One dozen treatments

My career choice, statistics, should never have been a surprise. I have always kept track of and tried to learn from details. While the pembrolizumab infusion was completing this morning, the nurse asked how many additional treatments are planned. We explained that there is no really good long-term data on pembrolizumab in bladder cancer, but we are hoping that updated data from the pivotal trial that led to the drug’s approval in this indication will be presented at the upcoming American Society for Clinical Oncology Genitourinary Cancers Symposium in San Francisco in mid-February. This led the nurse to suggest that we might just continue until the drug stops working. I do not think she really meant for that to come out as badly as it sounded, but I quickly pointed out that I certainly hope we will not get to that point.

I found myself coming home from treatment and wondering just how many pembrolizumab infusions I have had so far. I was able to easily reconstruct this from my Google calendar and confirm with my on-line medical record from MSKCC, and the answer is 12 – one dozen treatments.

Dose #	Day	Date
1	Friday	23 February
2	Friday	16 March
3	Thursday	05 April
4	Friday	27 April
5	Tuesday	22 May
6	Monday	11 June
7	Friday	06 July
8	Friday	27 July
9	Friday	17 August
10	Friday	07 September
11	Friday	28 September
12	Wednesday	24 October

No one knows just how many treatments are “enough.” We did not see Dr. Iyer (oncologist) today but I believe this topic is one he intends to discuss with us over the next few months.

Meanwhile, I need to get some rest now. The treatment does leave me tired, but that is a relatively small price to pay as long as it works!

Love,

Rebecca