Speaker 1: Two Teas in a Pod with Teddy Mellencamp and camera Judge.
Speaker 2: Hi, guys, welcome to another episode of Two Teas in
Speaker 2: a Pod with myself, Teddy Mellencaan.
Speaker 3: And Tambra Judge. Hey, Teddy, Hey, Hi, Hi.
Speaker 2: I'm calling you from the actual room where I'm getting
Speaker 2: my immunotherapy treatment.
Speaker 3: I understand that, I understand you have an update for us.
Speaker 3: You just had a scan done.
Speaker 4: I do.
Speaker 2: I have an update, so in exciting news. So last
Speaker 2: time they had checked soulely my brain and those tumors
Speaker 2: are shrinking. And then today I had the scan and
Speaker 2: where they checked my lungs and they are shrinking and
Speaker 2: one of them has shrunk so much you can barely
Speaker 2: even see it.
Speaker 3: That's great.
Speaker 2: So it's really really good news. I'm definitely so relieved.
Speaker 2: I'm also a little bit like, if I sound a
Speaker 2: little weird, it's because I'm in the middle of them
Speaker 2: in a therapy treatment right now. But what they said
Speaker 2: was this is good news. That means my body is
Speaker 2: responding to everything. But I do need to live on
Speaker 2: immunotherapy for the next two years. So every four weeks
Speaker 2: for the next two years, I have to come in
Speaker 2: and get that done. So and then every three months
Speaker 2: I get another scan and we check to make sure
Speaker 2: that everything is where it is. But the part that
Speaker 2: I was confused about. I thought that, like, once the
Speaker 2: tumors start going away, I'm like, so, does that mean
Speaker 2: I'm cancer free? And he's like no, He's like you,
Speaker 2: we will let you know when you're in remission. But
Speaker 2: at this point, everything's just heading the correct way.
Speaker 3: So immunotherapy ever for two years every four weeks, is
Speaker 3: that just controlling it or is it curing it?
Speaker 2: It's both. It's making sure that it's getting smaller and
Speaker 2: then let's say that it gets so small that it disappears.
Speaker 2: It's making sure that it won't form anywhere else in
Speaker 2: my body.
Speaker 3: Okay, so it's.
Speaker 2: So yeah, so something that I've learned today. That's pretty cool.
Speaker 2: So the reason they were able to do this treatment
Speaker 2: on me, because remember radiation didn't work and the tumors
Speaker 2: were getting bigger, and like I was only able to
Speaker 2: get certain surgeries is because over at Feeders Clinic, there
Speaker 2: is everything in one spot. So because of that, they
Speaker 2: can do multiple treatments and figure out what works for
Speaker 2: you individually. So I think what ends up happening to
Speaker 2: a lot of people. If you know, this is why
Speaker 2: I'm so grateful that I live in California. Is they
Speaker 2: go to you know, they have to go to all
Speaker 2: these different doctors at different locations, where mine is kind
Speaker 2: of like a one stop shop. That's great, and yeah,
Speaker 2: so's it's really good news.
Speaker 3: Do you have another one in three weeks and then
Speaker 3: after that you do every four weeks or from now
Speaker 3: on it only every four weeks.
Speaker 2: This is my last one. This is so Also right now,
Speaker 2: I'm on three medications when I'm doing the immunotherapy, and
Speaker 2: I was very concerned. I mean, granted, this is going
Speaker 2: to sound wild, considering I should just be thrilled regardless,
Speaker 2: but I was like, on these current medications, I still
Speaker 2: feel really sick. Yeah, and especially like after day six,
Speaker 2: I get really sick. And he said, well, for this
Speaker 2: one that you're doing right now, you'll still be on
Speaker 2: the three medications, but then it rotates and you'll be
Speaker 2: on two medications and your body starts to become more
Speaker 2: immune to it, so you don't get as sick. I
Speaker 2: thought it was pretty which I thought was pretty interesting
Speaker 2: because I was a little bit worried about having to
Speaker 2: live on immune therapy because you know how I am
Speaker 2: when I get super emotional on certain days. But I
Speaker 2: think that the fact that this is all moving in
Speaker 2: a smooth pass forward is is really good news. Yeah.
Speaker 3: I mean, just the fact that your the tumors are
Speaker 3: responding to the immunotherapy is just absolutely amazing because there
Speaker 3: could have been a chance that they would not have
Speaker 3: responded correct correct.
Speaker 2: And then the part that's even more wild. I'm like,
Speaker 2: can I do everything? And he's like, what do you mean.
