h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

My father started with the chemotherapy treatments yesterday. He has just returned from the second, and will go again tomorrow morning for the third. He will then get another session in three weeks' time. All depends now on how he responds to the chemotherapy!

I was very worried about him in the week just prior to starting the treatments. He was feeling very tired and weak. He wasn't even able to talk, for much of the time. Plus he also suffered very bad pain in his back. At any rate he got some medication for that, and I gave him a few back massage treatments as well!

Anyways, since starting the treatments he seems visibly better! He's up more, active, not as tired or sore, and I think his general outlook has improved much. So has ours! But we'll have to see how things go over the next three weeks. The chemo targets the cancer cells ... actually, any rapidly-growing cells, which is why chemo can affect some of the body's other cells as well like the stomach lining. My dad has pills against nausea and that doesn't seem to be a big problem at the moment.

OK just this update for now!

Dear Willem,

Wjem I was a student radiographer in the late forties chemo theraoy did not exist. We used to have to give our patients Xray treatment or radium treatment. All of which oausced quite severe burtn of the skin.

i have heard that the chemotherpy is quite extraordinary the way it helps the patient to feel much better and do the work it should do.

Good luck to you all.

Christiane. Ar80

Thanks Willem,

I am sure your Dad would be feeling a bit better once the treatment had started - waiting for something like that can really drag you down. I hope he is one of the lucky ones who suffers few side effects.

Thanks for keeping us up to date, and know that you are all in our thoughts. Take of yourselves,



Websailor

Hi Willem My old friend has now had six lot's of chemo, I did hear each one is different and it may take a time to find the correct one best for the patient, I'm not a doctor so don't understand too much but my friend's cancer is finally shrinking, It's taken a year to start working/getting smaller so best of luck to your dad mate .

Hello Willem,

I am very sad to hear about your dad. I hope the Chemo will help him.

Keep strong .

All the best.

Nigel

and big for you all, Willem

GB

I am pleased that the treatments seem to be helping. Good luck to your whole family, hun!

Sending best wishes, Willem. I hope it works well and quickly.

Waz

Hello Everybody and thanks as always for your comments, wishes and thoughts!

The side effects hit my dad with a vengeance on the third day of the chemo. He's been nauseous and in pain a lot of the time, also feeling very exhausted - he's been sleeping a lot. But yesterday and today he seems to be doing a bit better. Yesterday and today we've had a visit from my sister Maryke, her husband Jakobus and their little son Christiaan! I hope the visit cheered my dad up some. He did have enough energy for chatting a bit and keeping them all company ... my mom and I helped out when we could. As usual I spent most of the time entertaining Christiaan in various ways! I'll write another entry about his visit. Got a few photos as well ... will link to them when I put them up!

All the best to all of you!

Willem

Dear Willem,
Have a wonderful family visit. Keep my namesake happy and interested - which I am sure you will!!

Go well,

Christiane Aar80

Hello Christiane and everyone else!

The family visit went wonderful and I'm sure your little namesake was very happy and interested! Did you see the photos I took of the occasion?

My dad has been experiencing some bad side effects - mainly, nausea - for a few days, but now seems to be doing better. He's been managing some reading and has been out shopping with my mom a few times also. We'll see how things go tomorrow - we have our first art class of the year. The class lasts for three hours and I'm not sure how my dad will handle it!

Anyways thanks for all your thoughts and wishes and prayers and support.

Willem

I hope he manages to cope with the art session, it will give him something pleasant to think about.

Take care,

Websailor

Dear Willem and willem's Pa

I do hope that you had a splendid day at your art Cklass and that you did some super work.

We have had incredibly cold weather here and a lot of snow.

Veels geluk

Christiane
AR80

Hello Christiane and everybody else!

The art class yesterday went very well indeed! Everybody was amazed at the many paintings I had produced during the holiday season ha ha! My dad was fine and 'made it' through the entire three-hour session! As always we started the year with a drawing exercise, a still-life with books and jars and candles and a pair of spectacles. I was one of the few who finished the drawing in the allotted time. My dad did well, too!

I do have hope for him. He's really been better, lately, compared to how he was at times before the chemotherapy as well as when the nausea hit him badly afterwards.

Thanks again everybody,

Willem

Good to hear you all had a good time Willem

Art, music, writing, wildlife watching are all therapeutic. Glad your Dad had a good day.

Take care,

Websailor

Hi again folks! Thanks for all your comments.

Sad to say, we haven't had time for much therapeutic wildlife watching yet. I'm not sure my dad will manage an outing to a game reserve ... I was thinking of taking him just to see some of the birds at the 'Wildworld' (sort of theme park) where they rehabilitate raptors and other birds ... they also have birds like ducks, swans, pheasants and cranes roaming free on the grounds. They have some caged birds ... I generally don't like caging birds but these have a very big walk-in cage and generally don't seem to be stressed out and one can get *very* close to some lovely birds like the Purplecrested Turacos. I also would like to try to get some photos of them.

All in all though my dad doesn't seem to be doing too bad ... he was quite active and feeling up to stuff for a few days, but yesterday and today he's down again. He thinks his pain medication is not agreeing with him. We'll see if he manages the art class this evening.

Best wishes to all,

Willem

Dear Willem,

Loving thoughts with you all.

Enjoy your art class. Could nou not set up a studio at home so that Pa could paint every day.? Art Therapy is wonderful for everything. Also there are so many wonderful South African artists. Could he not undertake a study of them for instance? Perhaps specialise in a particular group, Painters of the African whatever you have in your area. Or something like that that will keep his mind occupied and give him soemthing to look forward to every day. Paintint is something that one can do even sitting down.

with much affection to you all.

Christiane.
Alsoran80

Hello Christiane AR80! How are you doing?

We have by all means the equivalent of several paint studios right here at home! There are several available desks and easels and stretch boards and other 'backing' boards and pre-stretched canvases and lots and lots of tubes of paint and buckets for water or turpentine and pencils and pens and sketch books ... after all I do 90% of my own painting here at home! And I draw, sketch or paint every day myself. So there's no reason why my dad could NOT paint every day along with me! But the motivation is lacking. When there are art classes on, there's a reason for doing something. We're paying for the classes after all! And there are several other people who share in the painting activity. But anyways I'll see about encouraging my dad to paint more.

AR80 my dad has been into art practically his whole life! We have a large collection of books about art and artists from South Africa and also from the rest of the world.

Anyways in further news ... his hair started falling out. Well he didn't have much hair to begin with! I hope this doesn't get too bad. But apart from that he's not feeling too badly ... yesterday's art class went well, and he's up and about today.

Thanks as always for your comments and thoughts Christiane and everybody else.

Willem

Hi Willem and ook Pa en Ma

Well, if you have a good collection of books you can surely see where there is a gap - and perhaps persuade your Dad to fill it.

Do you have any Bushman paintings anywhere near you? We had some on our farm in the |Karroo. I wonder if anyone has written about them?

When I saw the rock drawings that Whisky - I think it was - wrote about i.e. those primitive rock drawings he found in France near Lyons, I thought to myself that they looked amazingly like the the paintings that the Bushman "engraved" on the rocks in in South

Veels geluk

Christiane
AlsoRan80