Hello,
I'm a newcomer to this community, just thought hearing some feedback and sharing my experiences may be helpful for me and everyone during this time. My dad (59yrs) found out in April that his kidney cancer had spread all over his lungs. He had a nephrectomy done 5 years ago and we thought everything had been removed but I guess the cancer came back. We were given quite a shocking prognosis but we're fighting. Do you think we could have found out sooner?
He's been on Sutent which has shrunk some of the cancer, shown on the latest CT scan. The only side effect that he has is hand and foot syndrome on his feet, which has been a major problem. (when off Sutent, he sweats at night, one of the initial symptoms he had prior to finding out about the cancer) He can only stand 25mg for 2 weeks and then a 1 week break is required. Is there anybody taking a similar dosage?
Besides the swelling and pain on his feet, things have been okay. Until he started having headaches...The oncologist called right after we did a CAT scan saying that there are mets and radiation will be needed (2 week treatment). I really would like to know what side effects to expect if anybody has been through a similar situation. He starts the treatment in one week and currently he's been prescribed dexamethasone. The only side effects he has is surprisingly a bad case of the hiccups. They come very frequently and luckily I came up with a breathing strategy to temporarily cure the hiccups. If anybody needs help with it, let me know.
While the radiation is being done, he will have to stop Sutent for a little while. I am really worried about how that will affect things, and just how everything will change after this treatment. Right now he can still walk and perform regular daily duties and still likes to talk non-stop as usual. If things could only get better, I wouldn't mind listening to him nag about everything all day.