UPDATE:
My father in law took 3 cycles of Sutent. And indeed, Sutent stopped the cancer metabolising. Unfortunately my father in law had serious pain from a spinal problem. He was taking a lot of oral meds. In particular, Oxycotin and Oxycodene. These meds made him mentally cloudy. I finally found a wonderful Pain Management specialist, Dr. Reicheimer at Norris Cancer Center at USC. He came up with an approach to manage my father in laws pain using very precise spinal nerve blocks. Unfortunately, as a result of all the meds he was taking, he developed severe acid reflux. Sutent compounded this. He stopped eating and so the acid continually built up. He was admitted to the ER before christmas, he passed away from a perfroated bowel on January 1st.
In my experience I would recommend finding a pain management specialist and try to remove as many oral medications as you can. Had I found this doctor sooner, I feel my father in law would have had a better chance and would have finished the Sutent trial with positive results. He had two years of back pain and I feel this hammered his body and spirit.
Take care of the pain or at least find someone who can help you manage it.
Dr. Hodi and his team, including Angie Tsiarus and Suzanne McCrae were simply wonderful and as I was dealing with my father in law through the holiday season, they were constantly available no matter what time I needed them.