Food!

Previous week was of a challenging sort. I had nausea, no appetite and struggled to eat the whole week. The anti-nausea pills I would normally take didn't improve my condition very much either. My weight dropped to 78 kg and we started getting a little worried if the cancer had a role in this. Marjo forced me to see a doctor. I called my nurse on Thursday, cancelled the chemo treatment and got a doctor's appointment the following day at 1300.

The doctor couldn't find anything unusual but prescribed me cortisone pills to increase appetite. We have to wait for the CT pictures to find out how the cancer is really doing. I'll have the scan tomorrow but get to hear the results in two weeks when I'm scheduled with the senior doctor.

Well, the cortisone pills seem to work and the appetite improved during the weekend. Yesterday I was happy to have half a pizza for lunch at a Kotipizza restaurant. I took the rest with me home and had it in the evening.

Winter-time

Time flies! Clocks have already been turned back! I've been a little lazy updating the blog lately. I haven't been busy in any particular way either so guess this comes down to pure lazyness. Well, I tend to end up tired in the couch in the evenings with little motivation to do much else than watch TV.

The chemo I'm on (Gemzar in particular) gives me some trouble and the treatment schedule is so that nausea, tiredness and stomack issues hit during weekends. During weekdays I normally feel pretty fine. I'm taking various drugs as counter-measures to the unwanted side-effects and the situation isn't too bad. My appetite isn't what it used to be though, and I have to pay more attention to eating. I've gone under 80 kg whereas I was over 90 kg one year ago. I will try and have the chemo schedule changed after next CT scan (November 10th) so that I can enjoy weekends better.

I had a little break in the treatment in October as the platelets level was very low. We used the opportunity to visit friends outside of Turku and then we had visitors from Norway one long weekend. Both very nice.

Birthday

Yeah, I turned 40! We did not plan any big celebration as my condition is a bit unpredictable. The birthday didn't start very well either. I was sick in the morning with some stomach-flu like symptoms. Luckily it passed and by lunch time Marjo got a green light to bake a cake together with the kids. The youngest guy is especially eager to help with cooking nowadays as he gets to lick the spatial. He's very determined to help with anything and do stuff on his own at the moment.

We had a very small birthday party in the afternoon with in-laws and some relatives. The cake was great and there was a very heavy present waiting. I'm now the lucky owner of PlayStation Move! Now we just need to figure out what games to buy. I bet a football game will be high on the list.

On the outdoors front, we've lately done some geocaching with the kids. It's a fun way to get out into the woods. Well, fun as long as we find the cache. Once we even took the father-in-law with us. I've also managed to squeeze in a couple of rounds of golf. The end of the golf season is getting close as temperatures are dropping so I may have hit my last golf ball this year already.

I'm doing better battling Gemzar. I tried a better anti-nausea drug called Emend and last weekend was pretty good. I got Gemzar again today so hope Emend will do the trick again.

Here's one of my favourite Monthy Pyton sketches. Enjoy!

Gemzar

It seems I forgot to update the blog after the doctor's appointment last week. Well, there isn't that much of news really. The blood values were good and the doctor put me back on the Gemzar/Vectibix treatment. They also took the CEA which was 730,6. This is roughly the same level as in August when it was 733,6. It seems Gemzar unfortunately gives me some trouble. This time I had a chemo brain on Thursday and Friday (which isn't that bad really) but felt totally crap on Saturday and Sunday. Monday I was fine again. I managed to join the family for circus during the day on Saturday so I wasn't totally out of it either. I have to admit I've had some thoughts if it's worth getting Gemzar as I'm supposed to be getting it three weeks in a row and then there is only one week of break. Next CT scan is in November so I guess I have to try and manage until then.

Just a brief update

Jan Arne was in the hospital until Friday last week. They gave him IV antibiotics in case the throat infection was caused by bacteria, but they didn't manage to figure out with tests what bacteria it was. One doctor said it is a clear case of mononucleosis, but in the end it was not according to tests. His blood values were on the low side, platelets down to 50 (limit for normal 150 and limit for getting chemo 100), and also leucosytes and hemoglobin were quite a bit below normal limits.

They let him come home anyway for the weekend and he was very tired but well enough to even do some geocaching with the kids. We also went to pick up some apples from friends' garden on Sunday.

This morning Jan Arne went for a blood tests, still feeling very tired after a badly slept night. Interestingly enough, his blood values were back to the level they were before they gave him Gemzar a week and a half ago, other values normal, even platelets up to 127 which is good for him. He will have another blood test and a doctor's appointment on Thursday. The doctor will then decide if he will get some chemo and/or Vectibix on Thursday.

And it's.... a hospital trip for a change

It hasn't gone quite the way we thought it would go this week.

Jan Arne got the dose of Gemzar and Vectibix last Thursday. We thought the side effects of Gemzar weren't supposed to be bad but on Saturday he started to feel very sleepy and weak. He didn't have fever so I figured it was just fatigue which is a common side effect from Gemzar. The problem was that the fatigue was Just So Bad, and he had no appetite either. He slept most of Saturday. And Sunday. And yesterday. Except in the evening he took the older kid to football practise, and today to play a game (they won 2-0, yippee :) I felt bad that Jan Arne had to go but I had something else both evenings and he said he is tired but ok, except today he had a sore throat in the morning.

