Hmm

I had a long day at the hospital yesterday. I usually have a blood sample taken the day before chemo, but due to the Easter holidays I had to take it yesterday morning. The same applied to all the other patients that were in for chemo so it took me one hour just to get the blood sample done. Then I spent another hour waiting for the lab to deliver the results. The platelets count was surprisingly 75 and since the lowest limit is 100 for giving chemo the nurse had to consult the doctor. That took another hour as the doctor had to consult yet another doctor which I assume was the senior doctor. Finally at noon I was told they'd only give me Erbitux and that I'd have to wait one week with the other drugs (Camptosar and Xeloda). Only after this decision the nurse could order the drug and the delivery takes some time as well.

The platelets have stayed good-enough-for-chemo for a long time so I got a little worried because this is what happened last spring when the first chemo combination ran out of juice. The platelets count then stayed low for several weeks in a row and the doctors concluded in the end the cancer prevented it from raising. This together with the slight rise in the cancer marker (CEA) in February I can't help but wonder if the cancer is progressing again. I will find out only after next CT scan which is scheduled for 22.4 (April 22).

When I checked out of from the hospital I had spent a nice 6 hours there.

A trip to Stockholm

We did a cruise from Helsinki to Stockholm and back earlier this week. We had a cabin with a window towards the sea which was pretty much covered by ice all the way. I've never been on a ship paving its way trough ice before. While some passengers fancied shopping, the kids and I found it quite interesting just to watch the ice move by. I admit the noise of ice hitting the ship brought into my mind a couple of flash-backs from the movie Titanic. I didn't see any ice bergs though.

In Stockholm we visited the Vasa museum and Junibacken. The first time I visited Vasa in 1995 I had a "wow" experience. The ship is still very impressive. Junibacken is a children's play house based on many familiar characters from Swedish children’s books. It looked like our kids had a similar "wow" experience there as I had in the Vasa museum. It was a great place to visit. Our kids haven't really listened to Swedish very much but our older kid obviously managed to pick up some as he refused to leave the Pippi Longstocking show before it ended.

There is nothing much exciting happening on the cancer side of life except that my eyelashes have grown wild again and need a cut. The doctors were kind enough to postpone my next infusion until after Easter which gives me a few more days with a clear brain.

Winter

We've had an absolutely fantastic winter in Tampere. Skiing and skating conditions have been perfect for months. Maybe slightly too cold for outdoor sports at times. The older kid is already pretty good on crosscountry skis and the younger one gets down the hills nicely in a crouching position. I haven't done a lot of skiing myself but a few weeks ago I felt great and did a couple of trips.

In this video clip I'm going down the steepest hills in the woods around here with my mobile phone in one hand and the poles in the other. One of my sisters is visiting at the moment from Norway. Today she went skiing while we were at work and tried out the same hill. When I asked her how skiing was, she said it's pretty flat around here. So much for that "steep" hill.


I came down with a flu last week and a sore throat this week. Hopefully I'm still able to start the full chemo round on Thursday.

Scan analysis

We had to wait for half an hour before we got to see the doctor this morning. Usually that's nerve-wrecking when there's a CT analysis on the agenda and I'm booked with the senior doctor. This morning the TV was on and I got to watch the third period of Sweden-Slovakia, Olympic ice-hockey quarter-finals, and I almost forgot about what was to come. Sweden surprisingly lost.

The CT scan showed that the direction is still good. No new tumors and the existing tumors are the same size or slightly smaller. CEA had gone up to 57,6 (from 30,3 in December). I was a bit worried about this but the doctor said the pictures are the most important and that other non-cancer factors can impact CEA. The tumor measurements were:
* 6,3 x 3,4 cm (previously 6,7 x 4,1 cm)
* 2,5 x 4,3 cm (previously 2,6 x 4,2 cm)
* 2,1 x 1,5 cm (previously 2,1 x 1,9 cm)
* 1,7 x 2,4 cm (previously 1,7 x 2,4 cm)

We decided to continue the weekly chemo though it's quite tiring. The doctor said I could also change to a bi-weekly treatment schedule, but the schedule I am on now is the most common and most studied one and it is probably also the most effective way of doing it. So I decided to stay on the weekly schedule for the time being, but it is nice to know there is a bi-weekly option as well.

Marjo brought up the issue of future treatment alternatives. We can at least forget the RFA radiation (radio-frequency ablation), which the Independent article in my previous blog post talked about. The doctor explained it would do more harm than good in my case because of the positioning of the tumors. They're sitting too close the border of the liver and thus the radiation might cause damage on other organs close to the liver. He did mention some other possible treatments but Marjo was in a hurry to get to work (as the doctor was half an hour late) so we didn't have much time to discuss that. Will have to ask more about those some other time.

Actually, the doctor didn't discuss the future alternatives much but he mentioned that a longer break from chemo to let the body recover may be possible/necessary at some point as I have been on chemo for almost two years soon. I could also continue with Erbitux and Xeloda only and leave the heaviest chemo Camptosar out for a while. I said a break would be great during summer time but we didn't make any detailed plans.

