Lisa hasn't been feeling well, with bone pain and it being more difficult to walk, but she hasn't had the problematic potential side effects that we were told to watch out for with the Tarceva medicine, other than the usual fatigue that comes with almost any type of cancer treatment.
We checked with the oncologist, and he said that the increase in bone pain could indeed be because the cancer is reacting to the medicine in what's called a "flare", which is when the cancer cells expand before they die off. Multiple studies have shown that this kind of "flare" where the bone pain gets worse followed by getting better occurs in one-fifth to one-fourth of non-small-cell lung cancer (NSLC) patients who have had metastases to bone areas and have positive responses to treatment (tumors are reduced).
Meanwhile, the doctor has suggested that Lisa increase her steroid doses to lessen the discomfort and improve her ability walk.
We checked with the oncologist, and he said that the increase in bone pain could indeed be because the cancer is reacting to the medicine in what's called a "flare", which is when the cancer cells expand before they die off. Multiple studies have shown that this kind of "flare" where the bone pain gets worse followed by getting better occurs in one-fifth to one-fourth of non-small-cell lung cancer (NSLC) patients who have had metastases to bone areas and have positive responses to treatment (tumors are reduced).
Meanwhile, the doctor has suggested that Lisa increase her steroid doses to lessen the discomfort and improve her ability walk.