The problem with having a cancer patient and two young kids in the family is that the kids keep you busy until they go to bed (even with my parents helping), and only then you can really pay attention to the cancer patient. Good luck he paid attention to himself and took his temperature. It was 38.7 C so I took a look at his throat and it looked like it could be infected (no I have not started my medical studies yet but maybe I should). I phoned the cancer ward and they said he should get to the hospital. Unfortunately the doctor had just gone home 15 minutes earlier, otherwise he could have taken a look at Jan Arne. Instead he had to go to the first aid once again and it's not the nicest place as the service can sometimes be quite slow. He went there two hours ago and had just now had his blood test taken, and it's 23:30 (11.30 pm).

Sigh. Well at least he got some kind of a bed to lie in in there but hopefully they will take him to the cancer ward soon so he can get some proper rest (in a hospital bed?? Yea right). But better to be safe than sorry if it is a throat infection as we don't know how his blood values are after Gemzar and if he manages to battle the infection. But now we don't know if he's been tired because of the chemo or because of a flu.

To be continued.

In the woods

I had my first dose of Gemzar today and I am experiencing a slight chemobrain. I had almost forgotten how it feels like since last I had it was with Camptosar back in April. The wife and I celebrated the first dose by having some lunch downtown. When I came home I went straight to bed and slept for two hours. Another reason for feeling tired may be staying up late last night to watch Copenhagen - Rosenborg (football). Copenhagen won and was by far the better team (congratulations Denmark!).

I've recently been going to the woods with a map and a compass. There are these weekly orienteering events open for everyone that I've joined a couple of times (iltarastit in Finnish). I've had a two years break from orienteering and it feels fantastic to fly through the woods again. Well, flying was a bit of an overstatement. I walk part of the time as I'm not that fit anymore. I hope to go for the third time next week.

I also played a round of golf with a friend the other day. I haven't played much the recent years so my swing is pretty rusty. But actually it doesn't really matter anymore. It was great fun anyway!

Something to add

(wife writing this time) An interesting turn of events today. Jan Arne got a phone call from the doctor we met yesterday. She had discussed Jan Arne's case with another senior oncologist specialising on colorectal cancers and he had suggested that in the next treatment they will add a new chemo to his cocktail, Gemzar (gemcitabine) which is most commonly used for pancreatic and lung cancers. Let's hope it will have an impact on the metastases in the lungs! Have a good weekend you all! It'll be another warm one in Finland, the heat wave has lasted almost continuously since the beginning of July.

Good and bad news

The doctor had both bad and good news to share about the CT scan report. To take the good news first, the tumours in the liver had shrunk. The measure of the biggest tumor is now 2,7 x 3,8 cm while it was 3,6 x 6,1 cm in the April CT scan. Quite a big change actually. Also on the positive side was the fact that CEA had gone down to 733,6. It was 829,6 on 2nd of June. The bad news was that there is cancer growth outside of the liver. Many lymph nodes around the liver have grown in size and some small tumours (2-3 mm in diameter) can also be seen on both side of the lungs.

We don't know if the cancer started to grow before or after I started on Vectibix. Since the CEA value decreased since June, it is possible that the growth happened during the (unintended, because of bile duct trouble) chemo break in April/May and that Vectibix has had an effect and reduced the cancer. In any case, the doctor recommended I would continue on Vectibix, then they will check the CEA value again in a month, and take another CT scan in two months.

Funnily enough, I left the doctor's office with a positive feeling. I had expected worse news, but now I choose to belive Vectibix is working. Anyhow, times are uncertain.

First impression

Summer holidays are soon over. Schools start in Tampere tomorrow and our kids start kindergarten next week. We have had a fantastic summer and the warmest ever in Finland. Recently thunderstorms and even tornadoes have hit the country. Makes me wonder about global warming and where all this is going.

The two weeks of cooler weather in Norway was a nice break away from the heat. The trip was also otherwise nice and we were lucky to meet up with family and many friends. The kids speak much better Norwegian now and especially the younger guy improved his language skills a lot, now he speaks pretty consistently only Norwegian with me.

We have a nice beach nearby that we have visited frequently with the kids. The other day there was a huge, in terms of muscles, man standing next to us watching his own kid swim. He was bald and had lots of tattoos. I imagined he probably rides a Harley Davidson and is a member of the local motorcycle club. All of a sudden he spoke to me and I got slightly worried. He thought I spoke Swedish with the kids and he explained he had himself lived in Sweden for years. We spoke for a while and he turned out to be a really nice guy. It was one of those times you realise first impression is not always right.

Yesterday I had a CT scan and I'll get to hear the results on Thursday. We are again living exciting times. The blood values have been good throughout the summer but this time I'm worried about the results of the scan because of the cancer marker that was on the rise in June.