Scan time

I had another CT scan yesterday but have to wait for the result and analysis until Thursday next week. I've been scheduled to meet the senior doctor this time so I'll have to ask Marjo to think of difficult questions to ask.

Today I was in for a round of full treatment (Camptosar, Erbitux, Xeloda). The platelets count has been consistently good for a long time, but in yesterday's blood sample the count was below the treatment threshold. This was surprising as I've had one week off the heavy drugs (Camptosar and Xeloda). The doctors decided I'd still get the drugs but with reduced Camptosar dose.

My sister forwarded an interesting article in The Independent about a success story of a bowel cancer patient. He got very much the same diagnosis as I got and used the same chemo as I am on now (cetuximab is another name for Erbitux).

Our sons had birthdays earlier this month and they are now three and six. The younger one especially is at a very funny age. A quote from him from this morning while sitting on toilet: "Mom, I don't like dad, he is stupid, he sings stupid songs and gives us too many sandwiches".

Taxi driver

I actually made a New Years resolution this year. I'd try and update my blog a bit more often. Looking at the time stamp of the previous post, I can't say I'm off to a very good start. I have a feeling 2010 is going to be a good blog year though.

My weekly treatments were moved from Wednesdays to Thursdays. When I checked in at the cancer ward a couple of weeks ago the nurses asked if I wanted to share the room with another Norwegian. It turned out he had been there for a while as well but on different days up until now. Pretty cool to have a Norwegians-only room though only for a few hours. We'll try and meet up outside of the hospital as well.

I had to check in at First Aid on Tuesday evening. There has been a stomach bug going around in the family and I eventually got it too. I had a bit of fever and the doctors took it pretty seriously even though I told them it must be the same stuff as the rest of the family has had. I guess they wanted to ensure it was not the swine-flu. I even had to stay over night at the cancer ward. All the rooms were actually booked so they put me into a storage (or something) room. There was a lamp above the bed that looked like those they use when doing surgeries. I didn't sleep too well, but the following morning I felt fine and was sent home. Later on in the afternoon the stomach starting acting up but it lasted only until midnight.

I took a taxi home from the hospital and had a good conversation with the taxi driver. We touched upon important issues like the beautiful winter we have had so far and the status of her taxi business. The usual topics. Well, we also discussed problems around immigration (not sure why) and she was horrified when I gave her some bad examples from Oslo that I've picked up from Norwegian newspapers. Then I noticed she wore no seat belt. I think it's the first time I've ever seen someone drive without a seat belt. I was pretty close to ask her why but managed to keep my mouth shut. It was a pretty nice Mercedes with probably a lot of good air bags, but still I don't get that.

P.S. A note from the wife: what is it with the taxi drivers and immigration?? More than 50% of the time the topic comes up. Gitta Helin even mentioned it in her column in Aamulehti (newspaper) today, she said in Helsinki they have two kinds of taxi drivers: loud racists and those who don't know where Kalastajatorppa is. (Kalastajatorppa being a famous hotel which is not situated downtown Helsinki)

Santa Claus

We've stopped using alarm clocks. When the kids wake up in the mornings, usually a bit earlier than we'd wish for, they jump into our bed to cosy. This morning, the oldest kid had just curled up when he asked "Is there more than one Santa Claus?". Smart kid, he had been doing some thinking during the night. Marjo took an easy way out and answered that the issue is a bit complicated. We've organised for Santa Claus to visit tomorrow afternoon. He may have to answer tricky questions.

We'll be celebrating a traditional Finnish Christmas at home with Marjo's parents and sister. On Boxing Day we've made it a tradition to cook pork ribs, a Norwegian-style Christmas dinner. The visit at the butcher is always exciting. We need to give very specific instructions how to cut out the piece of meat and not to make it into a Finnish-style ham. It usually works out well.

I have another secret to share. Most of the hair of my body fell off after I started the Camptosar treatment last summer. My eyelashes on the other hand, took off to the other direction and grew wild. Weird stuff. Marjo will do a Christmas eye-lash cut tonight. By the way, the hair on my head has actually slowly grown back and I haven't been bald since autumn.

Merry Christmas!

Another CT

CT scans start to be a routine. I had another one on Friday and got the feedback from a doctor today. Yet another good scan! Marjo and I were quite relieved. It means we've got some peace of mind for another 2-3 months until the next CT scan. CEA was down from 33,6 (on 24.11.2009) to 30,3. Despite the rather small decrease in CEA some of the tumours had shrunk quite much. We were even talking centimeters with some of them this time. This was a good example why they want to use both CEA and CT when they analyse the situation, one alone is not enough.

