Three different kinds of pain

LITTLE ACHES & PAINS

The pain has gone from Hip via my knee and it is on it's way out of my foot, seriously. I still don't know what caused it or why it moved, but in the middle of Chemo time all sorts of odd things happen (I had pins and needles on the scalp near the tumour yesterday, figure that out).

Amusingly my doctors, great as they are, also don't know what causes most of the oddities, they dutifully note down everything I say and make "mmm" kind of noises and then give me a very professional smile and say "anything else?".

For example, last week when I picked up my Chemo, I got a quick check up (Blood Pressure, Reflexes, Pupil dilation, the Ahh test and the Cough test) by an enthusiastic young doctor. After finishing, and telling me how fit I seemed (huh), he asked me if everything was OK (I always find that a bit of comical, asking a Cancer patient if everything is OK) I answered the usual "Yes, but" (when the answer should have been "No it bloody isn't, I'm dying you little pipsqueak") and then listed the usual complaints. When I reached "occasional annoying headaches around my left temple", he asked "do you get the odd headache just under the bone at the back of the Skull". I was stunned, "Yes, I do", I said, and then sat there quietly expecting to be enthralled by an eloquent explanation to these front and rear headache combinations. "Mmm, interesting" he said "I have another tumour patient with exactly the same condition" then he noted this down, gave me a very professional smile and said "anything else?".......

KRANKENTAGEGELD, INVALIDITÄTSVERSICHERUNG AND OTHER LONG GERMAN WORDS
These are words I didn't think I'd be paying too much attention to for a few years, but circumstances have changed all that.

In Switzerland, as pretty much all countries Europe, we have a set of social insurances which we pay into when we are employed and healthy so that we and/or our dependents have some income when we are not. The main insurances are old age and survivors (Alters- und Hinterlassenenversicherung or AHV) insurance and Invalidity (Invaliditätsversicherug or IV).

Because I am only working 30% at the moment I am receiving money from an (employer financed) insurance (Krankentagegeld) to make up much of the difference. This lasts for two years.

After a year on working less than 60% I can now claim IV (or rather must claim IV as far as the Krankentagegeld is concerned) . Being a social insurance the means filling out a ten page form giving your life history and waiting about a year (they say about 6 months but I am told it is about a year) before you get anything. Luckily the Krankentagegeld includes an insurance to make up the shortfall. Insurances for insurances, I suppose it is only to be expected.

So that will keep my financial security intact for the next year I hope. Then, I guess I'll be talking about AHV, 2. Saüles and no doubt more long words.

LEGALESE
Legalese is a universal problem, and it doesn't matter how long you have worked with a language legalese can waste hours of your time. While working through all this insurance stuff I had to sign a 2 page agreement (Vereinbarung) full of complex sentences on what could have been written in 3 sentences of plain German (if their is such a thing). After spending nearly 30 minutes deciphering this mess I still couldn't work out whether I had to send one or both copies back, neither could my daughter (a very fine German speaker) or her boyfriend (a native Swiss-German). In fact the pair of spent considerable time arguing their opposite cases.

Happy Birthday Tumour

I'm back on the Chemo at the moment which always makes me a bit miserable, add to this I managed to hurt my hip somehow such that I was hardly able to walk yesterday, Today it is feeling a lot better but I'm still hobbling about in a nauseous daze. I just wish I know how I dit it, Carol reckons it is a touch of arthritus but I then had to remind here SHE has the arthritus, I have the tumour.

One year ago today at around 7:30pm, and completely out of the blue, I collapsed with (what I call) my Big Seizure. I can't believe that a year has gone by, in fact I swear that the days are getting even shorter for me now. Anyway I should be happy, my tumour seems to be under control at the moment and I am pretty fit all in all.

I have my regular MRI Scan this week but unfortunately is more than a week later I get the results. I'm hoping for no tumour and a rest from Chemo. But thats probably as likely as our Kitchen being finished in 2 days.

Who believes Builders?

Remember the "Pigs might fly" comment in my last entry after being told our kitchen work would take 2-3 days. Well they are still here (nearly 2 weeks on). Current estimate is 2-3 days. Thank goodness I have an UPS (uninterpretable power supply :-) in the office.

One of the fun things over the last couple of weeks has been cramming us all into our little party room for meals. I'm not sure Carol thinks the same.

Been busy on several work projects over the last week hence no other blog since the builders blog. It seems that most of my last week has been consumed by preparing a trip to Moscow the week after next. There is certainly a touch of the old Russia about getting a visa. The odd thing is that you have to get an invitation from, of all things, from your hotel.

Family Holiday

Got back on Saturday from a week in Gran Canaria with the family. Mostly we just sat around the pool until we got hungry and the went out for food, slept in late and then started again. To think that when we planned this holiday I wasn't even sure I would make it.

Builders started tearing our kitchen apart this morning. The work should last 2-3 days .... and Pigs might fly.

Fitting the Cancer routine

Strange how having Cancer has become part of lifes routine. As I can pretty much trust the Chemo rythym to make me sick on a specific 5/6 days in each 28 day cycles. So I now put them in my diary leaving me able to plan the rest of my life as around 100% normal (except the odd scans and result session).

1-2 Prepare Moscow event, Dentist
3-4 New aquisitions slide set
7 Prep Friday call, Pick up Chemo, Goto Market Webcast
8-10 Paris meetings
11-12 Chemo starts - Phone conferences and desk work only
13-17 Heavy Chemo Days - Light homework when possible
18 Customer Meeting
19 Off to Gran Canaria for 7 Days -- Hoorah

Its amazing how much work you can get done in less than 3 hours a day :-)
As long as it gets no worse than this I'll be a very satisfied sufferer.

Scan Pictures

Finally got the pictures for the Scans from the end of May. So now you can see what all the excitment was about.

This is the initial diagnosis from last August (no contrast agent used)



















Here was the shock growth only three weeks later before any treatment started.



















This was six months, much radiotherapy and chemo later in March 2008. The battle was really on.




















Finally in May 2008, we are just about back where we started. Next time we are aiming to see the tumour go up is own ****.



















Cool eh!

Suprises - Why we hate going to the Dentist

NOT FOR THE SQUEAMISH

A couple of weeks ago I went to my dentist and she discovered that a cyst had formed under a broken tooth. So on Wednesday I had to go in for a "little Operation" (that word should have given me a hint).

When I got there the dentist he explained that he was doing this work rather than my normal dentist because he specialised in procedures where there was a lot of blood involved! He then explained the procedure, he told me that he would first remove the tooth and then clean up where the cyst was. Following that, because the cyst will have damaged some of the bone, he will use a granulate that uses calves bone to replace the missing bone and that would allow my bone to grow in its place. Finally a membrane made from collagen would be sewed in place (using 12 stitches, I counted em) to seal it off.

So after 90 minutes in the chair without any drilling or pain, I was packed of with a new appointment, antibiotics, antiseptic mouthwash and pain killers (in case I needed them).

I needed them about 3 hours later when the pain started and continued in earnest for the next day. On Thursday the pain has gone down a lot, but I looked like half a Hamster from the swelling which is just starting to go down now (Friday Night).

Looks like I'll be back to normal just as my next Chemo starts, Ho hum.