Rash and other fun stuff

Jan Arne has not apparently had time (or energy) to send an update, so the wife here again, in case someone out there is wondering how he is doing.

Jan Arne has now had two treatments with the new combo, third tomorrow. They give Erbitux and Camptosar every Tuesday, and Xeloda Jan Arne eats twice a day for two weeks. The side effects came almost immediately after the first dose. Nothing huge, but these poisons are obviously not as much fun as the earlier ones. The rash on face and scalp is quite bad, but not as bad as I thought it could be. For Jan Arne of course it is annoying, as it can be quite itchy. He has not really had nausea or diarrhea but he's not been 100% either, not eating as well as before. And he's been quite tired. All in all, I bet life without chemo would be nicer.

On the positive side, the rash is supposed to be an indication that Erbitux is working. Also, in the blood test last week, a week after the first dose, the platelet count had gone up to 118. So if the doc was right and it is the tumours that kept the value low, a higher platelet count sounds good, maybe it indicates that the new combo is kicking the tumours' butt.

News from other fronts: Yes Norway won the Eurovision Song Contest, and Yes I voted for Norway too, and Summer is in Finland: 29C yesterday and 10C predicted for Thursday, what can be more Finnish than that.