Repair

Yesterday (Thursday) before the MRI scan I went to see one of nurses at the hospital to show her my legs. Not that they are good looking in any way, but I noticed in the morning that my left leg was slightly swollen especially around the ankle. It worried me a little. She said she would talk to one of the doctors and that I should drop by after the MRI scan. I had the scan which was a little different than all the other scans I've had. The machine made such noise that I had to wear a radio head set. I got to choose which radio channel to listen to. I picked "957".

After the scan I got to see a doctor who checked my legs and she said I'd have to go to an ultrasound examination to check if a blood clot could be the reason for the swelling. It was already three in the afternoon so I'd have to come back the following morning (today, Friday) and they'd try and fit me in between scheduled patients. Also, if my leg would start to hurt or I'd get problems with breathing during the evening or night I'd have to go to the emergency room, as then the blood clot would possibly have travelled to my lungs which can be life threatening. I was a little uneasy and started wondering if I'm now entering another phase of this disease.

Bad news seldom come alone, isn't that a saying? When leaving the car park the car window on the driver's side broke down. It wouldn't come up and I was forced to drive home with a totally open window in -15 degrees Celsius. Luckily I had a thick winter jacket, hat and gloves on and with the heater on full blast it worked out. It was a little unfortunate though that the window would break down just on this day. Our oldest kid had swimming school and I was already in a hurry to get home to pick the kids up from day care and take him to the swimming hall. Now I wouldn't dare to leave the car anywhere but rather get to a car mechanics' place to have the window fixed. We did it so that Marjo took both kids swimming (even though she had a cold) while I continued to the Nissan car dealer that Marjo had already called. They promised on the phone that someone would be able to look at it.

Well, at the car dealer the people suspected a broken window motor that had to be replaced. Unfortunately, the car repair was so fully booked it could take them over a week to have it fixed. They wanted me to leave the car there for the whole week. Not a good deal at all! Fortunately, a friend of ours working there (well, he actually sold us the car) set us up with another car mechanics' place that could have it fixed today. I jumped on the latter offer and drove off to a super market to wait for the family to finish the swimming. When we finally got home it was six in the evening and -18 degrees.

This morning I tried to cover the car window with some see-through plastic which kind-of worked. We dropped the kids off at day care and were at the hospital at nine. Marjo had to join me in case there was a blood clot in my leg because then I would have to stay at the hospital and she would have to drive the car to the mechanics'. They fit me in the ultrasound before 11 and luckily they did not find any blood clots. The doctor also checked yesterday's MRI and concluded that the swelling is caused by the cancer in the pelvic area lymph nodes which makes the flow of fluids more difficult. There were also a couple of spots where cancer was growing in such places (close to spine) where it can cause back pains, so for the first time during my cancer journey I am now scheduled for radiation treatment next week. Let's hope it will help with the back pains and prevent the swelling from getting worse. The backpains have been quite well under control though for the past few days with the pain killers. I am also not looking forward to the side effects, let's hope they will be on the milder side. The doctor said they are typically diarrhea and nausea but not as bad as with chemo.

After the ultrasound we drove to the car mechanics' place and had a long lunch in a near by restaurant while waiting for them to fix the window. Just in case we will not be opening the window for the rest of the winter though.

So it was a day of pretty ok news: no blood clots and car window working. Oh, and my oldest sister from Oslo came for a visit for the weekend!

Sleepless in Tampere

I had the bi-weekly follow up with the doctor on Friday. All blood values are good except AFOS (one of the liver values) was a bit high at 324. The normal range is 35-105. It has come down a lot since the bile duct operation last month though when it was measured at 649 (on January 2nd). The doctor said this is all good.

The back and hip pains are from time to time still bad and the doctor increased the painkiller dosages. She also prescribed me a new drug used for neuropathic pains and anxiety. It should also make me tired and help with my sleeping problems. They finally managed to schedule the MRI picture and I'll get that done on Thursday this week. Then they'll call me up next week to inform me about the results and see if they could use some radiation treatment on some tumours to ease the pains.