Speaker 2: I'm like, somebody invited me to go skydiving tomorrow? Can
Speaker 2: I go?
Speaker 3: You're not going? You're not I'm not allowing you to
Speaker 3: do that.
Speaker 2: Well, that's not actually what he said. He said, Yes,
Speaker 2: of course you can go. No, you can do app
Speaker 2: he goes, you can do absolutely anything. And then but
Speaker 2: this is the best part. I go, well, can I drive?
Speaker 2: And he goes, Nope, not for three more weeks because
Speaker 2: you had a seizure and you have to wait three
Speaker 2: more weeks.
Speaker 3: Yeah, you're not really getting sky dive.
Speaker 2: Hard No, three more months, by the way, three more.
Speaker 3: You're not really gonna skydive, right, No.
Speaker 2: Why would you take me seriously? You think I'm going
Speaker 2: to make an effort to go somewhere to go skydiving.
Speaker 3: Okay, I just want to I never know with you,
Speaker 3: I just want to make sure.
Speaker 2: Well. I just wanted to make sure that any people
Speaker 2: don't give me any flack, like, oh, you're riding horses,
Speaker 2: you're on an airplane, you're doing anything.
Speaker 3: You can do whatever you want as long as it's
Speaker 3: not skydiving. I tell that to Eddie.
Speaker 2: Said, well, he said, you know, the fact that you're
Speaker 2: doing so well shows that you being able to do
Speaker 2: so many things has helped your body heal because you're
Speaker 2: doing things that you love. Oh that was really cool.
Speaker 3: So why did they how did they determine two years?
Speaker 3: Do you know.
Speaker 2: That's I don't know if that's standard protocol. But I said,
Speaker 2: what if I want to stop it shorter? And he
Speaker 2: like kind of lifted his glasses up and he looked
Speaker 2: at me, and he goes, two years is what I
Speaker 2: strongly recommend.
Speaker 3: And then after the two years did he say.
Speaker 2: No, No, you go to like tend you're like my dad,
Speaker 2: My dad came into town for this. The first thing
Speaker 2: is my dad comes into town, I have to go
Speaker 2: get my scans where I have to drink that like
Speaker 2: disgusting milky stuff that's like makes me radio active or whatever.
Speaker 2: And then I go get my scans and I come
Speaker 2: out with my Dad's there. We're waiting for the doctor.
Speaker 2: The doctor comes in and then I know he has
Speaker 2: my results, and then my dad and him are making
Speaker 2: small talk. Finally I'm like, hey, gentlemen, any chance we
Speaker 2: could do the results first?
Speaker 3: What'd your dad say about the results?
Speaker 2: He goes, so you're cured. I go, Dad, yes, I'm
Speaker 2: much better, but I am not cured yet, which AKA
Speaker 2: means you still I still got to be the favorite,
Speaker 2: and you still got to be the nicest to me
Speaker 2: because I'm still fighting.
Speaker 3: So you're gonna milk him, You're gonna mak Yeah.
Speaker 2: Well, thank you such good news, and I just wanted
Speaker 2: to call you and kind of give you the update.
Speaker 2: And I know that I'm not going to be on
Speaker 2: the pod that much for the next couple of weeks,
Speaker 2: but then I am back and hopefully in full force
Speaker 2: starting on June first. So I just kind of wanted
Speaker 2: to give everybody a headset that I'm doing okay, and
Speaker 2: I'm really appreciating Cam and to Dolores and everybody and
Speaker 2: iHeart for filling in and being able to do so
Speaker 2: much with me no matter how I'm feeling, They're able
Speaker 2: to figure out ways to work around my schedule. So
Speaker 2: I'm really grateful to you guys. But I am hoping
Speaker 2: my dream, my goal is along with sky diving, is
Speaker 2: being back, being back full time on the pod around
Speaker 2: June first. That's amazing.
Speaker 3: Happy, Thanks dabe.
Speaker 2: We did it. Looks like we made it.
Speaker 3: No today was I knew today was so stressful for you.
Speaker 3: And we were chatting a little bit this morning and
Speaker 3: I'm like, oh, it's going to be great news. It's
Speaker 3: great news, and this is great news.
Speaker 2: It's very good news. And now I just have to
Speaker 2: keep staying on it and make sure that I and
Speaker 2: you know, listen to my body. If there's a day
Speaker 2: that I'm not feeling well, I have to remember just
Speaker 2: because I'm not doing treatment as often, I'm still in
Speaker 2: recovery and I still need to be taking care of myself.
