A surprise!

Talked to my dad today and he sounded very tired. Its the Chemotherapy on Tuesdays that makes him tired for a day or two after. He said the mouth is now soar and blisters have started to come. They have "upgraded" his morphine plasters so the pain is not too bad so far.

Me, my mum and brother have a little suprise for him tomorrow or possible Friday.....hopefully that will cheer him up a bit!! Will be great and hope he likes it. Cannot tell what we arranged/fixed yet but will let you all know by friday.....Yip!

Ups and Downs

Last week was a bit of a mixture, as struggled a bit in the beginning of the week....but it all ended on a high note! Talked to my dad on Friday and he sounded much better than he did on Tuesday and Wednesday. He was not sick from Chemotherapy this week so that’s good. 2 weeks has now passed and he has only lost 1 kg, also great news! You see, loosing weight when you are battling cancer is no good....so keep it up dad!! He said he tries to eat as much as my brother plus taking these nutrition drinks which has 500 calories in 1!!! So he keeps eating nutrition drinks, cakes and creamy sauces even if it now does not taste of anything. He has lost most of his taste by now and his tongue is a bit numb. But we all knew these side effects were coming….and as long as he is not in too much pain or being sick then it feels OK.
He has been OK for the whole weekend and even been to work a bit! That puts a smile on my face and makes me feel good! Bring on week 3….

Struggle...

Today is a bit of a struggle. I know my dad has both Chemo and Radiotherapy today so it’s a hard day for him, and I am tired after working 78 hours last week and with tiredness come emotions. I have been so busy so sometime its almost like it feels that my dad is not ill, almost like you do not have time to think….but then days like today comes and hits you hard. Tears….But guess you need days like this too, when you fell sad and angry, and when you let it all out.
Cannot wait for the day to be over and then go home and call my dad to see how things went today.

Vecka 2

Har jobbat sena kvellar och netter med endast 3 timmars soemn varje dag de senaste 4 dagarna......Inte bra, det borde ju jag veta som er soemnforskare, paa riktigt....
Jag er troett men klagar inte!
Pappa har maatt bra hela helgen och jobbade en stund i Loerdags. Han tenker foersoeka jobba saa lenge han kan och orkar.

Och nu er andra veckan her. Daa tutar vi och koer!!
Yttligare 5 straalnings behandlingar och en cellgifts behandling.
Kempa paa pappa!

Kram

Have a nice weekend!

I just want to wish everyone out there a lovely weekend!

Life is too short for drama & petty things,

So...kiss slowly,

laugh insanely,

love truly,

and forgive quickly.

Lots of love from me,

Malin

P.S. Wow, I managed to remove password so now you can see the pictures (i hope??)

Beginner Blogger....snacka om nyboerjare...

Verkar som om jag har lyckats skaffa loesenord foer att se bilder nedan och detta var ju inte riktigt meningen.....Jag ska foersoeka faa bort loesenordet!!

Hanna, nu VET jag vad du menade med LOESEN....fattade inget ner jag saag sms....he,he!

Hm....I have in some kind of weird way "malinised" even my blog as appears like I manage to create a password in order to view the pics below...a password that not even I have....Oh dear! I will get on this case ASAP and hope to show you our little sauna and ice "vak"soon.
Bare with me.

:-)

Treatment have started

My dad has now done 4 radiotherapy sessions. "Only" 30 more to go, so the countdown has started!!

The radiotherapy is going OK so far and no problem. On the other hand they told us that the first two weeks are normally not too bad and that it starts to get worse after that.

He had his first chemotherapy session on Tuesday too. It took 5 hours. First 2 hours with just liquid pumping around his body, followed by one hour of chemo and then another 2 hours of liquid. This is to help the kidneys and the liver apparently. He felt fine both tuesday and yesterday but today he has been ill. Throwing up and not able to eat much.... I just talked to him and he sounded a bit tired, I am just hoping he feels a bit better tomorrow!!

