Today marked the start of my second 3-week round of the melanoma ‘wonder drug’ Dabrafenib. The last 3 weeks have been interesting as I have started on my course of medication without a great deal of knowledge about the possible results (or side effects) of the drug.
Many people have asked me about the side effects of the drug – fortunately there hasn’t been anything major but there have been some interesting things:
- Joint pain – It started in my knees after a few days of taking the pills, an ache like you would get if you went for a 5km run after having done no exercise for years or like if you had played a game of rugby and had some good tackles around the knees. The pain in my knees went away after a few days but spread to my ankles then wrists, hands and fingers. It felt similar to RSI in my hands and at one stage my thumb felt like it had been sprained but again it went away after a few days.
- Strange things on my face that look a bit like small warts
- Headaches – these have gone away now but were there for the first couple of weeks
As I sat in the Oncology department waiting room today waiting for my call up to see the oncologist, I saw an elderly couple also waiting to see the oncologist. The old guy looked quite sunburnt on his balding head and I overheard him say to another patient that he got sunburnt very easily.
I recognised this as another one of the possible side effects touted by the oncologist at my last visit so I asked him if he was also on the ‘wonder drug’. He said he was on his 31st round of the drug which meant he had been on for almost 2 years if my mental maths served me right.
He also told me he had been diagnosed with skin cancer all the way back in 2003 and had undergone operations at various stages but the cancer had spread to his lungs like mine had.
The doctors gave him 5 years to live – here he was sitting here 9 years later alive and well (albeit a little pink). His cancer was now classed as ‘stable’ and had even regressed in places.
He could have accepted the verdict and counted out the rest of his 5 years but there was no way he was giving up that easily. He said he told the doctors where they could stick their morbid diagnosis. Nobody was going to tell him when his time was up.
It ain’t over ‘til it’s over.