Teddi Mellencamp Says She Is Responding to Immunotherapy, but Will Have to Have It for the Next 2 Years
She elaborated on her current health status on the Wednesday, May 14 edition of 'Two Ts In A Pod with Teddi Mellencamp and Tamra Judge'
Mellencamp explained why she will need to live on immunotherapy for the next two yearsTeddi Mellencamp is giving an update on her health.
Weeks after sharing on April 23 that "all tumors stage 4 (metastasized melanoma in my brain and lungs) shrunk or disappeared" on Instagram, Mellencamp, 43, has gone into more detail on her condition.
"Last time, they had checked solely my brain, and those tumors are shrinking. And then, today I had the scan, where they checked my lungs and they are shrinking and one of them has shrunk so much you can barely even see it," Mellencamp said on the Wednesday, May 14, edition of Two Ts In a Pod with Teddi Mellencamp and Tamra Judge.
The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills alum said that while that means her "body is responding to everything," she does need to live on immunotherapy for the next two years.
"So every four weeks for the next two years, I have to come in and get that done," said Mellencamp. "And then every three months I get another scan and we check to make sure that everything is where it is."
According to the American Cancer Society, immunotherapy is a treatment that uses a person's own immune system to fight cancer.
The organization explains on its website that it can "boost or change how the immune system works so it can find and attack cancer cells. "
Mellencamp said that while her doctor said she is not considered cancer-free yet, it does mean "everything's just heading the correct way."
After Judge, 57, asked whether immunotherapy is controlling or curing Mellencamp's cancer, she replied, "It's both."
"It's making sure that it's getting smaller and then let's say that it gets so small that it disappears, it's making sure that it won't form anywhere else in my body," Mellencamp explained.
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"I was a little bit worried about having to live on immune therapy because you know how I am when I get super emotional on certain days. But I think that the fact that this is all moving in a smooth path forward is really good news," Mellencamp said, noting that she hopes to be back in "full force" on the podcast starting in June.
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