Is tarceva working

Hi, 

 my son has been on tarceva now for 7 weeks. He had a bad rash at the beginning but after 2 weeks of antibiotics it went away and did not come back. He gets nauseated at times and fatigued a lot. Has aches and pains in his bones still, including his chest at times. ( has bone mets) But no other lung symptoms. He is not having another scan untill september. I am very worried that the tarceva isn,t working. Is it too soon to tell. I feel that he should be feeling better if it is working. Any advise.

Maggie 

 

On 8/4/2009 maggie D wrote:

Hi, 

 my son has been on tarceva now for 7 weeks. He had a bad rash at the beginning but after 2 weeks of antibiotics it went away and did not come back. He gets nauseated at times and fatigued a lot. Has aches and pains in his bones still, including his chest at times. ( has bone mets) But no other lung symptoms. He is not having another scan untill september. I am very worried that the tarceva isn,t working. Is it too soon to tell. I feel that he should be feeling better if it is working. Any advise.

Maggie 

Well, the rash shows it's doing something.   Hopefully, he can get out and get exercise, and eat an excellent diet and try to keep his mind on positive things rather than the aches and pains.   That always helps.    Tarceva has worked well for many.    Just assume it's working.     I know that's hard.  You might share your anxiety with the doctor and get some answers.    My Tarceva took the tumors in my lungs and backbone down to nothing.     Others have been on Tarceva for years and it manages their cancer well.      

My mom went through four different chemo regimens with all of them providing some degree of improvement for several treatments except for one (topotecan did not help).  With the other three, she was unable to tell for three to four treatments that she was getting better I think partly because she felt so bad because of side effects.  But she was able to tell when she was getting worse with the cancer.  With the topotecan when it didn't work at all, she quickly declined and a had a lot more pain and coughing.  So if everything seems the same with the added effects of nausea and other things due to chemo, that is probably okay.  If the pain picks up, let the dr know because he may do a scan earlier rather than later.  But you need at least two treatments I think before they will do a re-scan.   

 

On 8/4/2009 maggie D wrote:

Hi, 

 my son has been on tarceva now for 7 weeks. He had a bad rash at the beginning but after 2 weeks of antibiotics it went away and did not come back. He gets nauseated at times and fatigued a lot. Has aches and pains in his bones still, including his chest at times. ( has bone mets) But no other lung symptoms. He is not having another scan untill september. I am very worried that the tarceva isn,t working. Is it too soon to tell. I feel that he should be feeling better if it is working. Any advise.

Maggie 

Hi Maggie,

It sounds like the tarceva is working.  The rash has subsided because of the antibiotics but more than likely it will return, only not as bad this time.  I've been on tarceva for 2 years now.  Once the body adjusts to it, he will start feeling better.  The fatigue may lessen but it will probably not go away. 

It's important he eat a balanced diet and keep his strength up.  If the nausea gets too bad, ask the onc for a prescription.  And stay away from sugar and grapefruit/juice. 

Usually the first scan is the end of 3 months after starting tarceva.  On my first scan the tumors had shrunk tremendously.  So don't worry just yet.

Good luck and God Bless