Sutent Experience

I have not posted much since I came out of my clinical trial but thought I would drop on update on my experiences with Sutent for those folks that are new to the drug and are looking for info. But first a quick background:

·         Melanoma-2004

·         Prostate Cancer-2008

·         Kidney Cancer -2008 (left kidney and adrenal gland removed)

·         Kidney Cancer returned (2013) and diagnosed as stage 4 RCC with Mets to lung, 3 lymph nodes, thyroid, and bone

·         Needed to have rod placed in arm due to the extent of the bone cancer followed up by radiation

·         RCC Clinical Trial- 1/14-10/14

·         As a result of trial I now have hypothyroidism and my one remaining adrenal gland no longer works. I am now very susceptible to viruses and have been hospitalized 5 times for over 26 days due to extreme fevers (over 103) and various other things

With that said I am just finishing up my second cycle (4 weeks on/two weeks off/50mg per day) of Sutent. Long term side effects over the course of a cycle have been fatigue (I take naps whenever needed), mouth soars (Have a rinse and magic mouth wash and use when needed), and joint pain (have pills for that). Short term effects seem to start around week 3+ are nausea/vomiting (have 2 types of pills that seem to work), blood shot eyes (still don’t know why this is happening, and some diarrhea. Week 3+ effects are the worse but all in all manageable.

First CT scan is still not scheduled but hope to have it in hand by middle of January. Keeping fingers crossed on that one. Hope this helps