My festive A to Z (chemo side effects included)

I’m very close to the end of my second 21-day cycle of eribulin, the iv chemo I moved on to at the beginning of December as part of the latest pharmacological effort to stop my metastatic breast cancer from spreading further around my body. 

There have been side effects but they’ve been tolerable. Physically, on the whole, I’ve been feeling more than fine. Emotionally, too, I’ve been feeling stronger. I’ve largely put behind me the disappointment of the PET CT scan that showed that my cancer had outwitted paclitaxel, the chemo I was on before I switched to eribulin. 

I look back over the past six weeks and, despite multiple trips to hospital for treatment sessions and associated blood tests and/or blood transfusions, cancer has definitely not been front and centre.

There has, of course, been Christmas. With the Omicron variant of the coronavirus rampaging around the country, there were very few of us whose plans for the holiday period were not disrupted at least to some extent. Thankfully, we escaped pretty much unscathed, disappointing as it was to cancel several social engagements we’d really been looking forward to.

Christmas is a time for lists, whether you’re writing to Santa or shopping for presents or for the food for Christmas dinner.

Here’s another list of sorts that you may be interested in. It’s my festive A to Z!

A

Appetite. This was all over the place during the first cycle of eribulin. Some days I had no appetite. Other days I had a huge appetite. On yet other days I wanted to eat but my mouth was so dry that I found it hard to swallow. Things are much more stable now.

B

Beef Wellington. For the third Boxing Day in a row, our two boys made Beef Wellington for dinner. The shape may not have been perfect this year but it was just as good as the previous two offerings! What an absolute treat.

Blood tests. I had my latest round of tests this morning. I’ll get the results on Wednesday when I see the consultant. All going well, I’ll start Cycle 3 of eribulin later the same day.

C

Chemo. Each 21-day cycle of eribulin – also known as Halaven – comprises two treatment sessions. These take place on Day 1 and Day 8 of the cycle, with blood tests done one or two days before each session to check to see whether it’s ok to go ahead with the next one.

Christmas Day. An extremely pleasant relaxing and relaxed day that involved for my husband and me a walk across Tooting Common, a pint in a local pub followed by drinks at a friends’ house across the road, then, later at home with the boys, a delicious traditional Christmas dinner, board games and a film.

D

Dry. We did think that we might do “Dry January”, where you go the whole of the month without drinking any alcohol. It didn’t take us long to decide life was too short for such sacrifices so we’ve decided instead to cut down. Perhaps “damp” rather than ”dry” would be more appropriate for this entry!

E

Exhibitions. My husband and I have been taking advantage of the fact that central London is very quiet to visit a few of the exhibitions that are on at the city’s museums and art galleries. It’s been fun.

F

Fatigue. I’ve experienced this in its extreme form where you feel like you’re walking through treacle and you really just have to stop and, ideally, sit or lie down. I’ve also experienced bog-standard fatigue, mild fatigue, and no fatigue at all. It’s fair to say chemo takes it out of you.

G

Gin. Sloe gin made by a friend or gin from Tiree, the tiny Hebridean island where we spent a week in October. I’m not fussy.

H

Hair. Ongoing thinning and loss of head and body hair.

Head. Shaving thereof.

Haemoglobin. The cancer is in my bone marrow among other places, affecting my body’s ability to make healthy blood. It particularly affects my red blood cells. My haemoglobin level is constantly low. If it goes below a certain level, I can’t have chemo. During both of these first two cycles of eribulin, I’ve had to go to hospital on or around Day 15 for blood tests to have it checked. I had one unit of blood transfused during the first cycle but I haven’t needed one during the second cycle. That is good. 

Heartburn. A side effect of eribulin. Painful, not pleasant.

I

Indecision. I’ve spent hours looking at flights to various places but haven’t yet taken the plunge and booked to go a somewhere. Watch this space.

J

Jelly. Yes, jelly, that weirdly coloured gooey stuff you should really only eat at children’s birthday parties. It was a godsend on days during my first chemo cycle when I had no appetite and/or a dry mouth. 

K

Kleenex. Nose hair is one of those things most people (or at least most women) don’t realise they have. However, you notice when you don’t have it (see above under ”Hair”) as you have a runny nose much more frequently than you used to. You therefore need plenty of tissues – not necessarily Kleenex but it was the best I could think of for the letter ”K”!

