måndag 24 februari 2020

Cancer and Chemotherapy


I thought that I'd cross-post this here for information. The full post is available here.

They found something blocking my bile duct that they think is cancer. After battling acute pancreatitis in the autumn I was to undergo a Whipple surgery in January, during which they found that they can't do that. As the tumor i too locally advanced, meaning that it has grown in to stuff in my case one of the main veins and arteries going to the liver.


So I am back on chemotherapy after a year without. I decided to start a VLOG on YouTube about it if you are interested in following me on the journey. If not, up to you. : )

onsdag 5 december 2018

Brewing mead


So another alcoholic beverage session coming up. This time we will be brewing mead.

Nothing fancy here. Things that you will need:
  • Bucket (or fermenter), 1 is enough 2 could be good if you want to move it to the other vessel after the first fast fermentation is over.
  • Water lock
  • Thermometer
  • Hydrometer
  • Something to boil water in
  • Various ladles
  • Honey. 3-5 kg
  • Yeast
  • Kitchen scales
  • Fermentation stop

I get my honey from my wife's coworker who owns a bee-farm. Mostly honey that is too old to be sold but good enough to brew on. So locally made and free, can't get much better.

Start with boiling some water. Just a little so that you can disinfect the bucket and ladles that you are going to use, don't forget the lid, thermometer and water lock.

Put water on boil. The formula that I've used before is 10 liters of water for 3 kg of honey. This time I think that I will try with a little less water but its still a lot of water. So start boiling.

Weigh and put all the honey in the fermentation bucket. Fill up with boiling water, this will kill any wild yeast and bacteria that is in the honey that can destroy your batch. Stir around to help it dissolve.

After it is dissolved, fill up the hydrometer and check the temperature. Let the test glass cool to 20 Celsius to make a correct reading. When you have the correct temperature, use the hydrometer to do a reading and write down the number as you will need that number when you bottle to calculate the alcohol percentage of the liquid.
If you can't wait for the temperature to reach the calibrated value, you can use a calculator to compensate (for example here)
My reading was 1.100 Specific Gravity at 23 Celsius. i.e. 1.101 SG after compensating for temperature.

At this point you will need to cool the bucket, I usually put on the lid with a water lock and place it outside for a couple of hours. You could I guess use a cooler from beer brewing but I think that is a little overkill for this. Usually it has cooled over night and I can set the yeast.

This time I will use wine yeast that needs to be pre-hydrated 15 minutes before usage. Just warm some water to 40 Celsius and stir in a glass. After 15 minutes, put the mix in the fermentation bucket and close the lid. Check that the water lock is sealed and put it somewhere where it can stay for a week or two.

Update some weeks later
Turns out it didn't start fermenting that fast, I probably kept it too cool the first 2 days. Moved the bucket to the living room instead and now it is bubbling. Will probably let it be for some while before testing it the first time.


One year later..
I kind of forgot about that mead keg in the cellar. Some other things on my mind this year.
Turns out that it actually tastes quite nice after 12 months in the fermentation keg. Will keep it for a while more as I do not have anything to tap it to.

Put in the fermentation stop. Clean up some bottles and tap the mead. Ready to drink once cooled

Until next time: Planning an epic bike ride with Strava and Google Earth!

onsdag 21 november 2018

Bile duct cancer, prognosis


Only eight weeks to go on my chemotherapy!

Last week I had a chat with my doctor regarding the risk of cancer popping up again after the treatment is completed. The doctor told us that he did not have the numbers readily available but would look into scientific articles and talk with colleagues and would come back.

And today he called back with his findings...

No exact numbers, evidently not a question asked when it comes to bile duct cancer..
What he was able to find was that the chances for this being a one time thing outweighs the risk of it returning. So that's positive, right? Better then 50-50 at least.
The fact that the tumor was found early and that it hadn't spread to any lymph nodes speak in my favor. Had it spread to the lymph nodes, the numbers would have been a lot darker.

I actually don't know what to do with this information. I guess it is human to want to know, but then being unable to do anything with the piece of knowledge.
But I guess this is as good as a prognosis can get... And there is always a risk of backfire, should keep that in mind as well.. Not worry about it but know that it is a possibility.

So I'll be focusing on one day at a time and do the things I want. Life is short and you never know what will happen.

Why I am writing this? Not to feel sorry for myself, but as a way to handle the situation and hopefully someone else out there in a similar situation can find this helpful as well. The human body is strong and hopefully I'll come out of this stronger as well. Plan for the worst and hope for the best! If you find this post interesting, please leave a comment or share on social media, not required but appreciated!

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Cancer and Chemotherapy

I thought that I'd cross-post this here for information.  The full post is available here . They found something blocking my bile d...