Hi Brenda,
My 91 year old Mother has been on Tarceva for the past year and is doing extreemly well. Her side effects have been minimal, mostly the skin rash (like measles) followed by dry flakiness. On rare occasions she has mild diarrhea, very, very infrequent nausea and no vomiting iat all. She has had some thinning of her hair, but no outright hair loss. Her quality of life has returned, her tummor markers are back to normal range, and on her CT/PET scans, the tumors are no longer visable. So Tarceva is a real "winner" in our book !!
Last August, Mom was diagnosed w/ cancer that had metastasized to her liver and bone (spine, ribs, etc) and was given little hope for surivval beyound 3 months (if that). Despite two biopsies of the original lesion in her lung, they weren't able to get enough tissue to determine the cell type. She is a survivor (8years) of colorectal cancer. So the picture was mixed re: whether this was a recurrence of her colorectal cancer or primary lung cancer that had spread..
In any case she was begun on Tarceva 100 mg. daily last August and her response has been nothing less than "miraculous." Within the first month her temperature returned to normal. Within the first 6 weeks her bone pain deminished and then left entirely. Her tumor marker began declining about the 3rd month and has returned to normal levels at her last appt. in July. She has regained her strength, energy and appetite (enough to return to her volunteer work and sociall activities).
Genentech was wonderful in assigning her a "care manager" who coordinated her insurance benefits so that our monthly costs are minimal.
So please tell your grandmother, that if she is inclined to give this medication a try, it may prove to be very helpful. I wish you both the very best.