L

Lateral flow tests. I’ve lost count of how many I’ve done. Thankfully, they’ve all been negative.

M

Metoclopramide. This is an anti-nausea drug I take to stop me feeling sick after I’ve eaten. I’ve more or less got this under control now. 

Metal. Some food tastes metallic in the days following chemo, after which it goes back to normal.

N

Nata. As in “pasteis de nata”, those delicious little Portuguese egg custard tarts. A good friend made a surprise delivery of a box of four. Yum!

O

Optician’s. I stepped on my glasses and broke them. I don’t have a spare pair (thank goodness I also have contact lenses). An appointment has been made at the optician’s for an eye test and to buy a new pair of specs.

P

Priority PCR test. I’ve been sent one of these as part of a government initiative to ensure that clinically extremely vulnerable (CEV) individuals such as myself, should we catch Covid, get timely access to one of the new drugs that are now available for treating the illness.

Pubs. There have been plenty of visits to the pub. Again, we’ve taken advantage of the fact things have been quiet.

Q

The Queen’s Speech on Christmas Day. We somehow missed this!

R

Roast potatoes. You can never have too many of these with your Christmas dinner!

Rummikub. We played a few rounds of this on Christmas Day. 

S 

Steroids. I take these for two days after each chemo session, to help prevent nausea. I have a huge appetite for two days and, once I start talking, it’s hard to stop.

Swimming. I managed a couple of sessions in early December, before the start of the massive surge in Covid cases. It may be time to start thinking about going again.

T 

Tumour marker. In my case, my tumour marker is a good measure of how active my cancer is. The marker level went down during the first cycle. I’ll find out on Wednesday what it’s done in Cycle 2. Fingers crossed that it’s stayed where it is or has gone down further.

Tennis. I still can’t quite believe that I have been back on the courts. This disease saps your confidence and I’d convinced myself that, with my haemoglobin level being so low, I wouldn’t have the energy to play. In the end I played for around 40 minutes, with a fabulous bunch of women from the tennis club of which I’m still a member. I hadn’t played for many, many months and I absolutely loved it.

Theatre. A friend very generously invited me to the theatre in the run-up to Christmas. That too was a lovely treat.

U 

University. Both our sons came home from uni for the Christmas holidays. As always, it was/is great to have them around. The older one has gone back; the younger one is still with us. Both are in the middle of final year exams. These are still being done online. By the time they finish, they will have had less than six months of “normal” university – from a three-year degree.

V

Vaccines. I’ve now had my booster jab, bringing to four the number I’ve had overall. CEV individuals were offered three jabs as part of the primary vaccination programme and then also a booster.

Volunteering. On New Year’s Day morning, I volunteered at my local Parkrun. I put back in order some of the bar codes of the 299 people who turned out that morning to run, jog or walk the 5k route. I’ve volunteered a couple of times now since I myself stopped running.

W

Wig. I have renewed my acquaintance with the wig that I last wore in February 2017.

Walking. Lots and lots and lots of walking.

X

This may be cheating but ”x” is for the challenging letter ”x” in Banagrams and Scrabble, two of our favourite word games. We played both of these more than a few times time over the holidays.

Y

Year. Another year has passed. It’s been very hard for many on many fronts. On a personal level regarding my health, it’s hugely disappointing that three different lines of treatment stopped working over the course of just 12 months. In many ways, though, it’s been a wonderful year. If you follow this blog, you’ll have followed the many ups and downs.

Z

Zoom. We hadn’t used the Zoom online chat service for a while but it came back into its own over Christmas. My book group had its Christmas meet-up on Zoom where, instead of the Secret Santa we would have done had we met in person, we bought ourselves a present and did “show and tell”! On another occasion, we were able to chat to our friends in Madrid.

And that’s it. Happy New Year, everyone!

From one chemo to another

I had hoped to go the full six, 28-day cycles with paclitaxel, the intravenous chemo I was on as part of my treatment for the breast cancer that’s spread to my bones and is in my bone marrow, affecting my body’s ability to produce healthy blood.

