Hi,

This is my first post on Grace. My sister has NSLC stage IV metastatic to brain. EGFR mutation positive. She finished 4 rounds of chemo 4 weeks ago. Started Tarceva maintenance 7 days ago. CAT one week ago showed chemo had shrunk lung tumors (15 in left lung) slightly but still metabolic activity. After 1 week on Tarceva, pain in left side of back is increasing rapidly to the point of needing morphine again like before the chemo. How long does it take for Tarceva to start working usually? By day 7-8? Or can this drug take longer to take effect?

Well dads spread to brain is confirmed. He has 2 mets one smaller and one larger. They are treating with whole brain radiation I don't understand why not targeted radiation?

He has squamous nsclc and is going to be treated with 5 wbr that doesn't seen much?

I have mucinous BAC in my lower lobe, and was wondering if it was possible( or indeed wise) to attempt to espress the mucos. At the moment i can feel it moving around, particularly when lying down, but my cough does not express it. Any advice would be most gratefully received,

My aunt has stage IV lung cancer and schizophrenia. She has estimated a couple months to maximum a year left. She is continually saying she cant breath and her back hurts, but her O2 stays at around 95% and she can talk clearly without oxygen. She was not prescribed home oxygen. She has been doing radiation she does miss her apt. occasionally. She did Chemo for a while but she was not committed to going, and it caused her a lot of distress, She is mobile, and able to take care of herself (shower, change, uses the bathroom), but not able to communicate with health care staff effectively.

My brother was newly diagnosed at the end of January, with extensive disease SCLC with mets to liver and many bones. None to brain. He is 52 y.o. and has been generally healthy until diagnosis. He started his 2nd round of chemo today (carboplatin/etoposide), and he was told they will scan after 4 rounds "to give the chemo a chance to work" . I' can't find any site that specifically discusses the standard of care regarding scans, but it seems that he has very little time to waste if the first line treatment is not going to work for him!

Does anyone have any examples of letters of medical necessity to justify the use of Tarceva / Avastin as a first line NSCLC therapy? Or if anybody has some insurance experience with this combination therapy to share, that would be most appreciated.

My father is a 67 yo Asian male, never smoker with EGFR (exon 19 deletion)+ NSCLC with wide-spread mets. Excellent condition ECOG 0. Currently on day 5 of Tarceva as his first-line of treatment. Tarceva has been approved already by insurance.

Hi all,

My dad whose 77 years old was diagnosed with stage 3 adeno. The doctors at Windship Emory wants him to participate in a clinical trial of RTOG-1306... This trial is for the less advanced form of LC in patients. My question is: will it benefit my dad to take crizotinib for 3 months and then move onto his traditional chemo/rad? Otherwise, he will start chemo/rad, next week. Any suggestions? Thanks..

In 2009, my mom was diagnosed with essentially stage IV lung cancer, with a small lump in her lung and metastasized to her lymph nodes in her neck and at least a dozen nodes in her brain. She was a very healthy 60 year old Asian woman. After a VERY aggressive treatment which included chemotherapy simultaneous with whole brain radiation, she is "cancer free". She has had one small node since in her brain but that was treated successfully with one gamma knife treatment.

Hi,

My mom's stage IV nsclc mets were being kept at bay with chemo until Oct. when there was progression in lung, adrenal, and lymph tumors. She stopped treatment and started hospice right before Christmas, still feeling good. It has been 9 months since WBR for brain mets.