A Special Note

There is one person who I would like to say thank you to, and I am sure everyone knows who I am talking about.

Rebecca, without you this would have been a really hard and difficult time. I am so lucky to have someone so caring and loving in my life and look forward to us spending the rest of our life together. Love you sooooo much!

(she reckons she is a pain in the ass, but I still love her!)

It has been a while, but here I am!

I know I said i was going to be back last weekend. I have been so busy since my parents have been here, I haven't had a chance.

On monday I went in for my top up, which didn't take as long as I thought. They injected my with saline solution and Bleomycin, which is the one that could affect my lungs. I have still been feeling the occasional nausea in the afternoons and the tiredness is kind of a bugger as well. Making it about 1/2 the day till I start feeling tired.

I will be going in for another top-up on Monday again. Then the following week, it's back in hospital again for the 5 day stint.

Had a lovely day at the Ellerslie Racecourse today, although it was a little cold and windy. Didn't do well at the betting, damn....

Be back soon!

First week update

Well the first week is now over, and I am feeling alright so far. I did feel a little nauseated this morning, but it has passed.

I now get the weekend to recover and sleep alot, then back in Monday afternoon for a 2 hour top-up session for the week. I am not sure what to expect after this top-up, but I have been told by others that the worst is just the tiredness and potential sickness. Just got to keep myself warm, protected and rested.

The picture above was taken shortly after I had shaved my head. At least I know that i won't look heaps ugly after the hair starts to fall out! You can click on it to open a larger version.

It has been great having my Parent's here, and all the support from all of you guys out there helps alot!

And a big thanks to my wife, Rebecca, my reason for living and my pillar of strength!

I will drop in over the weekend and add another post.

Day One

Well today didn’t go as bad as I thought it would. There wasn’t any problems in finding a vein to use, and was more or less painless.

Haven’t experienced the nausea yet, but that will come eventually. I have already shaved my head. I wasn’t going to wait until it fell out, do it on my own terms!

I can see the sky tower from my room, which is a bonus, can watch the bungee people falling from the sky tower.

I am in a room of 4 beds, with two people who will be with me for this week. They have been through at least one treatment, so their support is good.

I have been given anti-nausea tables as well as the stuff they inject into me. And I also take a ‘drowsy’ to make it easier for me to sleep if I need to.

A little nervous

Hello everyone. Another big thanks to everyone that has email us. i am getting lots of positive messages and it means alot. Thank you!

Going to a show called the Big Boys Toys today, which I have been looking forward to for a while. Going to be lots of cars, bikes, boats, and technology. It will be a good distraction.

As you might know, Mum & Dad landed yesterday morning, which I had to pick them up at 5.30am! i am still trying to catch up on the sleep. They are going to be here till the 28th, so if you want to reach them, you can through my email addres, or Dad's cell phone number which he has on intgernational roaming.

My treatment starts on Monday, and this is how it will go:

1. Week 1 - 5 days at the hospital, 8am - 4pm on a drip. The entire day is all a mixture of drug injection and LOTS of intravenous fluids to avoid kidney damage.


2. Week 2 & 3 - There is a 10 minute top-up of on the Monday I believe, for both weeks.

Then the whole process starts again, and then again after that. So in all it will be about 9 weeks in total. The doctor is pretty confident that it will destroy the cancer. Because of my age, the regeim that i am going through will be a tough one as my body can cope with better, so they give you as much as possible to get the best results.

I can tell you that i will definently lose my hair after about 10 days, and I will loss some of my Ultra High frequency hearing, which does not bother me. Even thinking about shaving my head before it starts to fall out. Do it on my terms!! Might even put a picture up once I have shaved it off!

Will give you an update tomorrow after the show.

CT Scan update

I have managed to get my hands on the electronic scans of my recent CT Scans and have grabbed the images that show the two spots which we had found. I didn't bother putting the other ones on show.

I also had my orientation this afternoon which went through some of the side effects, things to be aware of and so forth during the treatment. It was definently worth going to, and makes things a little clearer. As things go on I will know more about how the whole procedure works and I will let you know what happens. In the mean time you can click the above pictures to see a bigger version of the scan.

Love you all.

Date has been confirmed

Since being away in Hawkes Bay this weekend, we had received some letters from the hospital about my impending treatment. I was a little annoyed that they only sent us some letters and not contacted us by phone....I guess it is the public system though!

We will be having a meeting with the team involved with my treatment Wednesday morning, which I imagine will also include the lung and hearing tests that I need to complete before treatment. I will then be attending an orientation to Chemotherapy the same afternoon. Busy day.

They have also confirmed that the treatment will start on the 14th of November.

Some people have also been asking for our contact details. They are:

kurt.haines@gmail.com
or
beca.haines@gmail.com

I am not going to put our phone numbers on this site for security reasons, but if you want them, throw us an email by clicking on the email address above.

Need some sleep now. Bye Bye

not the result we were hoping for...

The oncologist called me a short while ago with the report from the CT-Scan I had this morning. They were able to verify the existence of the two growths but also found 'many other' nodules also in the lungs. This means it is for real.

He hasn't had a chance to look at the slides yet, so he has no idea where in the lungs they are. Either way i am going to be having chemotherapy. I asked him about the chemo timeframe and he says i will probably be starting treatment around the 14th of this month, so not very far away.

The treatment is going to be about 9 weeks, a 3x 3 week cycle. For the first week i will be in the hospital from 9-5 on a drip consisting of the chemo and lots of fluids. The second and third weeks consist of a one day 'top up'. I then start the process all over again, and again. I am expected to lose my hair about 10-14 days into it, depending on my body of course. I also need to do a lung capacity test, and a hearing test as they could diminish during the treatment.

I am unfortunately unable to make it to Australia for Christmas or even New Years as it coincides with my treatment, which I am really bummed about. I have been looking forward to it all year. Next year then....

I guess all we can really do now is wait for the Hospital to contact us, get the tests out the way and get the treatment started.

Thank to everyone who has emailed me recently, I love you all!!

X-ray Scan

Here is a picture of the xray I had recently. I have circled the spots that have appeared to make them easier to see. If you click the picture it will load the hi-res version which is about 1/2Mb (500kb), so if you are on Dial Up internet, it could take a little while. (don't mind the house in the background, had to use our sliding door to take the photo with enough light!)

About to go in for the cat scan, and we should have the report by tomorrow.

Will let you know how it goes.

Here is an update.....

As most of you already know, about 5 weeks ago I had my left testicle removed which had a tumour on it. It hadn't visibly spread at that time, but it was hard to tell.

I was then placed onto a surveillance schedule where I had to have monthly blood tests and chest x-rays with a CT-Scan every 3 months. Earlier in the week I had my first blood test and chest x-ray. We found out yesterday afternoon that 2 small growths have appeared on my xray in my left lung. The blood test had also came back with elevated cancer 'markers'.

I will be going in for a CT-Scan tomorrow morning to verify the growth. The specialist has already booked us in for Chemotherapy, to get us into the 'system' incase we require it. This doesn't mean we have a set time yet, but it does get the ball rolling to make it smoother and faster.

I am also going to have Hearing tests and a Lung Capacity test. This is to have a benchmark before any treatment as loss in those areas are some of the possible side effects.

I am in the process of scanning the xray to show you where it is at the moment.

I would like to thank everybody who has emailed us so far. I will let you know how it goes.