That would have taken me to early/mid February next year. Frustratingly, my cancer had other ideas. I’m now no longer on paclitaxel and I’m due to start a different chemo – eribulin – on Wednesday this coming week. 

Yes, I was annoyed and frustrated and angry and sad and, yes, I swore a huge amount out loud to myself once the results of the half-body PET CT scan that sealed my fate with regard to paclitaxel had sunk in. I got the results on Tuesday this past week. I’m not going into detail but they showed “progression of the skeletal metastatic disease” and “nodal and widespread metastatic activity… suggestive of disease progression”. The paclitaxel session I was due to have two days later was duly cancelled.

A few days on, I’m more settled but I’m still also massively pissed off.

Of course it could be worse. However, most of you know that I’m a great advocate of the sentiment “just because it’s not worse doesn’t mean it’s not shit”. It is shit. Every time a drug in your limited treatment arsenal stops working is shit. That said, there’s still no visceral spread and there are no concerns regarding spinal cord compression. There are options and there is a plan. That plan is eribulin (brand name Halaven).

My tumour marker level had tumbled during the first and second 28-day cycles of paclitaxel almost to an all-time low since my secondary breast diagnosis in Spring 2019. When my tumour marker level is falling, it tends to mean the cancer is less active. It had edged up a little during the third cycle but it was still very low relative to where it had been when I started on paclitaxel in mid-August.

The fact that the marker had gone up at all was disappointing, but not disastrous. I’d also been experiencing some pain in a couple of joints on a sporadic basis. On a positive note, the results of the spinal MRI scan I’d had recently had come through, showing no change from my previous one, in July. It was decided when I saw the consultant at the end of Cycle 3, on Wednesday 17th November, that I should go ahead with Cycle 4. I had the first session a couple of days later, on Friday 19th, following the now seemingly standard blood transfusion. On Thursday 18th, I had a half-body PET CT scan, which covers from the top of your head to above your knees. As with the MRI scan, my last PET CT scan had also been in July.

It’s fair to say things started to get a bit messy on the Wednesday night (17th). I awoke with considerable pain in various joints on my left hand-side at various points during the night. It largely eased after I took some strong pain killers. It happened again the following two nights, although the episodes on Wednesday were by far the worst.

Things were largely ok during the day. I’d signed up as a volunteer at my local Parkrun on Tooting Common in southwest London at 9am on the morning of Saturday 20th. I was due to be one of the barcode scanners at the end of the run. I felt wrecked but I wasn’t in pain so I went along and did that. I’m glad I did. I’ve had so much out of Parkrun; it’s good to give back.

To cut an even longer story short, some pain returned on the Saturday morning after I got home from Parkrun. I’d run out of strong painkillers and I was exhausted but couldn’t sleep. I ended up being admitted to the hospital where I’m being treated and kept in overnight while they sorted out my pain meds. I was not screaming in pain or anything like it but it was not pleasant. I was discharged on Sunday afternoon, by which time I was absolutely fine. I left with copious amounts of both strong and very strong painkillers.

I cannot fault the care I received in hospital but it was all rather frustrating as I’m pretty sure I could have resolved the matter at home had I not run out of my usual painkillers.

On the Monday, I was contacted by the superbly efficient clinical nurse specialist who’s a critical part of the breast cancer team at the hospital. She said she and the consultant were fully aware I’d had an overnight stay and that the consultant would like to see me the following day. I didn’t realise it at the time, but the results of the PET CT scan were already through. Those, together with the pain-related episodes, meant it was time to move on from paclitaxel. 

With Tuesday came a detailed review of the scan results and my signing the consent form to start eribulin.

So what is this new treatment? 

With paclitaxel, it was a 28-day cycle. Each cycle consisted of three iv treatment sessions. These took place on Days 1, 8 and 15, with blood tests the day before each session and then again at the end of each cycle, followed by a meeting with the consultant on or around Day 28. Each treatment session took a couple of hours or so, with the first session of each cycle taking an additional hour or so as this was when I received my monthly infusion (also intravenously) of the bone-strengthening drug, Zometa (zoledronic acid). The standard number of cycles one has on paclitaxel if things are going ok is four but this can be upped to six.

