News and sad news

Since the previous blog update (thanks wife!) lots have happened with me personally and to our family. Last week I started hearing some funny noise from my lungs. I called the hospital the following morning and the doctor ordered me to the hospital for blood tests, x-ray of the lungs and a check-up. The results were, briefly put, that I had got quite a bit of water in my lungs and cancer has spread further so much that it can now be seen in lung x-ray. At least the blood values are still good, and the doctor said the water problem can be managed with medication. The spreading of the cancer in my lungs was no news really, but compared to the pictures taken in January it seems at least to me to be spreading quite fast. I feel like maybe I don't have that much time left now. The doctor also gave me a referral to hospice, and a nurse from there will come visit us tomorrow to explain to us what kind of help they provide.

The liquid-removal pills I've started taking seem to drive down my blood pressure and make me very dizzy. This week I've felt totally out of it and have not had any energy at all. The persistent sleeping problem has probably an impact as well, as well as the entire cancer situation. I got a new "relaxation" drug from the doctor to try out for the insomnia but so far I can't say it has helped very much. And then I still have swollen legs. The doctor now thinks this is related to the overall cancer situation and has got something to do with proteins. I can manage by sticking my legs high up every now and then although it does not take the swelling down completely.

I had a follow-up of the lungs this Monday and the x-ray pictures showed that the situation is better. In other words the medication works. I guess I just have to manage with the dizziness and hope it eases off by itself.

As if my situation is not enough, our family got struck by more sad news. Marjo's sister and only sibling passed away unexpectedly of a sudden illness last week. She was only a bit over a year older than Marjo and generally in good health. It's hard to understand what God is up to now! I'm not very good at finding words in situations like this but may at least God bless her memory.

As Time Goes By

Wifey's turn to update the blog, Jan Arne has been a bit under the weather the past few days so he asked me to fill in for him.

Jan Arne's final radiation treatment was on Friday. The treatment itself has been easy, except for the odd appointment times, mostly at 8 in the evening or 8 in the morning. My dad has been driving him, a couple of times Jan Arne has been well enough to drive himself. The swelling on the legs has been coming and going, mostly gone for today, but it seems to be traveling, and there may be some fluid building up in his stomach as well. Other than that there has been some other uncomfortable side effects, a bit upset stomach, some fever, and quite bad fatigue so he has been sleeping a lot. At this point though it is a bit difficult to know which symptoms are caused by the cancer and which by the treatment. Mostly the radiation is given to ease the back pains but also the swelling hopefully. The doctor said the radiation might initially increase the swelling in the lymph nodes and thus make the swelling in the legs a bit worse but then it might get better. Let's hope this is the case.

The weather here in Tampere area was getting nice and springy last week, snow was getting ugly brown, and the roads have been really slippery. Yesterday morning we woke up to a nice surprise, 10 centimetres of new snow! Bummer, delayed spring, but on the other hand, today has been gorgeous, bright blue skies and all that blinding white snow. Last weekend I thought it's our last chance for a family ski trip but now we managed to fit in another one. Last weekend we were luckier though, Jan Arne was able to join us, on foot, but anyway! Today it was just me and the kids, Jan Arne stayed at home to rest his legs. Since Jan Arne has been mostly stuck on the couch, in the evenings we have been enjoying the As Time Goes By DVDs we ordered. We are quite hooked on the series, great entertainment!

Tomorrow Jan Arne may make a trip to the hospital to have the doc check up on the swelling.

Radiation

I started the radiation treatment on Monday. The treatment itself takes about 20 minutes and is painless. I've got to do 10 treatments in two weeks, which means I'm in for radiation every weekday this week and next week. They're running treatments up until nine in the evening and it seems they've given me quite a few late appointments.

I also saw the doctor on Tuesday and had a blood test done. The CRP (infection level) was 60, which I thought was high, but the doctor said it's caused by the overall situation of the cancer and nothing to worry about, except it of course shows the cancer is quite advanced now. The other values were more or less fine. In addition to radiation I'll be getting a new drug called Zometa as an IV every 3-4 weeks. It is used to treat tumours in the skeleton as well as reduce possible pain. Together with Zometa I've got to eat Calsium and D-vitamin pills. Zometa can have some side effects, mostly headache and other flu-like symptoms, luckily usually short-term.

We discussed the insomnia problem again and as a result we agreed I'd try and take both melatonin together with a sleeping pill. I started this the very same evening and guess what? I slept seven hours straight! The same happenend last night. Today I've been totally out of it though and I've slept several hours on the living room couch. It could be that some side-effects of Zometa have kicked in (tiredness is one) at the same time.

During this winter one of the Finnish TV channels (FST) has been showing both seasons of "Livet på Hvaler", a Norwegian TV-series from 2008 and 2009. In Norway the title was "Hvaler". Both Marjo and I have really enjoyed the TV series. Great entertainment! We have also been watching a lot of British TV-series, we saw all episodes of Vicar of Dibley and this week we ordered three DVDs of As Time Goes By from Amazon.

Wedding anniversary

We had our 8th wedding anniversary the other day. We celebrated a little the day before and went to the movies to see The King's Speech, which I thought was excellent. From there we stopped by in restaurant Heinätori to have dinner. I had mushroom soup for starter and fried liver as the main course and I guess you can call that a quite traditional Finnish meal. We were home by seven as I was fighting to stay awake (because of the insomnia problem) and as the swelling in my legs was a little uncomfortable. On our actual wedding day we made yet another trip to the movies and a restaurant but this time with the kids. We saw Yogi Bear and had pizza and pasta in a nearby restaurant.

I'm scheduled for my first radiation treatment on Monday (March 7th). I really hope it will prevent the swelling from getting worse as I currently feel a bit handicapped. I've been able to move around and make some short trips downtown but when I get home I've got to lie down and keep my legs high up which is the only way to get the swelling down.

Falling asleep at night is still a big problem and I'm not sure what to do about that. I sleep way too little and it has messed up many of the days this week as I've felt totally dead during the daytime. I have a doctor's appointment on Tuesday (March 8th) and will discuss the possibility of seeing a sleep specialist.