I’m in a similar situation Dawn. I’m also hoping my brain and lung tumors may possibly not be live cancer anymore. Don’t know that, pray for it, and pray for the same on yours.

Dawn...try these 2 resources...they were very helpful for me

https://forum.melanoma.org/

and

https://www.aimatmelanoma.org/melanoma-learning...

you can actualy talk to Melissa Wilson PA

Webinars on Demand - AIM at Melanoma Foundation

https://www.aimatmelanoma.org/melanoma-learning-center/webinars/

Melanoma Research Foundation – Melanoma Patient Forum

https://forum.melanoma.org/

just to update u...i posted elsewhere...i stopped with opvido and about 6 weeks later i started to itch...so i can't say opvido has no sideeffects anymore...

just finished colon resectomy.....they removed part of my colon because i had a mass and 2 enlarged LN in the area. They did not do a needle biopsy of either mass or LN's???? One CT report suggested the mass could be BECAUSE of immo therapy. So i am thinking , needle biopsy the thing ..They had other ideas.

Surgery revealed neither mass or LN were cancerous.

these docs quite often don't have the complete picture , so don't despair.

Having taken opvido (nivo) for 30 months total ,wiht the most minor side effects, I don't think it hurts. No onc can tell u if it is working but you'd hate to quit it just to find out it was working as a prophylactic.

Battling w/cancer tumors, I'd hope that you'll check in on & work w/some of the metabolism issues with nutrition.

Fundamentally, cancer cell's primary fuels are glucose (simplified sugar) & glutamine (an amino acid). Our systems are naturally highly filled w/both glucose & glutamine. There's not a dietary way to lower your glutamine. But, we can reduce glucose in our system dietarily. That's a way to lower the feeding of your cancer cells, and thus the metabolic health of your tumors that are obviously made of cancer cells.

One of my MDs has me working nutritionally to keep my glucose low by utilizing the GKI regular monitoring approach.

GKI = Glucose Ketone Index. Measure your glucose with finger-sticking device you can buy at your drug store or Amazon. Do the same thing for measuring your ketones daily. I've done this for years.

You need your glucose and ketone numbers daily to watch your GKI, and keep it low for your metabolic purpose of helping to create optimal cancer cell starvation. Don't unnecessarily help their growth with one of their 2 main foods they really want & need. 1 of them they really want & need, glucose, you can control. It just requires two things, i.e., learning how to do it, & doing it ongoingly. I do it daily, because I'm dealing with Stage 4 melanoma in my left lung & my left brain, & I'm seriously wanting to help continuation of my life with all I can do individually, by starving cancer cells.

Here's how you calc your GKI every morning, to know you're dietarily keeping it around 1 or less, & thus minimizing your cancer cell's sugar/food. It's easy & takes less than five minutes.

GKI: Take your glucose of say 70, and divide that 18 (you always use 18). That gives 3.89, Divide that 3.89 by your ketones number of say 4.5. That gives you a GKI number of .86.

When you do that, that GKI number of .86 means you are materially working to starve cancer cells. Since one of my MDs got me doing this, my morning numbers have ranged from .65 to I think up to 1.35 or higher. Any of that is hard on the cancer cells, but the ones that are at or below 1.0 are optimal targets for this. Most of mine lately are significantly below one, but this morning it somehow was 1.18. That's not bad. I just try to keep it 1.0 or less most days.

Most people, including me, would have to learn how & really work on what you eat to get these needed GKI numbers. In other words, you need to be eating almost all proteins & healthy fats (animal, or plant, using only the 3 healthiest plants fats, olive, olive, or coconut). Eat very, very little carbs. You can't eat zero carbs, but eat as little as you can while trying to starve cancer.