The biggest challenge right now is insomnia. I just can't fall asleep at nights or if I do I wake up shortly afterwards! Very frustrating and something I've never even remotely experienced before. We have discussed this with the doctor several times already. She has prescribed various sleeping pills that I've tried out, but they have unfortunately not helped very much. The back and hip pains could be part of the problem since I sometimes have had to take more pain killers during the night. Maybe the cancer has an impact on some hormone level? We've also discussed if the reason could be mental, in other words thoughts and fear of dying but it's not that either, I'm not going through anything like that at the moment. 

This weekend (Friday and Saturday nights) was exceptionally bad. The increased pain killer dose helped take away the back pains but I still couldn't fall asleep or if I did I would wake up after half an hour. I felt like a walking zombie during daytime especially afternoons and evenings. We did manage to meet up with some friends on Saturday though and that went fine. We placed the kids at grand-parents and had lunch at a restaurant downtown.

Last night (Sunday) I finally got some sleep! I slept for 4,5 hours, then half and hour awake, and then I slept for another 1,5 hours. Today (Monday) I've felt great and even brought and fetched the kids from day care. I haven't done that in a long time. Hopefully my sleeping will continue like this.

The birthday celebration season isn't over after all. The oldest kid came down with a stomach flu on his birthday and we had to postpone the party. Luckily the new time was ok for all, including the magician. Marjo also got the same stomach flu while the youngest guy and I managed to avoid it. Poor kid, he was very anxious the birthday party would get cancelled but we assured him it'll will be fine to tell everyone it is postponed by a week. That means the party is tomorrow but now it seems many of his friends have come down with something and have cancelled. There are quite a few flus going around in schools and day cares these days. Let's see how many will show up.

Birthday celebrations

We are in the birthdays celebration season. Our youngest son turned four yesterday and we arranged a real "friends-only" birthday party for him. Well, I have to admit Marjo and not myself was behind the arrangements. It has been fun time because it has meant a lot to him. He got to decide who to invite himself (they were his daycare friends) and he made birthday invitations and plans weeks ahead. The party went quite fine and they seemed to enjoy themselves. One of the guests refused to leave and Marjo had to carry him out to the entrance to his father who was waiting to pick him up.

Next week the older brother celebrates his birthday and will have his friends over and then we will have a family celebration during the weekend with relatives. There is in other words a bit of birthday cakes to be made and eaten. That may be good also for me and my weight. I am eating much better and have had no nausea for a while. I've been around 69 kg now and hopefully I'll see 70 kg on the scale after all the birthday celebrations are done.

I had a doctor's appointment and blood test done last week (February 1st). The blood values were quite good except the CEA value which had increased to 3200! It was previously measured on December 7th just before the virus treatment at the private clinic in Helsinki (Docrates) and it was then 1700. That is naturally no good news. It probably also means the experimental virus treatment has had no or little effect in slowing down the overall cancer situation. I've decided I will not go for any more virus treatments which is also in line with what my doctor at the local hospital recommends.

The back and hip pains are from time to time quite bad and I've had to increase the painkiller dosage. The doctor is not able to pinpoint exactly where the pain comes from other than it's probably a tumour that is pressing on a nerve somewhere. I'm now being scheduled for an MRI picture. That is a picture they have not taken of me earlier so let's see if it can reveal anything new.

My shape is a bit unpredictable but daytime is still the best part of the day. I've managed some short shopping trips and even had lunch with a friend the other day. Evenings and nights are a bit worse. The insomnia problem is annoying and I sleep very badly even though I take sleeping pills and painkillers.

There is no sign of spring coming to Tampere very soon. The temperature measure showed -20 degrees (Celsius) this morning and we still have snowfall every now and then. The days are luckily getting longer though and right now the sun shines through the snow covered woods. It is really beautiful but I wouldn't mind warm sun, snow melting and spring now.