Thursday, December 30, 2010

Happy New Year!

We celebrated Christmas with Marjo's family and one of my sisters and her husband who visited for some days. We had a traditional Finnish Christmas dinner including a huge ham on Christmas Eve. We usually have a Norwegian dinner during Christmas as well and this year my sister and brother-in-law cooked Norwegian-style ribs ("ribbe") for us on Christmas Day. It was all very nice but I was a little unfortunate and suffered from lack of appetite. It has been a problem for a while and seems to go on. I'm down to 75 kg now and need to focus more on eating.

The Santa Claus (Joulupukki in Finnish) visited on Christmas Eve as well. The kids asked many questions ("Is one of your reindeers called Rudolf?"), sang to him, and got a lot of presents, mostly Lego which they both love. I got a lot of presents myself from friends and family (thank you!). The most special one was a blanket knitted by some friends. The colors were red, white, and blue which suite Norwegians very well! I should be able to cope with chills and cold temperatures very well now.

I've recovered from the side effects of the first virus treatment quite well but I'm not in as good shape as I would wish for. Some days are pretty good and I'm able to go for short walks in the woods. Other days I feel just uncomfortable, tired, not able to sleep well at nights, need rest frequently during the days, and like I said no appetite. I've got a fixed doctor at the local hospital in the palliative ward now and she follows me up often and very well. On her recommendation I'm taking pain-killers regularly so I am at least in no pain. My back has been ok recently anyway but I have had some stomach pains. The next virus treatment is next week in the private hospital in Helsinki. The follow up on if the treatment is working is supposed to be after the third treatment, I am not sure if they even take the cancer marker test before that. Before that we won't know if the treatment is working on me. Let's hope the second treatment will be a bit easier than the first one.

Wishing you all a Happy New Year!

5 comments:

Unknown said...

I am glad to see you, Jan Arne! You look great!!! :)

May next year bring you a great appetite, less pain, and easier treatment!!!

Happy New Year!!!

Strawbale Builders said...

Hi Jan!

Great to read your update.

All the best of luck with the upcoming virus treatments. We'll be thinking of you.

Wishing you all a better-er 2011 :-)

Peter, Hanna, Benjamin & Olivia

Anne Jorunn said...

Wish you and your family all the best for the new year.

Wish you a good appetite, a lot of nice strolls in the woods, and a lot of LEGO-playing with your boys (that's a favorite in our home too...).

Anne Jorunn

johman said...

Wishing you and your loved ones all the best for 2011. Praying and hoping the viruses have some positive effects and that this will be the year to return to better health.

Big hug from Nathaniel, Leon, Aneta and Johan

mestad said...

Happy new year! I am so sorry to hear about all this nausea. I hope you get better.

Aase