No more Numbness and back to Watch and Wait(Sweat)

After three episodes in three days of numb fingers on my left hand there were no more episodes for the next two weeks. And when a followup MRI scan showed no Indication of tumour regrowth, Dr Walker thought that these symptoms were nothing to worry about. Now it is back to the "Watch and Wait" (or "Watch and Sweat" as I reckon more accurately describes it) regime.

New symptoms, a portent for a 3rd recurrance???

Some weird new symptoms started on Sunday and because they are affecting my left side it may well be related to the tumour on my right side of the brain.

SUNDAY

After I got home from a training ride I did on Sunday which at 43Km in 2 hrs was a bit shorter than the 50Km I did the previous weekend, the left side of my tongue started to tingle then go numb! Then my left cheek started to go numb too. It felt just the same as when the dentist gives you a needle and you cheek feels fat! Then the fingers of my left hand went numb! I was panicing a bit and because it was the left side, I was thinking the worst and maybe this a new brain tumour symptom. Of course I was feeling tired from the ride anyway so I just decided to lie down and have a sleep. A couple of hours later I woke up fine.

MONDAY

I drove to work that day but at night at home my left hand went numb again, not the mouth area that time! Luckily it only lasted half an hour or so and came good but I was getting a bit panicky and decided I better not drive or cycle any more and get myself to a doctor on Tuesday
TUESDAY
After seeing my GP in the morning, I sat on the couch and leaned forward to watch TV. Felt a tingling sensation starting in the left corner of my mouth where the lips meet. It spread through my left cheek until the whole cheek numbed up just like a visit to the dentist. Then my left thumb went numb, then the left index finger , then the second finger on the left hand, then the third finger on the left hand. It stayed that way for ten minutes then the fourth finger went numb too. The little finger stayed normal. Everything returned to normal after about half an hour.


The Doctors thought these symptoms warranted an MRI scan to check out if any signs of regrowth are evident. So we did that and when Dr Walker looked at the scans he found two things a) at the site of the last surgery there was just the slightest sliver of light on the contrast scan indicating possible regrowth - but a bit inconclusive. b) in a new location deeper down in the brain where he tells me it would be inoperable,there was another smudge of light indicating possible regrowth - again, very inconclusive.


So now the plan is to wait another two weeks and have another scan and see what happens with these numbness symptoms in the meantime.

The Rio Tinto Ride to Conquer Cancer 2012

I have entered the 2012 Ride to Conquer Cancer. A distance of 200KM over two days on 18/19 August 2012. Not too hard but enough to give me a new training Goal. The deal is that I need to raise $2,500 to do the ride.

So please help me to fight cancer at:

http://br12.conquercancer.org.au/site/TR?px=1063091&fr_id=1050&pg=personal

Brisbane to Gold Coast Bike Challenge

Last weekend Michael and I rode in the 100Km Brisbane to Gold Coast bicycle challenge. It was a sunny day so I got absolutely roasted by the sun when the course turned due East along the Hope Island road. My legs were cramping by the end and Michael was certainly getting away from me on the hills. Looks like I still have a long way to go to get my pre-chemo fitness back again. Anyway, Michael was kind enough to wait for the "old fella" and we crossed the finish together four hours after starting. A great day!

Bridge to Brisbane Run

Yesterday I competed in the Bridge to Brisbane 10Km Fun Run. This time I was way back with all the old codgers sponsored by nursing homes and hiding their walking frames, but I finished in one hour and thirteen minutes, even if I did walk a few times. Now I've managed to do that I will have to keep the training up for another twelve months and run it properly in 2012.

Temodal - The unexpected side-effects

Click on photos to enlarge.

BEFORE CHEMO:That is me on the right at 70kgs in late 2009.














AFTER CHEMO: weighing 80kgs in March 2011 - 10kgs overweight with a fat gut! I have some work ahead of me to get rid of that 'food baby'...











Now I know that everyone reacts differently to chemotherapy, so my experiences will not necessarily be the same as the next person's. However, I would have been interested in reading this before I started so I might as well share it with the world.

Nausea - the literature talks a lot about nausea so I was expecting this one. Of course, they always tell you that you will be taking anti-nausea medication to manage it and that is true. My experience was that the only thing that worked was Zofran. And here is a tip my Oncologist Dr Paul Mainwaring told me: Take the Zofran half an hour before you take the Temodal. It seems obvious in hindsight, but at first I did not know what I was doing, so I just lined up all my tablets and took them all at once! - Not good!!!

The other thing I discovered about the nausea was that, for me at least, I found that the nausea was always at its worst when I had an empty stomach. As a consequence I started snacking a lot of the time to keep the nausea at bay.

Tiredness - The literature talks about this side effect as well. But I was not prepared for the absolutely overwhelming tiredness that I experienced. I have been pretty active in the past but I found that it took an enoumous amount of mental discipline to get myself out there doing things during chemotherapy. Fortunately, my mates rallied around and made sure that I was still doing the odd bush walk and bike ride with them.

Weight Gain - Now this is something that I certainly was not expecting! The effects of the snacking associated with the nausea being worse on an empty stomach plus the tiredness (both described above) resulted in consuming way too much food for what I was burning off in exercise. The photos before and after Chemo show the result: a 10 kg weight gain in 12 months.

No blood problems - Strangely enough, the side effect most commonly described in the literature did not occur once for me in the 12 cycles I undertook. Every month I had a blood test and every month Dr Mainwaring would tell me that the 'bloods' (i.e. the results) were great! By the end I was hoping that there would be bad result so I could have some time off. Alas, that was not to be...

Cycle #12, Finally crossing the Finish Line

After a visit to my Oncologist yesterday where my blood tests showed everything to be normal, I have been given the go ahead to start my twelveth (and FINAL) dose of Temodal (temozolomide) next week. As you can see from the size of my gut in the photo, I have gained a lot of weight in the past year from being so sluggish. That was one of the side-effects I was not expecting, so I will do another post at the very end to talk about the side-effects they don't tell you about. It might be useful for those readers considering starting a course of treatment with Temodal.