Someone is looking after me

I am really tired and have had a bit of trouble with diarrhea, but I have thoroughly enjoyed our holiday so far. The tiredness is due to the amount of walking I have done.

An incredible thing happened today and I have written about it on my other blog.

Tomorrow is the reunion. The resort where we are staying is an easy stroll from the venue, so we are planning on walking there. We will taxi back if necessary.

Brisbane Day 1, Cycle 9 Day 6

We have been in Brisbane nearly 24 hours and we are “suitably impressed”. We are staying in a hotel in the CBD only about 200 metres from the major shopping precinct which we have visited 3 times today – for breakfast, for lunch and to buy an umbrella (unfortunately it is showery, so we have tried to keep under shelter).

This is probably more walking than I have done in months. I have needed lots of sit downs, but have managed quite well. There are lots of lovely colonial buildings here. One of the most impressive is the Old Treasury Building, which is now a casino. We are thinking we might venture into it one evening – probably not tonight, though.

Another lovely building is City Hall. It is closed for renovations at the moment, but the façade is lovely. It is interesting that Brisbane has a City Hall when all the other capital cities have Town Halls.


More rain is forecast for tomorrow, so we are planning on visiting South Bank where there are lots of museums, so we won’t have too much umbrella time.

We are both struck by how much smoking goes on. There are people standing outside every building with cigarettes in hand, though it seems to be banned in indoor areas. Smoking seems much more prevalent than at home in Perth on the other side of the continent (3709 km or 2503 miles according to the display on the plane’s information display as we landed).

BAD Hands

I have had really bad tingling in my hands today - so intense that it was painful to use my fingers for anything - not just cold things. Not to mention that they were clumsy and I found it hard to use any tools - except a spoon for my breakfast cereal. It lasted till noon, but is getting better now.

We are leaving for Queensland tomorrow and I have a long list of things to do. One of them was to clear out the vegie drawer in the fridge. The vegetables would not be too great 9 days from now. Despite the problems with my hands I have done it.

I cooked up some leek and potato soup which we have eaten part of for lunch, a HUGE mixed mixed vegetable and barley soup and a tomato and onion sauce. I am waiting for them to cool down so I can package them in plastic storage containers for freezing. There are also some roasted pumpkin pieces in the oven. I was going to make a soup from them too, but I will just freeze them as they are. They can become a soup some time in the future. I feel so virtuous that I didn't just dump all the vegetables in the compost tumbler - there were a lot of peelings and bad bits that did end up there.

Now I have to tackle the packing, though that isn't too urgent. We don't leave till 11 am tomorrow.

Cycle 9 Day 1

Today was the last time I will be having Oxaliplatin, and I am really relieved. The tingling kicked in about 10 minutes into the infusion and is still there. Not quite painful unless I touch something cold, but not comfortable. Plus my lower legs are more tingly than previously.

I had some good news from the oncologist. My liver function is not quite normal, but not a cause for concern. The CEA marker has dropped to 500 from 1100 a fortnight ago. Yay!

I will have a three week holiday break from chemo. When I resume on May 19th I will be having an infusion of Avastin and will be taking Xeloda orally every three weeks. Apparently the side effects to be expected are much the same, except for the tingling and cold sensitivity caused by Oxaliplatin. So nausea, diarrhea, etc are still to be coped with. This regime will be for another 6 months.

Not so good news. The effects of the nerve damage caused by Oxaliplatin will probably take 6 months to resolve. Plus the interdisciplinary committee has decided that surgery for my bowel cancer is not an option at this time. The reason - the numerous metastatic liver tumours are the most serious part of my condition and can only be attacked by chemotherapy. If I were to have surgery, chemo would have to be suspended for 6 to 8 weeks, which could result in a worsening of the liver tumours. I am a bit disappointed - I would have liked to have gotten rid of the primary - but I can see the logic of the decision.

The pump is pushing flouracillin in at the moment. When I get it removed on Friday, the PICC line will also come out. I can hardly wait.