The CT report talked about four tumours. It seems Mr. Big is still doing fine and size isn't changing very much, but Number 2 has had a collapse. These were the strategic measurements:
* 6,7 x 4,1 cm (previously 6,6 x 4,3 cm)
* 2,6 x 4,2 cm (previously 3,6 x 6,1 cm)
* 2,1 x 1,9 cm (previously 2,6 x 2,3 cm)
* 1,7 x 2,4 cm (previously 2,0 x 2,4 cm)

After the initial positive message that the direction is still good I was more or less ready to leave the room. The doctor, however, went through some nail, skin and well-being stuff before she let me run. I got a prescription for 1 kg tubes (buckets?) of body lotions as some of the medication makes my skin extremely dry. I've got to put on lotion every day at least once.

Winter has finally arrived. We've had a couple of beautiful days with minus 15 degrees, some snow and clear sky. I'm back at hospital tomorrow (Wednesday) to continue the weekly treatments. Afterwards I may shoot some winter photos and go and buy a Christmas present for Marjo.

Another day at cancer ward

We had another doctor's appointment today. We discussed a few well-being issues, like nail-bed infections. That has been a continuous problem since summer. The infections don't heal very easily and I've been on two antibiotics treatments this autumn for it. The doctor was not in favor of putting me on a third round so we'll try some other tricks first. For example, every day I've got to stick my toes and fingers in a blue disinfectant liquid, which makes them brown. Our oldest kid thought my brown nails looked cool and wanted the same.

The blood values are more or less fine. The platelets count has been consistently on or slightly above the magic value of 100. Well, three weeks ago it was 99 but they still decided to give me chemo. The CEA had gone slightly up to 33,6 (all time low is 29,8 measured on 3.11.2009). The doctor didn't consider it alarming. There was a note from the lab that the measurement technique had changed. CEA can also be influenced by other factors. The next CT is now scheduled for Friday 11.12.

I have a confession to make. Every Wednesday YLE, the Finnish TV broadcasting company, sends Niklas Mat just when I'm in bed at hospital and hooked up to the IV. The shows are last years re-runs from Swedish TV. It's actually a really good cooking show and much of the stuff is so simple that even I can get going. And video learning works! Tonight I made an American apple-pecan pie with the youngest kid. He loved the cake dough. The cake eating we'll do tomorrow with in-laws.

Green and reds

Two weeks ago a friend and myself travelled to Manchester to see the world's best football team play. Manchester United that is.

Friday

We had to wait a few hours in Stockholm for the connecting flight to Manchester. Instead of hanging out at the airport we jumped in a taxi to the old city (Gamla Stan). A colleague we met on the plane from Tampere joined in as he had to wait for his connecting flight as well. While Tampere was cold and below freezing point, Stockholm was pretty warm. We had lunch and walked around a little before heading back to the airport.

As soon as hotel check-in was done in Manchester we headed off to MEN Arena and concert with Green Day. I thought beforehand that punk rock isn't my genre of music, but I've got to say this was maybe the best concert I've ever been to. Those guys were true entertainers with a great sense of humour.

Saturday

After stuffing ourselves with bacon, eggs, hash browns, Yorkshire pudding and what-ever belongs to the English breakfast, we spent the morning hours walking around downtown Manchester. It isn't a very pretty city all in all, but the restaurants and stores are really good. And it has an amazing football club. We sat down in The Old Wellington Inn, a pub over 450 years old. There were some other Norwegian football tourists there as well. They told us to go as early as possible to Old Trafford if we were to buy shirts to avoid line-ups. We ran straight off to the train and arrived at Old Trafford some five hours before kick-off.
I bought a home shirt with 11 Giggs on the back and the 1999 Champions League final shirt (where Solskjær scored the winner). The shopping bag got pretty full as I naturally had to buy stuff for the family and in-laws as well. The credit card bill was exciting reading!

After successfull shopping we spent the next hours in a nearby pub. Soon after we arrived the pub filled up with Man United supporters and the chants started rolling. The atmosphere was electric. Those guys sing for hours straight, quite impressive. Ole Gunnar wasn't forgotten either. "You are my Solskjaer, my Ole Solskjaer, you make me happy, when skies are grey, ..."

An hour before kick-off we headed towards the "500 Club lounge" at the stadium and had dinner while reading through the match-day program. The facilities were superb and access to and from the stands was fast and easy. 75000 people watched as the teams entered the pitch to the sound of....

Glory glory Man United,
Glory glory Man United,
Glory glory Man United,
As the reds go marching up up up!

Unfortunately, Giggs was injured and not in the squad but Man United won 2-0 still. Berbatov and Rooney scored two beautiful goals and Morten Gamst Pedersen came onto the pitch for Blackburn during second half.


Sunday

Sunday morning we decided to visit Liverpool, only a short train ride from Manchester. Or so we thought. The train was delayed so we got to explore Victoria station for a while longer. Once in Liverpool we visited the Beatles museum, walked around the harbour and had lunch in The Pumphouse. Nice place. We then took train straight to Manchester airport and were soon off to Finland. Or so we thought. In Stockholm and while waiting in the bus that would take us to the plane, we were told the flight had been cancelled. Some of the crew members had gone sick and there was no backup. We were rebooked to the Monday morning flight and had to stay overnight at Arlanda.


That was a great weekend and I hope to be able to do it again some time!