Renal Cell Carcinoma (Kidney Cancer) Support Group

Hi my husband Steve has been on Sutent for the past 3 years. He has done quite well, with the tumors remaining stable. Some of the tumors have shrunk and others have stayed the same. He has been stage 4 since 2002. I would be happy to talk with you and give encouragement and support. Wanda

Hey, I was on Sutent for 9 months and it worked well. Nodes reduced by 80% and side effects you could live with. I assume he is on 28 days and off 14 days. I looked forward to the off time. Drugs work different on different people. Best of luck and I hope your father gets a 8 year run like Wanda's husband.

Cheers,
Gary

My husband was on Sutent for stage 4 cancer. He did quite well in the beginning. Side affects were better when he did 2 weeks on and 2 weeks off. Most problem for him was with the hand and foot pain. Good luck

Hi there,
my partner was on Sutent last year. He found it quite manageable. The side effects were mainly mouth ulcers, cold sores, and also the hand foot syndrome. I would suggest using a heavy emolient on his hands and feet every morning and night, even before there are any signs of dryness. As rganthony above says, my partner really really looked forward to the 2 weeks off, when the side effects diminished quite quickly. The first week back on was also fairly free of side effects. His ginger hair did go white! (But grew back darker after he stopped taking it)

I hope your dad does really well on Sutent. All the very best, and don't hesitate to ask if you have any more questions

Meriel

My husband just fininshed his first cycle last sunday 50 mg. He is still absolutley wiped out. is this common? We thought he would be fine after a few days.

Do keep a close check on the BP. My husband's became very irratic, and his BP meds had to be doubled! He wa also extremely fatigued.
Hugs,
Ingrid

My dad was recently diagnosed Stage 4 RCC. in 2006 he had his one of his kidneys (with tumor) removed and had remained cancer free until January 2010. They gave him 2 options for treatment....interleukin or sutent. Due to the toxicity of interleukin, he refuses to do that treatment. However, he hasn't decided on sutent either. I really hope he decides to start it, because from what I've seen, it's helped others. This is so devastating.

My Father just got done with his first treatment (28 days) with Sutent. He's been sick here and there with nausea etc. He'll be off for 2 weeks and back oin again for his second treatment. He hasn't been tested yet to see if there's been any changes. He does get his blood checked every week and needs transfusions at least every other week. Does anybody know anything about anemia with cancer?

Hi, I was on Sutent for 8 months and it slowed down my cancer growth but did not stop it. I want you to know that Sutent is the front line drug (targeted therapy) for Kidney cancer and many people have had great success with it. I'm now on Torisel and we found out today that the tumors on my lungs have shrunk down by 25%! Don't give up hope and know that there are many good treatments available for this cancer. Sutent can have side effects depending on the dosage that he is taking. Many patients take 37.5mg while others can tolerate the 50mg dosage. The chemotherapy (targeted therapy) is not near as bad as it was years ago. I have very little side effects on Torisel. I will be at the City of Hope getting my chemotherapy (Torisel) on Monday and I will definitely be praying for your Dad. I know you are worried but please remember there are a lot of options for treating Kidney cancer and don't believe what you read on the websites about Kidney cancer. Much of this information is out of date and they have made tremendous progress in treating this cancer. God Bless and keep us posted. Frank :-)

My husband is almost done with the first cycle of Sutent. So far the only side effect we notice is him being tired. It does change the taste of food after he takes it, but so far so good. He has lost around 20 lbs since he had his kidney removed on Feb. 16th. We won't know till after the second cycle and he has a cat scan to see if any change the tumors, hope so.