Author Archives: Topherwelch

Three weeks ago should have seen the start of the third cycle of chemotherapy. However, tests showed that my neutrophil granulocyte (a type of white blood cell involved in the immune system) level was so low that my oncologist was not prepared to risk me getting ill with an infection. I have, therefore, been onContinue reading “A slight setback”

My cousin Susan lost her beloved husband, Tom, a few months ago after a long and valiant fight against several illnesses. I had the pleasure of meeting Tom and Susan when they lived in London for a while in about 1980 and sometime later when they were stationed in Nuremburg. Tom was a great guyContinue reading “Almost, almost famous!”

The second, of six, monthly cytostatic treatments is now in progress. The dose has been increased by 50 % to three times the dose I had during the Autumn. I can assure you all that these are powerful things and, as a consequence, I have been completely flattened for the last week or so. Today,Continue reading “Good days and not so good days”

In just over a week, the “Vasaloppet” race will take place from Sälen to Mora. The race is a test of endurance being 90 km on cross country skis. Normally there are about 14 000 participants in the race with a further 15 000 or so taking part in open events on the Sunday and Monday priorContinue reading “Failure is not an option”

Seeing the name TT Fields brings to mind a number of literary greats, such as TS Eliot, JC Oates etcetera. However, TTfields stands for Tumour Treatment Fields, which is the name given to the treatment strategy that I am currently subjected to. The method disturbs cell division in cancer cells by preventing the organisation ofContinue reading “TTFields”

I wrote this post a few weeks ago, but forgot to press the publish butto. Sorry. More to come soon. Christmas came and went, but Autumn remained with damp weather and darkness. At the same time my radiation therapy, with daily visits to the hospital, was completed. I was looking forwards to six weeks ofContinue reading “Winter is here: BBQ-season!”

Inlägg från Bitte i överenskommelse med Chris. Chris avslutade enligt plan behandlingen med strålning och cytostatika den 8/1 efter sammanlagt 6 veckors behandling. Han har nu vilopaus i en månad innan nästa fas i behandlingen. Vilopausen har visat sig mycket behövlig då han har blivit mycket trött och utmattad. Några dagar med stor trötthet, illamående,Continue reading “Fatigue”

In Sweden, during the period between Christmas and new year, one can often hear the phrase “God fortsättning” as a greeting between people as they meet. In normal years you would hear this all over the place, 2020 is, as we are all too well aware, somewhat different. Google translate, which lacks any trace ofContinue reading “Keep going”

Made a visit to the barber in order to disguise the bald patch mentioned in the previous post. I decided not to go for the Mohican, but for a GI-Joe style instead. I thought I would be very conspicuous, but on a quick visit to the supermarket, I noticed that a lot of other men,Continue reading “Bad day for shampoo manufacturers”