Good afternoon. I've been looking for a place to come and get informative information...not just from a clinical perspective, but from a human perspective. My father in law was diagnosed April of 2004. He was given chemotherapy only until August of 2004. At that time his scans showed that the tumor was untracable. Things went very well until the Christmas holiday season. He began to get pain in his right side chest. We knew the cancer had returned. After a petscan it was confirmed that the cancer returned. His doctor decided to give him an option: He could go back to chemo (he did really well with chemo, very minimal side effects) OR to try Tarceva. Well heck, who wouldn't want to pop a pill as opposed to going to the chemo center? So he opted for the Tarceva. He's been on it since Feb 14 2005. After about a week and half of taking it, the pain in his chest started to subside BUT he began to get a rash on his face. We expected as much since it was listed as a side effect. Well, after more than a month my Dad looks like he was burned in a fire. The rash is more like blisters on some spots, he's constantly taking Benadryl to control the itch, which in turn makes him exhausted, his lips are so blistered he has a hard time eating and drinking...and the list goes on.
Is there anyone else here who has used Tarceva? If so, did you get the rash and if yes, what did you use to help combat the side effects from it?
Sandy
