Kellie

I'm on week 12 of Tarceva. I have moderate but manageable rash and dry skin. At 7 weeks I had an 80% reduction of my stage IV nsclc. I thought this was God sent and a second chance at life! Now I am having itchy irritated eyes that is affecting my vision, making it slightly fuzzy and cloudy. I had my eyes checked and the corneas are actually pitted with damage. The suspicion is that it will continue to deteriorate until I am blind as long as I stay on the medication. I've had other chemo and they all made me sick and I landed in the hospital with anemia and neutropenia. What do I do now???

Hi Cindy, I take a 150 dose of Tarceva every night at bed time. I did have some stomach upset the first week, but it was not real bad, just odd. I joked that I had an alien in my belly as it was making funny noises, but after the first week it went away. I also had radiation right at the beginning of my diagnosis, followed by traditional chemo. The chemo made me so sick that I was hospitalized three times, put on IV antibiotic, my kidneys were damaged, and had to have blood transfusions. I lost 30 pounds and was nearly bed ridden for the majority of September thru November. The doctor had run out of things to try and I was done with chemo. I had no quality of life and refused to even see my friends because I was afraid I would vomit on or near them. In the three months I had no chemo treatments my cancer spread. It was only going to be a short amount of time before I lost the fight. So when Tarceva became an option I jumped on it. The paperwork and warning labels are very scary, but no more so than regular chemo. Now on Tarceva I have my life back. I'm still not 100%, it will take a while to get my strength and energy back. But I am eating, going out with friends, going on daily walks and even started horse back riding again. I can clean my house and help my amazing husband who took such great care of me when I was sick. There are pictures of me in my introduction thread on my first girls night out since getting my diagnosis, bald head and all. I know I am very lucky that my Tarceva rash is mild and the itching and dry skin it manageable AND that my initial results are so good. I know some people get it much worse. I hope it will continue to work for me, I feel like it has given me a second chance at life. I'll be thinking about you and your journey and hope it goes well.

Yesterday I met with my oncologist and we went over my scan that was taken last week with me being on Tarceva less than two months and compared it to my pre-Tarceva scan back in December. My cancer has been reduced by about 85%!!!!!!!!!!! I still have the itchies, dry skin and a minor rash, but I'm leaning to manage it with lotions, potions and creams. I'll take these side effects over nausea, vomiting, dehydration, anemia, neutropenia and hospitalization any day

I was diagnosed last May with stage 4 non small cell lung cancer. I had chemo of carbopatinum (sp), Olympta (sp) and taxol. All of them made me extremely sick. I lost 30 pounds and went to the hospital with dehydration, anemia and neutropenia each time. With blood transfusions and fluids I would sort of bounce back, but I did loose all the hearing in my right ear and even after all these months my kidneys are only at 60%. It has been a long and rough road. A couple months ago I had surgery to get a better biopsy and it was found I have the mutation that makes me a candidate for TARCEVA. I took my last pill out of the 2nd month bottle last night, so I have not been on it long. Yesterday I met with my oncologist and we compared my December (pre-Tarceva) CAT scan to a scan taken last week with me being on Tarceva less than two months. The results were amazing. The doctor estimated that the Tarceva has reduced my cancer by about 85%. Hopefully it continued to reduce, or at east hold my cancer back. I do have a rash, luckily it is not extremely severe. A little powder to cover the redness and I'm good. I do have extremely dry skin and I itch. I pamper myself by soaking in baking soda or oatmeal baths then use a lot of lotion for the dryness. So far it is manageable, and it is working, so it is worth it.

So far the best thing I have found for my splitting hands is Neosporin with pain relief. Taking a bath with added baking soda helps the itch and adding oil to the bath helps with dryness. The problem I am having no is my insurance is refusing to pay for the genetic testing. So I have to come up with thousands of dollars.

Hi all, I'm still doing pretty good. I am slowly getting my strength back after chemo nearly killed me. I'm still anemic, which explains why I am tired and need naps. I won't know exactly how well the Tarveva is working until I have my next scan, which is mid March. The rash has gotten worse, it has spread to my hands and they are now peeling and painful. I have a 1/2 dozen lotions and ointments that don't do much to help. Any ideas what might help with the dry skin and itchies?

Two weeks on Tarceva. Other than the rash I don't seem to have any side effects. I am battling really dry skin in the rash areas on my face. I rinse my face and put lotion on it several times per day, but I still have hard, dry, scaly skin from my forehead down my nose to my chin. I did have a great day on the trail yesterday driving my pony

Today is day 8 on Tarceva. Two days ago I broke out with the rash and today I am battling dry mouth. The rash was only in a couple of spots to begin with, but now it is pretty much everywhere from the waist up. I even have itchy bumps on my eyelids and lips. It is quite annoying, but no where near as miserable as chemo was.

Thank you for the welcome. I am really hopeful that the Tarceva will keep my cancer in check. I'd exhausted pretty much all the other options and was really getting scared and losing hope. A little more about me.... I live in Oregon, just south of Eugene with my husband and a collection of animals. I have a Tennessee Walking horse that I trail ride, two miniature horses that I drive, two dogs and two goats that I love hiking with, two inside cats, two outside cats and 4 rabbits that live in the barn with the horses.

Hello, I am a 44 year old woman who was diagnosed with stage IV NSCLC with a tumor wrapped around my superior Vena Cava. I was sick for a couple months before my May 16, 2013 cancer diagnosis. My Doc thought I was having allergies and then pneumonia. I started radiation right away then had chemo of carbo platinum and olimpta (sp). I did ok for two treatments, then my body said no. I got severely sick and ended up in the hospital with dehydration, anemia and neutropenia. I tried chemo again, and the same thing happened. While I was in the hospital I got a virus in my ear which caused nerve damage. I am now deaf in my right ear and have severe vertigo. About a month ago I had surgery to get a better biopsy. While waiting for the biopsy results I tried a chemo treatment of Taxol. It also made me very sick. Just two days ago I got the biopsy results and they found that I have the EGFR Mutation. I will be starting Tarceva on Monday.