January 18th, 2008On this date Tiina had her last Chemotherapy treatment. This was the sixth out of six. This time around she had been given a prescription for a stronger nausea preventive medicine that has been in use in the USA for about a year. Three pills only and the cost was about 30 Euros apiece taken one a day for three days. The treatment went well as did the recovery. She felt queezy but managed not to vomit and she was able to eat as well. In this photo she is preparing tomato soup to eat on the evening of the following day after her treatment.
January 26th
January 26thWe had gone to the mall to have lunch in celebration of Tiina's 45th birthday which was on the 23rd. She wasn't up to celebrating very much at that time. You can see by this picture that she was much more chipper. She was feeling good and happy that the worst of the treatments was finally over. Now all we had to do was wait to see when the radiation treatments would begin. Should be in about three to four weeks. We calculated that we probably wouldn't be able to to to our cottage in Jalasjärvi because of the treatments. She would have to go in every day so the most time we would get would be a weekend. Two days isn't really worth the travel time.
February 6th
Tiina had to go to Helsinki to get tattooed so that she would be in the same position for each radiation treatment. The tattoos were just a few tiny dots. She had been scheduled to begin the treatments on the 13th during week 7 but the doctor decided that another machine would be better for her so the start time was moved to the 21st of February in the middle of week 8, which was in the middle of our 
winter holiday! Those because of this we were able to go up to our cottage from the 16th through the 19th. It was our first time there since spending only 8 days last summer. Tiina wanted to recharge her batteries whilst there by taking in fresh, country air and just relaxing before the 30 days of radiation began.
winter holiday! Those because of this we were able to go up to our cottage from the 16th through the 19th. It was our first time there since spending only 8 days last summer. Tiina wanted to recharge her batteries whilst there by taking in fresh, country air and just relaxing before the 30 days of radiation began. February 16th
Here Tiina is pictured with our eldest son Niki at Päivi and Raine Rautanen's home in Jalasjärvi. This was taken just after our arrival. The next photo was taken that same evening whilst we were playing the card game called Aggravation. She doesn't look aggravated at. 
That's because she is winning! Playing Aggravation is how we pass the evenings (late evenings) away after the kids have gone to sleep. We turn the radio on and begin to get aggravated. Sometimes we play until 2 or 3 AM. But we are on holiday then, so who cares!
That's because she is winning! Playing Aggravation is how we pass the evenings (late evenings) away after the kids have gone to sleep. We turn the radio on and begin to get aggravated. Sometimes we play until 2 or 3 AM. But we are on holiday then, so who cares! February 19th
The next picture is of Tiina driving home from Jalasjärvi. She had her pink "Bad Hair Day" knit cap on. I was putting it on her so that it rested in different positions and then took pictures. She didn't seem to mind so much. Over all she had a good and relaxing time at the cottage and with the neighbors.
March 26th
This next picture was taken at Pizza Hut after she had gone to her radiation treatment and then to the SFP party office where we stuffed mailer envelopes. We were hungry so decided to have a date at Pizza Hut. Before meeting her at the party office I had just returned from having physical therapy on my right wrist in Tikkurila. I took the train from their to Helsinki where I had met up with Tiina at the party office, which is located in the center of Helsinki.
April 3rd
Well this was the last day of Tiina's radiation treatments. She had a total of 30 
sessions with the last five being boosters and only in the area where the tumor had been found. Her skin was becoming quite red, like a bad sunburn, especially on the neck and throat areas. Over the course of the next few weeks this would become a little more worse and then begin to fade into a tan. She hadn't had any bad blistering as I thought there would have been. It did interfere with her breathing from time to time. She had to use an asthma inhaler and wasn't able to walk very far or fast without having to stop a rest a bit. This was especially worse going up stairs. Tiina was a bit tired but the people at the hospital told her that this isn't mainly due to the radiation itself but due to having to go there every day for the treatments. Whenever possible Tiina took the train or bus to the treatments but usually came home by taxi. This time of the year there is always dust or smoke in the air and it makes it difficult to breath if one suffers from breathing disorders. The following photo was taken on the 15th of April to be used in Tiina's FaceBook profile. Here you can catch a glimpse of the radiation damage done to the skin on her neck and throat area. She still is smiling though! Now all we had to do was wait for the first control in the summer.
sessions with the last five being boosters and only in the area where the tumor had been found. Her skin was becoming quite red, like a bad sunburn, especially on the neck and throat areas. Over the course of the next few weeks this would become a little more worse and then begin to fade into a tan. She hadn't had any bad blistering as I thought there would have been. It did interfere with her breathing from time to time. She had to use an asthma inhaler and wasn't able to walk very far or fast without having to stop a rest a bit. This was especially worse going up stairs. Tiina was a bit tired but the people at the hospital told her that this isn't mainly due to the radiation itself but due to having to go there every day for the treatments. Whenever possible Tiina took the train or bus to the treatments but usually came home by taxi. This time of the year there is always dust or smoke in the air and it makes it difficult to breath if one suffers from breathing disorders. The following photo was taken on the 15th of April to be used in Tiina's FaceBook profile. Here you can catch a glimpse of the radiation damage done to the skin on her neck and throat area. She still is smiling though! Now all we had to do was wait for the first control in the summer.
2 comments:
Big hugs to Tiina!!
Hi Matti. Just ran across your blog! Hope you and your family are doing well. My wife went through breast cancer in 2007, chemo and radiation. Cancer really does suck. Curt Lorash, jr.
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