About that running thing... (this month's update)

William Rimmer - Flight and Pursuit

I went to oncology today for my monthly check in and injections.  Fortunately it was another good visit.

Most of my numbers look good.  No tumor markers for today yet (those take some time to get the results on) and my white blood cells are continuing to drop downward, which isn't great, but the thinking is that that's due to the radiation therapy and it's effect on the marrow in the several large bones that were radiated.  They're doing a WBC panel to better see what's going on, but, especially coupled with last month's stable scans and the dropping tumor markers, it doesn't seem to be really worrisome.  I guess I'll need to dig out the Purell supply I laid in the last time this happened and try to stay clear of sniffling people.

But since I'm feeling well, with only some hip and back pain that was there before the good scans, etc, and isn't getting worse, it was a lot of "keep it up!" and not a lot of worry.  I've had my share of the worry filled kind of appointments, so I'm just going to take this one and enjoy it for all it's worth!

While I was there, I asked about biking and running, and that didn't go quite as well as I had hoped.  The consensus is that biking is ok as long as I don't fall off, but running is definitely out and is not likely to ever be back on the table, at least not in the foreseeable future.  Looks like my "Couch to 5K" dream will need to be truncated to just "Couch," as the 5K part is not going to happen.

From what I understand, with impact absorbing bones fragile with cancer, and radiation therapy adding brittleness to the mix, high impact activities are just too risky.  Yep, that's right, I'm still a delicate flower.

I didn't exactly expect to get the go ahead today, not while my scans are still showing activity (my "stable" scans last month mean that the cancer isn't spreading now, but it doesn't mean the lesions are gone or healed at this point), but I was hoping they might tell me that it was likely in a few months maybe.  Instead, I was told it was unlikely that I'd ever be cleared for high impact stuff.

But, know what?  I'm actually ok with that.  I'm enjoying my walking and I definitely don't want to trade that in for a hip fracture and indefinite bedrest, pain, and rehab just because I went for a run.

Plus, not only do I feel better than before I started walking, I also saw today that my pulse has been dropping each month since I started the 10,000 steps a day in May--for many months before that I'd been having the same conversation with different techs:

"Is your pulse always, um, kind of high?"
"Yeah, it's always like that, Dr.___ is ok with it."
"Oh, ok, 'cause it's kind of scary high."
"Yeah, it's always like that."

But last month my pulse was right on the edge of normal-high and today I've dipped into the normal range, so that's nice (not to worry, my blood pressure, thyroid, and weight are fine and my doctor isn't worried, my pulse is just sort of naturally scary high, or was anyway).

Also, gentle biking is back on the table (as long as I just don't crash).  And I've been muttering through some Nordic Track workouts lately when the weather is bad, which is sort of like running in a throwback workout kind of way.  And I could also do an elliptical workout or other things like that if I were to rejoin the Y or something, so there are still lots of options, just no high impact options.

I guess a big part of adulthood is realizing that most of life is filled with tradeoffs.  That's certainly true in cancer care.  Side effects in return for more time alive?--I can deal with that.  Can't run but get to walk and live fracture free?--that sounds like a pretty fair trade to me.