What a great place!!!!

[Guest colleen_33]

Thank you thank you thank you everyone!!!! Your warm welcome and kind words have me overwhelmed! I was feeling so hopeless and thanks to you all i have found a renewed faith and energy to get back into the game and help my dad and family fight this!!!! My dad went to his chemo today, he wasnt taking his zofran like he should have been, hes a stubborn one!, but the onc and nurses chewed him out so i think he will listen now!!! They are considering using Iressa, i dont know much about this drug? Any imfo on iressa would be appreciatied, dads onc seemed like he didnt know if dad could take it while on chemo, which i think is strange by the way, shouldnt he know that?? anyway, just wanted to thank you all and give and update, hope you all are doing well and hanging in there! Love to all, Colleen

[Debaroo]

Hi Colleen, sorry I am late, but welcome to the board

My dad was on Iressa from January to June. It was still a clinical trial when he started, and had just been approved in May I think. This is why your dads oncologist might not know if the Iressa can be taken in conjunction with chemo...because during the clinical trial the Iressa couldn't be taken in conjunction with ANY other form of treatment (this included radiation and Gamma knife radiation-which my dad had the latter for three brain mets in December.) He was able to continue the Iressa two days after the Gamma knife, but the rules were very clear that it was under NO CIRCUMSTANCES to be used with any other treatments.

I hope that this was of some help. The Iressa did work for dad for a little while, but then stopped. But that does not mean it won't work for your dad! To quote my dads oncologist "when that stuff works, it WORKS!"

Good luck to you and your dad and family during this trial. It is difficult but NOT IMPOSSIBLE!!! Take care, and keep us posted, Deb

[Don Wood]

My wife is going on Iressa as a maintenance med soon. We do not know much about it, except that you can get a rash as a side effect. We are told in some cases that it helps prevent new tumors. Don

[kimblanchard]

Colleen,

Welcome to the board and I hope this message finds that chemo kicking the dickens out of your dad's cancer. Many continue to fight and do BEAT THIS DISEASE. My husband was on Iressa for 2 months but it didn't work for him. However, I know of people who have been on it for over 2 years and it is still working successfully for them. So hang on and keep your hope and faith alive.

Blessings to you,

Peg

[teresag]

In a brief literature search (I mean like 25 minutes - really brief) I found that interstitial pneumonia (which damages the tiny air sacs, called alveoli) is the most serious potential side effect. In Japan, the rate was considerably higher than in the U.S. - but this is perhaps attributable to better detection in Japan, not to an actual difference. One Japanese abstract reads: "Patients with interstitial pneumonia also had other pulmonary disorders such as previous thoracic irradiation and poor performance status." Dancey wrote in the Lancet "Interstitial pneumonitis has been reported with gefitinib, with rates of incidence and death of 0.44% and 0.12% worldwide, and 1–2% and 0.4–0.5%, respectively, in Japan."

The June 1 issue of Jnl of Clinical Oncology has a small study where they report rash and "prolonged neutropenia."

BTW, Iressa's name while under development was ZD1839; its generic name is gefitinib, and it is a EGF-R inhibitor. (Epidermal growth factor receptor inhibitor, for the biologists in the group.)

[Cindy RN]

I must agree there are some really cool people here and we all do care.