Round 14 delayed

As the CT scan got delayed the doctors said I would continue the usual three weeks chemo cycle. I was supposed to start round 14 yesterday, but a nurse from the hospital called me up and said that the Platelet count in Friday's blood sample was too low to start chemo. Platelets have an important role in stopping bleeding. A normal value is between 150 and 360 and mine was 88. This is a typical side effect of chemotherapy and though my value has usually been on the lower end of the scale it has never dropped below 100. The nurse said the doctor had ordered a one week delay in starting the chemo. Next Monday I'll have to give another blood sample before hopefully getting chemo on Tuesday.

The other blood values were fine from the point of view that I'm a cancer patient. They also took the CEA value which had gone up to 179,8 (it was 108,9 on Feb 22nd). I got a little worried about this as it could indicate that tumours have started growing. The nurse said CEA is always used together with the pictures from the CT scan and that CEA could go up and down for other reasons as well. I'll simply have to wait for another two weeks until the CT is done and pictures are analysed.

In the evening I went orienteering and ended up as number 42 out of 150 on a 4km track. I came out of the woods with a face shining like a red light bulb. Next time I have to force myself to walk not to run through the woods.

Crete

We returned last Sunday from a week's holiday on Crete. It was all in all a very successful trip except for the fact that my wife had to go and see a local doctor immediately after the arrival. It turned out she still had an ear infection. The doctor prescribed her with another round of antibiotics.

The hotel had an excellent outdoor area for kids including big lawns, orange trees and a children's pool. Luckily we had the in-laws with us who helped out a great deal running after our youngest kid. He was just all over the place.

The weather was pretty good except perhaps the day we arrived. There was a chilly wind from the sea and I started regretting I had only packed shorts and t-shirts. Luckily it got warmer the next days.

We rented a car one day and took off into the mountains. There is lots of nice nature on the island and orange trees everywhere it seemed. Our youngest was more interested in using oranges as football instead of eating them. In the evening we left the kids with the in-laws and drove off to the city of Chania. It happened the be the night when Champions League quarter finals were on. There was a TV screen showing football in every single pub and café down town Chania. My wife was kind enough to let me pick an ice-cream bar where they showed Manchester United.

On the medical front very little has happened. I was supposed to have a CT scan on Friday. While waiting at the hospital a nurse came to tell me the CT machine had just broken down. There is another machine at the hospital but it was so fully booked that they had to reschedule me. I got another time two weeks from now.

Genetic testing

I started the 13th treatment round after all on Monday even though I'm on antibiotics. The doctors said it's fine as the infection level (CRP) was low and blood values were otherwise fine.

Some time ago I asked the doctors if they could run some genetic testing on me to try and identify if it is some gene mutation that may have caused my cancer. Though this is a vastly complex area there is already knowledge of some gene mutations that will increase the risk of colon cancer.

On Wednesday I had an appointment with a doctor specialised in the area. She was very knowlegeable about colon/rectal cancer and had also studied my case well. She asked why I wanted to do this. I answered the only reason is to pass on knowledge to my family and especially our kids.

For one hour I was briefed about gene mutations, cancer and ongoing research. I should have brought either my wife or a voice recorder with me as I can't recall it all. She said I could call her any time if I had questions or wanted to know more. I answered it will probably be my wife that would call her.

About gene mutations, some are inherited and some are not. Finland is in front line on research of some of these gene mutations, HNCPP in particular. People diagnosed with HNPCC have a very high risk of developing colon cancer during their life time. The probability I would have HNCPP is less than 20% though.

There is a good system in Finland for follow-up of families in our situation. As an example, she explained our kids would be followed up once they turn 18.

The next step is that she'll order the testing of those two biopsies they have already taken of me (one from a liver tumour and one from the rectal tumour). In addition I had to go and take a blood test they will use for DNA analysis.

Wave of flues

The entire family has been hit by a series of flues and infections for a few weeks. First out was the youngest that we had to take to the doctor. He was diagnosed with an ear infection, in fact the fourth ear infection this winter, third in March! Hopefully the last. Next out was our oldest son who came down with a regular flu. Then my wife and myself got it and it seems determined not to give in easily. On Friday both of us went to see a doctor. The diagnosis was an ear infection for my wife and a sinus infection for me. We are both on antibiotics now.

Tomorrow I'm supposed to start treatment round 13, but the doctors will probably delay it because of the antibiotics. Hopefully they won't delay it too much as we've booked a one week holiday trip to Crete and we are leaving soon.