T-VEC injections

Hi @llray, as you know Imlygic (talimogene laherparepvec, or T-VEC) is a local immunotherapy treatment that kills melanoma cells in the skin and lymph nodes. I'm tagging fellow melanoma members like @birdman518 @barbjo @mlenney167 @gingerw @leigh17 to see if anyone has experience with T-VEC.

In the meantime, you might also be interested in this related discussion:
- Melanoma treatment options: https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/melanoma-treatment-options/

This page from the Melanoma Research Alliance has some good information including questions to ask your oncologist:
https://www.curemelanoma.org/patient-eng/melanoma-treatment/immunotherapy/t-vec-imlygic
You mentioned previously that your husband had some issues with other immunotherapies (https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/dermal-melanoma/). I would want to ask how this option is different.

I’m hoping the treatment is successful with few side effects. I had surgery on my lower leg for melanoma nine months ago. It is still healing. I’ve had two good skin checks since. Please let us know how it is going.

I wish I could offer some words of advice or give you our experience buying am not familiar with this. My husband is starting Keytruda tomorrow for Stage 3. It will be every three weeks to start and they will be monitoring him, blood, etc. Then if he handles it well he can move to every six weeks for a year.

Good luck…

Thanks, @barbjo Hae had his original surgery on his lower right abdomen Oct. 2021. We thought we were in the clear but the March of 2022 on skin check he had what the dermatologist thought was "satellite turmors around the scar. Turned out to be metastatic melanoma. He had more surgery but it kept coming back. Started Pembro but after 5 infusions, he developed mouth ulcers that turned out to be Lichen planus. Had to stop Pembro and thats when we started going to Mayo. He's had radiation and now its come back again! We have appointment this Thursday for another evaluation to try T-VEC.
I'm so happy for you! It sounds like your in the clear. Stay in touch and stay healthy!

@leigh17
My husband started on Keytruda but but had a reaction so had to stop. I'm sure your husband will do very well. We had a friend who also had melanoma and just finished his Keytruda treatments with very little side effects. He is now cancer free! I wish my husband could have stayed on it. My husband also has MS so I think his whole immune system has been screwed up. 🙁
Good luck to you and your husband on this journey. I bet you meet some amazing people!

I remember our correspondence a few months ago . Thank you for the words of encouragement and I will be thinking of you and your husband….🙏🤞