Anyone who
know me knows that running has become an important part of my life. It’s what helped get me into and pay for
college, kept me somewhat sane while working long hours and helping to raise 4
children. It gave me a way to connect
with my children (there is nothing like sharing a run with your kids), helped
me deal with losing one, has been the focus of our charity to help others and
it was the early warning that saved my life when I got cancer. Getting back to running the Boston Marathon
also served as a goal to help me focus and fight through the 6 months of cancer
treatment. In retrospect, I guess you
have to be a few sandwiches short of a picnic to pick that as your goal. I hear crazy is the new sane.
Two months
after the last chemo treatment I was able to start running again and 2 months
after that (Dec. of 2016) I began training again to get to the Boston
Marathon. Looking back, the whole idea
of running a marathon (especially Boston) 8 months after chemo and while
getting bone marrow biopsies every couple of months seems totally
unrealistic. By the time I started
training, registration for the race was closed, I didn’t have a number to get
in, I only had 4 months to get ready and my blood counts still hadn’t fully
recovered. In my myopically focused
mind, those were all minor issues. I had
beat cancer and all other obstacles seemed trivial.
Those of you
that have followed my blogs over the winter know the rest of the story. Help from family and friends and divine
intervention got me trained up, got me a number, got me to the starting line
and helped me complete the marathon.
What was not part of the story is that my blood count recovery peaked
just before the marathon and has been dropping ever since. A biopsy in mid-May still shows no sign of
the disease in the blood but the genomic tests (see last month’s blog for details)
continue to show signs the disease is coming back. By mid-June my white blood cell count was
half the April count (1.6K…normal is 4- 10K) and my neutrophils (white blood
cells that protect you from infection) were at 200 (normal range is 1800
-7900). Platelets (that help your blood clot) were at
18K (normal is 150-450K) causing a quick trip to the vampire store (blood bank)
for a transfusion.
This week we
started on a 3-4 month chemo treatment called hypomethylation. The goal is to slow down the generation of
bad cells and strengthen the immune system so that we can do a Stem Cell
Transplant (also called a bone marrow transplant) in the fall. Each hypomethylation treatment is 5
consecutive days of chemo followed by three weeks of transfusions, isolation
and recovery.
This week
has gone pretty well, other than being stabbed and jabbed more times than the shower
scene in Psycho, and developing a bad case of what I call sleep “napnea”
(sitting for more than 2 minutes is an invitation for a nap). Nausea has been manageable and so far, no
mouth sores, nose bleeds or rashes. Running a few miles has me puffing like a
steam engine. Hard to believe two
months ago I could run 26 miles and today I have trouble running 2-3.
So for now,
life is again on hold. From all accounts
recovery from the Stem Cell Transplant will be 6 months to a year depending on
the auto-immune reaction to the new stem cells. They tell me if my donor is female my new
cells will be female. Guess I’ll be
getting in touch with my softer side and finally have an urge to go
shopping. Pam will be thrilled.
Next month,
more details on what’s ahead with the transplant.
