanoma treatment at the Mayo. I'm told that I have a 55% possibility that the melanoma will not occur again. Not good odds but I hope and pray that it doesn't return and I don't have to do any further treatments.
My melanoma case is very unique and uncommon, so I'm not a good case study for anyone. In my mind, even though the Keytruda didn't work for me, if there is any hope of the melanoma responding to it, I would still recommend trying it. You can always stop should it if the side effects start to outweigh the advantages. I have no regrets that I tried it and that I followed my care team's advice.
I hope this helps!
Peter V.