Avastin And Tarceva

I am a 27 year old female and a 9 year survivor of renal cell cancer. It has come back several times. Currently it is in my lungs and I just tried radiation therapy to shrink the nodule pushing on my left pulmonary artery. I found out that it shrunk!! I am so happy. Prior to the radiation, I was undergoing Avastin and now looking into trying Avastin and Tarceva. I've tried FUDR, IL-2, Interferon, SU011248 (SUGEN), and radiation.. The SUGEN drug was horrible and I had debilitating side effects where I could not walk for 2 whole days. I had blisters all over my hands and feet. I could barely walk, it was horrible. Now my doctor suggests going back on that but I don't think it worked at all. I had some growth with that and side effects that will never go away.. I got severe acid reflux from SUGEN as well as hypothyroidism.

I'm curious to find out more about Avastin and Tarceva. I've seen a lot of message boards with patients talking about severe rash. I'm scared and not sure what to do next.. go back on Sugen or try Avastin and Tarceva. I had very little side effects from taking Avastin by itself.

My father is 49 and has RCC that is now in his lungs and portions of his bone. He is in a clinical trial for avastin. He gets the avastin infusion once every 2 weeks and he also gets interferon every other day. He has been on this treatment for a little over six months, and all but two of the growths have at least shrunk a little bi. He has some mild side effects, including increased weakness and tiredness. Recently he has developed some sensitivity in his mouth to certain foods, however the doctor does not know if this is a side effect from the treatment. I would say that the avastin has been working very well for my dad and would probably recommend it to others who don't know where to turn next. I think he's having a harder time trying to cope with the fact that he has a terminal illness verses the treatment. If there's anything I can do to help, let me know

Jory