Hi- I have only posted a couple of times before but as my husband just completed his radiation/chemo treatment yesterday, I hope I can draw on our experience to eventually answer questions the way people here have helped me.

At the beginning of treatment we were really waiting for the day it finished but now, as I read in the posts of others, we are facing the challenge of waiting to see how effective it was and, as usual in this world of oral cancer, wondering what will come next.

One possibility that has entered our lives is participation in a phase 1 trial for the drug erlotinib. They are looking at the value of erlotinib after completion of chemo/radiation treatment ( and surgery, if needed) where the patient seems by visual inspection and tests like CTscan to be clear of the cancer. It is slightly different from a number of the trials I have read about with the EGFR group of drugs as it will be given as a follow-up to begin to look at its effectiveness at reducing the incidences of recurrence where the patient appears to be cancer-free as a result of treatment.

There are a lot of "ifs" in John's participation, the first being of course that the recently completed treatment may not have got everything that can be picked up by tests. The other major part is that, as a phase 1 trial, they are looking at safety and toxicity so he may be one of the ones where they keep escalating the dose until the side effects become unbearable. Not sure he needs go through that!!

Has anyone had experience with this drug and if so, in what way?

Mary