Starting Chemo Cycle #9

I have delayed the start of cycle number nine until today, 6 December 2010, so I could fit in a bush walk with Michael Weare on the week-end just gone. It was a very wet walk at Mt Barney to survey the lower section of the Eagles Ridge route. We saw some interesting granite country and vowed to return next year after this therapy is over and I will hopefully have more energy.

The usual monthly blood test was done last week and showed that my counts were all in the normal range so the next cycle can proceed as planned. My oncologist, Dr Mainwaring , is very pleased with my progress. I'm just happy that the end of this marathon treatment is now in sight! The last cycle will be in March 2011.

A Quick trip to Hayman Island for my B'day & cycle#5

This is the view of Langford Is. from the summit of Hayman Island.

For my Birthday in the first week of August, Cheryl organised a short stay at Beautiful Hayman Island in the Whitsunday Islands. Unfortunatley, because we delayed the start of

the cycle, it ended up coincided with my five days of Temozolomide for cycle #5, but I was not too sick and had plenty of good distractions like walking the island trails and snorkelling.

Cheryl at the lookout above the boat harbour.

Tired of being tired

Here I am halfway through my third cycle of Temodal and I can't get over how tired I feel all the time. It does not matter how much sleep I have, I always want more. I find that to do anything active requires enormous mental discipline.Yesterday I did get myself over to the cliffs at Kangaroo Point and managed to climb, on a top rope, a fairly easy climb (Samson's Pillar-Australian grade 16, or about a 5.10a in the USA decimal system) that I have done many times before, so that was good but it showed me how much fitness I have lost.

I am getting so fat from lack of exercise that I am disgusted in myself and even though it was pretty cold this morning, I rode my bike to work to burn up a bit of that fat.

Is this common for Temodal? I assume that my body is tired because it is so busy repairing the damage being done by the Temodal. It looks like I need to write this year off as far as energetic activities go. Ah well, so be it, at least I'm alive. 2011 is shaping up to be a big year of catching up. The trouble is that I keep getting older!

Cycle #3 of Chemotherapy begins

The photo shows the packaging of my daily dose of 300mg of Temodal that I take each day during the five days I take the treatment, with the all-important Zofran anti-nausea tablets in the box on the right.

Today I visited my oncologist Dr Paul Mainwaring to have a blood test before starting the first five days of the twenty eight day cycle. I take the Temodal on the first five days, then nothing for 23 days to recover a bit. Each month I have a blood test to check for any drop in my red or white blood cell count. Today's result showed that I am still going strong, so on with the treatment!

Cycle #2 last month did not go so well... It got off to a bad start when I saw Dr Mainwaring and found out that the Zofan prescription that he gave me at the start of cycle #1 was actually six month's worth. However, because there were 30 day's worth of tablets and the cycle was 28 days, I assumed that I was to take them every day for the whole cycle. Wrong! And because these drugs are subsidised by the Government there is a quota on how many he can prescribe. He was able to prescribe enough for one per day (rather than two) over the five days of the Temodal on cycle #2. So that's what I took! In an unfortunate bit of timing, My boss, the Pro Vice-chancellor of Information Services, Linda O'Brien, happened to invite the members of a review panel and myself (I was acting as secretary to the panel) to diner at a fancy restaurant the first night of my five days of Temodal. You have to take the Temodal half an hour before eating, so I took my three Temodal tablets and my single zofran, then jumped into a cab and arrived at the restaurant. Because I was early, the helpful waiter gave me some carbonated water to drink while waiting for the others. That water must have churned up the contents of my stomach because half an hour later I started to feel waves of nausea washing over me. Linda arrived, and while I was chatting to her things started to get worse! Suddenly I had to excuse myself and ask the waiter for directions to the bathroom. I make a dash and as I arrived at a wash basin the three Temodal once again saw the light of day. Sorry Australian tax payers, I just wasted that subsidised medicine!!! Luckily, Linda is a very lovely person and understands what I have been going through. I said my hurried good-byes and caught a cab home. Unbelievably, the cab driver was used to vomiting passengers and offered me a plastic bag and a roll of paper towels. Phew what a relieft that was! Of course, Cheryl was surprised to see me back home so soon and in such bad shape. I had another three hours of throwing up before, mercifully, I fell into an exhausted sleep. I did manage to get to work for another two days that week but had to take the third one off sick.

Anyway, on to cycle#3 now and it should go better this time, as Today Dr Mainingwaring gave me perscriptions for more Zofran than I had last month. Also, he explained that it is best to take the Zofran half an hour before the Temodal (I have been taking them all at once until now).

Chemotherapy has started

I have now started on a twelve month course of chemotherapy using the drug Temozolomide (Temodal) to mop up any remaining tumour cells and possibly even reduce the size of the remaining tumour. My Oncologist is Dr Paul Mainwaring at the Mater Hospital here in Brisbane. I am on a 28 day cycle where I take the Temodal for five days then have 23 days with no Temodal. I am also taking the anti-nausea drug Zofran for the whole 28 days to control the nausea which is a common side-effect of the Temodal. This week is the fourth week of the first cycle and so far all is going well.