Speaker 3: That's right, all right. So you're doing immunotherapy as we
Speaker 3: talk right now? How long does that last?
Speaker 2: Two hours?
Speaker 3: Okay? When you do this moving forward, is it still
Speaker 3: the same amount of time and immunotherapy? Is it shorter.
Speaker 2: I think it's going to be shorter because it's two
Speaker 2: hours for three different meds, so I think it'll be
Speaker 2: one hour because I'm down to two meds, is my guest,
Speaker 2: because I have they call it the bags, so I
Speaker 2: have two bags right now. I do, but I think
Speaker 2: it switches to just one bag.
Speaker 3: Yay.
Speaker 2: But I love you, Tom, thank you so much for everything. Yes,
Speaker 2: all right, well, and I need all of your updates
Speaker 2: soon and hopefully I'm going to be just more and
Speaker 2: more with it. And then I'm like, well, can I
Speaker 2: stop my you know, medic, my other medications, And he's like, nope,
Speaker 2: you've recently had a seizure, so you've got to stay
Speaker 2: on the capra and those medications. But at least I'm
Speaker 2: not on any narcotics. I'm on non narcotics, and I'm
Speaker 2: on no what is the stair? Those are the ones
Speaker 2: that made me crazy. So and the paper good news
Speaker 2: all the way around.
Speaker 3: Pay no pain.
Speaker 2: The pain is great. I'm actually in here right now.
Speaker 2: This is pretty crazy. I'm in here right now with
Speaker 2: my doctor. Can you explain a little bit I've talked
Speaker 2: just that we're on the podcast doing to teeth In
Speaker 2: the pod, I talked a little bit about why it's
Speaker 2: so great at the Aangelist clinic, about having everything in
Speaker 2: one spot. But is there something you can say in
Speaker 2: like two minutes that could explain it probably better than
Speaker 2: I did. All you guys are putting you on with
Speaker 2: my doctor, who I've made his life probably living hell,
Speaker 2: but either way, we're working through it, and he's going
Speaker 2: to walk you guys through immuta therapy because a lot
Speaker 2: of you don't even know what immuna therapy is because
Speaker 2: to my knowledge, it's only been around about ten years.
Speaker 2: And I believe my doctor was the founder of immunotherapy. Hah,
Speaker 2: give him a little brag there, So I'm on this
Speaker 2: for hold on here.
Speaker 4: He is all right, well, that Teddy is an expert
Speaker 4: in hyperbole, But what she meant to say is that
Speaker 4: I'm one of the initial physicians to run the trials
Speaker 4: on this type of immunotherapy she's getting. Immunotherapy has been
Speaker 4: known for many years to work to cause the resolution
Speaker 4: of tumors from in the olden days when people got
Speaker 4: momps or measles. Some tumors resolved Cooley's talks. And Cooley
Speaker 4: was a surgeon at Memorial who injected some things near
Speaker 4: a tumor. Don Morton, who was a very well known surgeon,
Speaker 4: used to give BCG into tumors and create an immune inflammation.
Speaker 4: We know that that should happen because just like your
Speaker 4: immune system gets rid of viruses and bacteria, it can
Speaker 4: get rid of tumors. And what we have designed and
Speaker 4: done as a field over the last two decades are
Speaker 4: drugs that worked to reignite the immune system, and that's
Speaker 4: what's working for Teddy. It's important to know that those
Speaker 4: drugs can cause significant and serious side effects, so a
Speaker 4: place that has expertise in it is what you should
Speaker 4: be looking for. And for a tumor like melanoma, where
Speaker 4: it's not the most common tumor, but it's a top
Speaker 4: five cancer for young women like Teddy. It takes you know,
Speaker 4: it's top two in years of life ofst behind leukemia,
Speaker 4: and it is an ongoing issue. What's important to know
Speaker 4: is you need to have either on your team or
Speaker 4: as your main oncologist, someone who has that expertise. Now,
Speaker 4: these drugs are great because we've shown that they can
Speaker 4: cross into the brain and control and resolve disease that's
Speaker 4: in the brain, which is you know, the benefits that
Speaker 4: we're seeing here with Teddy. We've also found that it's durable.
