Hello everyone,

Wishing you and your loved ones peace, and healing.

My wife was diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer in January 2019. Not wanting to wait potentially weeks on her genetic testing results, her oncologist opted to start her right away on Keytruda & two chemotherapies (alimta & ?). She did very well through 13 treatments, experiencing steady regression to what could technically be termed partial remission with little or no side effects. She’s started her own successful part-time career coaching business and we’re very grateful!

The last 3 treatments saw her deal with increasing sluggishness in her digestive process post-treatment, to the point of recently dealing with moderate abdominal pain within minutes of eating & increasing constipation. It got bad enough where we finally experimented with a 24-hour clear liquid/jello fast, which seem to help to reset her digestive system without drugs. She’s pain-free currently and back on a regular diet.

Around this same time she had a CT scan based on her digestive issues which showed steady state in her previously affected cancerous areas, but an increase in size in several lymph nodes in her abdominal region - a new development. Her oncologist has decided to stop immunotherapy/chemotherapy for now, monitor the new lymph node activity via scan, get a biopsy of the lymph nodes if needed, and potentially switch to genetic treatment if necessary (she tested 67% positive for ROS1 expression).

Which is a looonng way to my question: what are your experiences with swollen lymph nodes related to immunotherapy? Obviously we’re hoping this is her body simply saying “enough treatment for now” and not an unwanted new twist in the plot. But I haven’t been able to find much info on patient experiences with swollen lymph nodes related directly to immunotherapy in general, or Keytruda in particular.

Thankful for whatever you share,

Ed