Birthday presents

Today I turned 38 and spent the whole day in hospital. We started off with the usual doctor's appointment in the morning. Again a new doctor we haven't met before. She had a title indicating she was a senior with a lot of experience. When we entered the room I was nervous about hearing the results from last week's CT scan. My wife broke the ice by saying today was my birthday. The doctor replied congratulations and that she luckily had good news. The tumours in the liver had shrunk, many lymph nodes had shrunk back to practically normal size (previously described as "pathologically large"), and no new tumours in the liver could be seen. The lungs are still clear as well. The doctor said these were very good results and that this is going to the right direction.

We discussed a while about the largest tumour I have in my liver. I call it Mr. Big. In the CT scan done on June 30th it was measured to nearly 10 cm at its widest. In the biopsy done on July 16th it was measured with ultrasound to be 13,8 cm x 9,5 cm. In the CT scan done last week Mr. Big was measured to 8 x 5,2 cm. We wondered how the tumour could be that much bigger on July 16th, only 17 days after the first CT. The explanation we got was that CT and ultrasound are two different technologies that shows different pictures possibly from different angles and that such deviations could happen. I'm still not sure which is the right measure to compare to but doctor said the important issue is that there is proof the drugs are shrinking the tumours.

There was more positive news. The doctor explained that the most effective drug out of the three I'm on is Avastin. However, Avastin was added just a few days before the CT on September 9th. That is such a short time that the drug wouldn't have had time to make an impact. The shrinkage we now see is a result of the two other drugs I'm on (Eloxatin and Xeloda). Because of this we expect to see more good results in the next CT scan.

I showed the doctor my feet. They have never really been good-looking. The doctor wasn't impressed either but rather because I have some skin and blister issues. She said I needed to treat them better in order to avoid infections. That means more cream and salty water foot-baths. She also lowered the evening doze of Xeloda from four to three and said it will not have an impact on the cancer reduction effect.

I got out of the hospital at 1630 and picked up some pizzas on my way home. Later we went to sauna with the kids. Yes, we took out the "vihta", which is the birch thing used in Finnish sauna. To top things off, after kids were in bed I watched Rosenborg (Norway) beat Brøndby (Denmark) in a UEFA cup football qualifier.

And the birthday presents? In addition to the good news from the doctor, I got for example an electronic photo frame, slippers, lottery tickets to be scraped, lovely warm set of scarf, hat and gloves from wife and kids to keep me warm because of Eloxatin side effects. Last but not least, I got loads of phone calls and messages from friends and family. I have to say it was really a fantastic birthday!