I love you dad, keep it up, soon its weekend and you can relax.

xx

A Saturday in Sweden

We decided to walk across the lake out to the island as the ice was almost 30cm thick! The latter was later confirmed when we cut a hole to create a "vak" (swimming area), thick ice = heavy/hard work. We then started the little wood burning sauna and the thought was to jump in the ice cold water after been sitting in the sauna for a while....Hm.....I never had a swim in a freezing lake in the middle of the winter before, but the thought of it sounded fun. However, the reality was that the closer I got to jump in, the more I started to think that maybe it was not such a good idea after all.... But if you do not try you will not find out ,and in I jumped!! WOW!!! It was great! MAD but GREAT feeling!!

The little Sauna...

A beer each incase we needed to cool down even further...hm...NOT needed. Brrrrrr.......

Working hard with the drills....

It turned out to be a lovely day which ended with a lazy evening, watching Eurovision song contest and with some nice food. On Sunday we all went for a walk followed by "fika" (coffee and cake) in front of the open fire. And all in all, it was a great weekend and so nice to spend some time with my family.

:-)

A visit to the Oncology Centre

Friday 7th Feb
This was the day when my dad was going to do the test run of the mask.
We went in to the hospital in the morning. First on the agenda was blood test. My dad needs to do a blood test every week before he does his chemotherapy which from now on will take place every Tuesday. When the nurse came to get him it suddenly hit me and I started crying. It is so hard to understand that my dad is so ill when he still looks so great….. I looked at him when he walked away and that’s when the tears came….My lovely caring dad, the best dad I could ever wish for!! Once he came back I was OK and tears gone and it was time for the oncology centre.
If an oncology centre is allowed to be called nice, well then this is nice. It is a new large building, very Scandinavian design with a lot of wood and windows. The waiting area for the radiotherapy department was very warm and welcoming and the people working there just amazing. OK, I am not talking about some kind of hotel here, I know, but I do believe every little detail is important and small things that may sound silly can make a difference. The waiting room had tea/coffee and cookies and just to help your self, they also had nutrition drinks for patients.
We sat there for a while and I suddenly realised that all these people around me have cancer (well a few may be relatives like me). There are so many and all with different stories to tell.

We were taken into a room were the test run was going to take place. The mask was already laying there, green plastic made of some kind of net. The doctor came out (same doctor who told my dad he got 60% chance), he was as serious and though as last time we met him. He explained that the treatment will be extremely aggressive, this will be a hard time, side effects are many and severe…..anything positive, anyone????
OK, the main thing is that the doctor is good and experienced as then he can be as serious as he like. And he is good, apparently very good.
After this talk I had to go out while they did all the scans and setting up the machine.
My dad was done after around 30 min and then we got to see a nurse. And this is not just a nurse, this is my dad’s “own nurse”. If the doctor was serious and though, the nurse was sweet and positive. She was just great! She will be my dads contact person during this whole process and he can call her any time. She explained that there will be a whole team of doctors and nurses carrying out the treatment. She said that there may be a lot of side effects but it’s not for certain as everyone is different and that we cross these bridges if and when it happens. My dad will also meet a dietician, who will help with the right food etc, and he will also meet the specialist nurses from the pain unit and they will work closely with the oncology unit to make sure my dad gets the best pain relief when needed.

After this we went back home and things did not feel too bad. We are all positive and my dad just wants it all to start now!

The evening was spent with the whole family together with some good friends and nice food! :-)

Going Home To Sweden

Just one day before I am going home to Sweden!!
Tomorrow night I will see mum, my brother and dad, cannot wait!! :-) Its just for a weekend but its better than nothing. On Friday I am going into the Hospital together with my dad to visit the oncology centre and do a "test treatment" using his new mask.
The rest of the weekend will just be spent together with family and friends and a lot of nice food.

First Radiotherpy treatment is on Monday and first Chemotherapy is on Tuesday.....
But lets not think about that now and just try to have a nice few days together instead.
Love to everyone,
from me