Hi my mom took Tarceva and she was one of the Lucky ones that responded to it. Most people do not respond to it but those that do often have fast and dramatic results. Tarceva worked better for my mom then any of the chemos did.
After her first line chemo my mom developed an obstructive pneumonia and her whole right lung was whited out on Xray and she was miserable. The doctor started her on antibiotics and Irressa ( this was Dec. 2004) within days she had dramatic improvement and just kept getting better and soon claimed she has breathing better then she had in years. In Jan. 2005 the Iressa was switched to Tarceva as Iressa was being pulled from the market. They are both the same type of drug. For 7 months my mom took the Tarceva and it totally did away with her lung tumor but since the beginning she had some liver mets. At first the Tarceva destroyed some of them and shrunk the others then it quit working and they started to grow. The lung tumor never came back and her lungs have been cancer free so she has not had all the respiratory issues that many here do.
While on the Tarceva she did get the acne type rash and her finger tips split and the hair she had lost during chemo was slow to grow back in but to her it was all a small price to pay for how good she felt. She got lots of energy back, ate well , slept well and life was back to normal for her.
We all are very thankful for the good time the Tarceva gave her as after her first chemo I did not think my mom would ever live a normal life as it wiped her out but thank God Tarceva changed that. Even when she went back on chemo when the liver mets started growing (this time Alimta )she continued to have a normal life with about 48 hrs of Fatigue a day or two after chemo but the rest of the time she felt good. So after starting Tarceva she had about 14 months of high quality time. The last chemo Gemzar and Taxotere changed that as it wiped her out and took away all her energy which made me even more thankful for the time Tarceva had given us. At stage IV NSCLC any quality time like that is indeed a gift. She is now in hospice care as the chemo was just too much and she decided to quit.
All that said there are plenty of people that have not responded to Tarceva or had lots of side effects like a rash that was intolerable so keep in mind we are all differenct so respond to drugs in a different way. Tarceva can also cause a fatal interstitial fibrosis in some people so it is not with out risks but when my mom started Iressa which has the same side effects/ risks we decided what has she got to loose? The cancer was going to kill her so the chance of having Tarceva work out weighed any risks for her.
I will send prayers your father's way in hopes that he may see postive results of Tarceva as I know how thankful my whole family is for Tarceva despite the fact that we now are preparing to say good bye to mom as I said that 14 month period was a gift from heaven for us.
Good luck. JanMarie
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