The past 11 days have flown by. We have finally completed the sale of my fathers business and he has now ‘properly’ moved in with us. It has been a tough two months for all of my family. After 20 years my father has finally retired. It is so sad that in retirement he is facing the greatest challenge of his life.

The Calaxane injections stopped last Saturday and the physiotherapists have also stopped visiting. The GP and nurses are very happy with dad’s progress and are astonished at how clean the infection free the wound is. There is however still a chance of DVT and infection so it is prudent that we look out for the tell tale signs.

Over the last 10 days my father was doing well, he was eating more and as sleeping well. The last 3 days have been rather different. He has slowly developed a rash on his face. This was expected as it affects 75% of Tarceva users, but we did think it would develop earlier on. The pain in his stomach has returned and his entire leg is in pain. I spoke to the emergency nurse this morning and she said that the switching of co-codamol to paracetamol may be the reason he is experiencing more pain than he is used. We were forced to do this as the capsules had run out and dad can’t swallow the tablet form. She suggested taking Tramadol which was prescribed by the hospital on discharge. Dad decided to carry on with the round tablet form of Co-codamol and so far his pain has eased.

What’s concerning me is the level of pain he felt as the Co-codamol wore off. He tail bone was hurting, stomach paining, leg paining and lower back. The lower back  and tail bone is probably due to the prolonged time he spends on the sofa. Still, I will mention this to the GP next week.

Last week, my father underwent some blood tests that I requested. His LFT figures are abnormal and he still has a high white blood cell count. The GP wanted to find out if there was an infection in the knee. I’ve asked the GP to compare the results of the old bloods with the new ones. My fathers hemoglobin levels are now at 9.1.  I have informed my fathers GP that Tarceva has affected LFT’s. Once we have the results I will contact the LOC and ask for some advice.

Dad felt very up beat today. He did not suffer any pain in his stomach during  the night and all day. He has finally got some of his appetite back and has found a taste for herbal tea…not sure how long that will last.

Not sure if the Tarceva is working as he has not developed any of the expected rash. However he may be of the 25% who don’t develop any rash. He is still suffering from night sweats although the frequency and intensity is less.

Spoke too soon yesterday. I received a call at 3.30am from dad who was complaining about a very painful stomach and aching knee. I cave him some warm water with a coupe of co-codamol pils. He settled down and fell asleep after an hour or so. 

The rest of the day he felt ok. There are no signs of rash or any other adverse side affects from the Tarceva. He seems to be eating more and his sweats have died down. Not sure if that is the Tarceva though as a reduction of his sweats was noticed upon discharge from the hospital where they refused him access to a fan for prolonged period of time. The nurse there was worried about his body temperature dropping, which it did whenever he used the fan to dry the sweat.

I was  quite hesitant in starting the Tarceva today as my father still has problems with his stomach and digestive system. I just didn’t want to exacerbate the issue. However, this morning as soon as dad got up he said he wanted to start the Tarceva. We had to start it someday and today was a good a time as any, and besides it would really make him feel better mentally. 

Tarceva should be administered one hour before food or at least two hours after food. As it was 8am in morning and dad had not had breakfast yet I decided to give it to him.

I closely monitored him all day today. Besides the stomach pain he is not  reacting adversely to the Tarceva. It’s the first day, and when we spoke to the Oncologist, he did say we would know within 48 hours whether it is working.

Over the last two days my father has been constipated and has a constant pain in his  stomach. Sometimes this has been quite unbearable sometimes just hanging in the background. When it get’s too bad, dad goes to the toilet and then comes back unsuccessfully.

Yesterday we called in the new GP who looked quite worried about the stomach pain. When I informed her of my fathers previous trips to the hospital for an endoscopy, which incidentally did not reveal anything out of the ordinary she was a little more comfortable. In the end she prescribed a stool softener and some senna tablets. We tried these but  I also gave dad some warm/hot water to drink to try and push things along.

Let’s see what happens tomorrow.

I’m hoping to start the Tarceva tomorrow, originally I wanted to start it as soon as dad came home from the hospital but the whole stomach problem has me worried. Could it be a bad reaction to the Clexane injections? I’ve read that some blood thinning  drugs have a reaction to Tarceva but the only one I can reference is Coumadin. More information with regards to administering Tarceva and possible reactions can be found here Tarceva (Erlotinib).