Speaker 4: You can teach the immune system and at some point
Speaker 4: stop giving this drug. And you know, as I come,
Speaker 4: as I come down to see Teddy, I leave the
Speaker 4: room of someone who was in a similar position a
Speaker 4: decade ago. And this is the benefits of immunotherapy response
Speaker 4: and durability beyond what we've seen before with chemotherapy, surgery,
Speaker 4: radiation or targeted agents. So to come to a place
Speaker 4: where it's not just like a park once place where
Speaker 4: all the imaging and the surgeon and the oncologists and
Speaker 4: the procedures can be done at the same time, but
Speaker 4: to come to a place that has many, many decades
Speaker 4: of experience with this tumor is important or any tumor.
Speaker 4: So here we've built, you know, a clinic of expertise.
Speaker 4: It's someone who does just lung cancers or your female
Speaker 4: cancers or uh A cancer, intestinal cancers. But also the
Speaker 4: ability to you know, be close to an expert team
Speaker 4: of physicians, nurses, staff, And I really think that that
Speaker 4: helps not just when things are going well, but if
Speaker 4: you run into a side effect or if there's a
Speaker 4: need to move into a clinical trial or something like that.
Speaker 2: Remember that doesn't live in California, find the best type
Speaker 2: of doctors for them.
Speaker 4: Well, I think you need to first talk to your
Speaker 4: doctor and you say, hey, I need a I'd like
Speaker 4: a second opinion with someone who spends the majority of
Speaker 4: their time focused on my cancer. You know, most oncologists
Speaker 4: because of need, Because of need, learn a lot about
Speaker 4: everything and don't focus like someone like me on one cancer.
Speaker 4: So you can go to your foundations. This is a
Speaker 4: nice way to give a plug because it's Melanima Awareness
Speaker 4: Month for the Melanima Research Alliance, the Melanima Research Foundation
Speaker 4: aim at Melanoma, which is an amazing All of them
Speaker 4: are patient advocacy, research and educational places, so a lot there.
Speaker 3: Can I ask you one question, Hi, it's camera. So
Speaker 3: two years, how do you determine the two years to
Speaker 3: continue immunotherapy every four weeks? And after that two years?
Speaker 4: Everybody is different. Everybody is different, and so that's why
Speaker 4: they say, you know, like medicine is an art, we
Speaker 4: just have to remember you remember the risks, the benefits
Speaker 4: and the data. Ultimately, in the course of these two years,
Speaker 4: we may get better data to help us make decisions.
Speaker 4: But right now we're continuing, and I have a question.
Speaker 2: I remember at one point I came in and said,
Speaker 2: what is the chance of me surviving from melanoma? And
Speaker 2: I believe that you said thirty five percent? What would
Speaker 2: you say it is?
Speaker 3: Now?
Speaker 2: I'm not going to cry.
Speaker 4: Just well, here's what I said to you. I said
Speaker 4: to you that the average survivals have gone from six
Speaker 4: months to six years, that the patients with brain metastasies,
Speaker 4: the response rates are now fifty percent or greater. And
Speaker 4: we're seeing somewhere, you know, five for five year survivals
Speaker 4: with patients with brain metastasies somewhere forty to fifty percent.
Speaker 4: And it doesn't matter as statistics are for you know,
Speaker 4: big populational stuff like education, transportation, sanitation. But we would
Speaker 4: work with the therapy that gives you the best chance
Speaker 4: of working. And what we know with immunotherapy and melanoma
Speaker 4: is if you make it to three years without having
Speaker 4: anything grow or come back, you're golden about ninety five
Speaker 4: percent of the time. All right, well we'll leave her
Speaker 4: at that.
Speaker 2: That's good. Thanks you. All right, so we got to
Speaker 2: make it for you. Appreciate it, Thank you so much,
Speaker 2: and just for anybody else that wants more information. The
Speaker 2: fifteenth annual Los Angeles Melanoma Symposium is Thursday, May twenty second.
Speaker 2: If you want to register for it, it's www dot
Speaker 2: aimat melanoma dot org and then click on symposium and
Speaker 2: you can learn more. Or if it's easier for you
Speaker 2: to call, you can just call three one o two
Speaker 2: three one one two one two.
Speaker 4: Oh.
Speaker 2: Well, thanks guys for tuning in to another episode of
Speaker 2: two Teeth and a Pod. Of course, this one's a
Speaker 2: little different than others, but it's got good news.
Speaker 3: Yeah, we got a lot of information, some good news.
Speaker 3: So Teddy, I will talk to you after yourmunotherapy. I
Speaker 3: hope that you're feeling good after that and we'll talk soon.
Speaker 4: Ye bye, Mabe bye.