Saturday 20 June 2009

Chemotherapy

On Wednesday 17/06 Reidar started his chemotherapy treatment at our local hospital in Hamar. There is a special department for cancer patients that's fairly new. We talked to the oncologist, Knut Fjæstad, and he was very pleasant and down-to-earth. He let us take all the time we needed, and answered even the stupid questions with patience and understanding. Next we went to the room where the treatment took place. Reidar was hooked up to a drip with a whole bunch of bags of liquids. He lay comfortably on a bed, with a large TV to watch, and was served lunch while he was there. Including the blood-tests and consultation with the doctor he was at the hospital for six and a half hours! The following day the infusion only took two hours. Now he has twelve days to get over it before he starts the same process again. This will be repeated all together four times, so the course will take 8 weeks. After that he takes a new CT to see what effect the treatment has had.
When we left the hospital I was very nervous to see if he felt any ill effects, but he felt absolutely fine, and enjoyed his dinner that evening.(The most common side-effect is nausea). The next day was just the same, so we are feeling optimistic about getting through the next 8 weeks. We get so many messages of goodwill from so many people that we are surrounded by positivity, and that's what we need right now. Thank you Project Cheer supporters!

5 comments:

  1. I'm so glad to hear that it has been "so far so good!" I'll call you this week sometime.

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  2. I am so glad things went okay with the first round of Chemo treatments. I hope all keeps going well and Reidar is healthy again soon. We are all keeping you in our thoughts and prayers on this side of the Atlantic!

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  3. So glad to read this update and to hear things are going well thus far. Thanks for keeping us all updated. I'm sending lots of positive thoughts in the general direction of Norway and am keeping you and Reidar in my prayers. I love you guys!

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  4. Vi er glade for at de første to behandlingene gikk fint. Er tilbake fra laksefestival uten et eneste napp. Kom gjerne innom hvis dere har tid. Sniff (og Snorre) lengter etter dere.Mays

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  5. So many lovely friends - so many good wishes! If positive energy can heal, then things are looking good.
    Thank you all for your kind thoughts.

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