Teddi Mellencamp gave a difficult update on her cancer struggle on Monday.
The 42-year-old former Real Housewives Of Beverly Hills star revealed that a new immunotherapy cream she had started using to treat skin cancer on her back and shoulder wasn’t yet showing any results.
She shared a photo of herself nude from the waist up that focused on the jagged red scars where she had already had some of the melanoma removed while revealing the lack of progress in her caption.
‘Melanoma Immunotherapy Update: It’s been 12 days since I started the immunotherapy cream on my shoulder, and sadly it has not blistered yet,’ she began.
Teddi — who was recently joined by her former castmate Kyle Richards and her rumored lover Morgan Wade for a charity 10K run — explained that blistering was a common side effect of the medicated cream, and it would have been a sign that it was having an effect on the cancer.
Holding pattern: Teddi Mellencamp, 42, revealed that her current immunotherapy cream regiment had not been effective at treat her skin cancer after she began taking it earlier in October
Going up a dose:Teddi said it had not created blisters on her back, which would be a sign that it was working. She said her doctors were now going to increase the dose to see if that helped
‘Blisters = it’s working,’ she wrote bluntly.
She continued, noting that her doctors wee ‘upping the dosage in the hopes that kicks it into gear.’
‘Otherwise, we are going to have to take next steps — which is a full skin graft of my shoulder, taking the skin from my lower abdomen.
‘Let’s just say I have never prayed so hard for some blisters,’ she added.
Teddi concluded with thanks for her fans and followers for their ‘love, support and sharing your own stories.’
‘This all gives me the strength to push through and share mine,’ she concluded, while tagging the Melanoma Research Foundation and including multiple melanoma-themed hash tags.
Late in September, Teddi announced an earlier bit of bad news regarding her melanoma battle. She revealed that her surgeons had failed to remove every trace of the skin cancer, and so she was going to start the immunotherapy to try to eradicate the remaining cells.
‘I received the call yesterday from my doctor that not all the margins are clear after my last wide excision surgery,’ she wrote on Instagram.
‘Because the area is so broad they no longer feel comfortable cutting,’ she explained.
When she announced the latest round of surgery, the daughter of John Mellencamp mused about how many biopsies she had already undergone.
‘I can’t even remember if this is the 12th or 13th one,’ she wrote.
Trying everything: Late in September, Teddi announced an earlier bit of bad news. She revealed that her surgeons failed to remove every trace of the skin cancer, and so she was going to start immunotherapy to try to eradicate the remaining cells
Discovery: Teddi discovered a new melanoma spot after having 12 removed in 2022. Her friend Kyle Richards initially pointed them out and got her to see a doctor
It was Teddi’s former RHOBH costar Kyle Richards who helped her to finally get the suspicious spots on her back checked out.
While the two were working out together in March 2022, Kyle stopped to point out some of the spots she had noticed on Teddi’s back.
‘She looked at my back and said, “Listen, I know that I’ve talked to you about these spots before, but they look different — one of them has a black dot in the middle”,’ Mellencamp told People.
It was a lucky catch, as she had to have 12 melanomas removed after the discovery.
