I had Pembro alongside chemo for breast cancer in 23/24. When I had Pembro alone, the side effects weren't too bad. Fatigue was the main one and I did have quite a bad allergic reaction to it at one point but it was resolved after a few days in hospital (it was pretty bad and quite rare). Oddly it didn't happen again (this was quite early in my treatment) and I got through the rest of it fairly unscathed.
However, I had my last treatment in November last year and then it impacted my kidney function shortly after, but I was unaware until it got so bad I ended up in hospital. This is also rare and I've always been that 1% during treatment! I'm not writing this to scare you, I just wanted you to be aware. They do test your kidney function before each treatment, but it was after treatment that my issues began. After a couple of weeks in hospital and a course of steroids, my kidney function has returned to almost normal, but not as good as it was prior to this incident. They are monitoring me closely and I have blood tests each fortnight to check my levels and Nephrology appointments every 8 weeks. Just keep yourself hydrated (around 2 litres of water per day is recommended) and watch out for severe dry mouth, inability to pee or poo and extreme fatigue where you can barely get out of bed. Also I had a severe loss of appetite (which is totally unusual for me!).
Again, not wanting to worry or scare you, just to raise your awareness to what to look out for and hopefully you will avoid the situation I was/am in.
All the best with your treatment. I'm sure you wish smash it :)
You certainly have been through it with two hospital admissions.
I am not drinking enough water and have upped my efforts immediately, it makes sense and is more relevant because I have kidney cancer and have had a partial nephrectomy.
I am very grateful for the personal feedback, and it obviously helps massively being pre warned.
You certainly have been through it with two hospital admissions.
I am not drinking enough water and have upped my efforts immediately, it makes sense and is more relevant because I have kidney cancer and have had a partial nephrectomy.
I am very grateful for the personal feedback, and it obviously helps massively being pre warned.