With eribulin, it’s a 21-day cycle, with each cycle consisting of two treatment sessions. Treatment is on Days 1 and 8. As with paclitaxel, there are blood tests the day before each session, to check that it’s ok for that session to proceed. There are also blood tests at the end of the cycle, followed by an appointment with the consultant 1) to go over the blood test results; 2) to discuss how you’ve been coping with the treatment; and 3) hopefully that you can go ahead with the next cycle.

Unlike with paclitaxel, there is no limit to the number of cycles of eribulin you can have. As long as you’re tolerating it well and it’s working, you keep taking it. The longest the consultant has had a patient on it is 13 months. Fingers crossed it works for me and that any side effects are tolerable – as they were, it has to be said, with paclitaxel. My feet feel better than they’ve been in years and I’m pleasantly surprised not to have lost all my hair. I was also feeling really well overall.

There are some overlapping potential side effects between paclitaxel and eribulin, but of course each drug also has some that are unique. Somewhat strangely, bone marrow suppression is a potential side effect of eribulin – but that’s also precisely among the things we’re trying to treat.

On the bone-strengthening drugs front, I’m switching from Zometa to denosumab (Xgeva). We’ve switched between the two before. The idea is that a drug that works in a different way will have a more beneficial effect. That, in essence, is also the idea behind switching to eribulin. 

Eribulin is delivered intravenously – that’ll be through my port – over a period of just two to five minutes. Denosumab is given as a quick injection – in my case to the abdomen – once every four weeks. It’s clear treatment sessions at the hospital will be much shorter than when I was on paclitaxel and Zometa.

With my haemoglobin level and resulting energy levels being largely low, I now rarely cycle and I don’t run at all.  Swimming has become my new favourite pastime. I don’t swim far and I don’t swim fast but I’ve always loved swimming and now I do it once or twice a week. I’d like to do it outdoors but I get cold very quickly and if I don’t have a way of getting warm immediately, I’m cold for hours.

This desire to feel the sun on my shoulders was in grand part behind my decision to escape to a beautifully warm and sunny – and beautiful – Cyprus for a week in early November. 

Yes, you read correctly. Cyprus. Photo number one to the left.

And yes, you’re also right, my husband and I had indeed just been to Madrid.

The photo to the right was taken on the trip to Spain. It’s of me and two of my dearest friends, both of whom I met in Madrid in the early to mid-1980s when I lived there teaching English as a foreign language before coming back to Glasgow to finish my degree (in Spanish, what else!). We were in Madrid for a wedding; the woman in the middle is the mother of the groom.

My now husband and I met in Madrid in those same early days. We loved the city this time round as much as we’d always done.

And, yes, there is even more on the travel front. Before the Madrid trip, we had been to Tiree, a tiny island off the west coast of Scotland.

My husband and I were in Tiree with one of my brothers, John, his wife and my niece, one of their four children. We had a lovely week.

Madrid and Scotland had been in the diary for a long time. After months of coronavirus-related uncertainty – combined with uncertainty over how I might be feeling health-wise – we were delighted that we were able to do both trips.

Cyprus was an impulse booking, done the day before I had my port inserted on 1 November. I just Googled ”Where’s hot in Europe?” and Cyprus won.

I’m happy to say I swam outside every day of the Cyprus holiday in the sunshine, either in the pool or in the sea – indeed sometimes both on the same day!

There is little that can beat the feel of the sun on your shoulders drying you off after you’ve been swimming.

The sea was warm, the water was clear. It was an absolute delight. I went with one of my brothers, Peter. We took dozens of photos. The one above on the left is among my favourites. 

I couldn’t stay in the water for long at any one time as I’d only recently had my port inserted. The wounds from the two incisions from the procedure were healing well and while I wasn’t concerned about getting them wet, I didn’t want to overdo it.

Before I had the port inserted, I thought I was ok with the chemo nurses taking several attempts to find a decent vein through which to administer chemo or blood transfusions. Since I’ve had the port inserted and we’ve now used it several times, I have to say it is a game-changer. It makes things so much easier.

The procedure to insert the port only took some 40 minutes. However, with the pre-procedure preparation and the post-procedure monitoring, I was at the hospital for the best part of the day. The procedure, which is done under local anaesthetic, was the weirdest experience. You feel the sensation of cutting, pushing and shoving – but no pain. The port stands out from my chest; it looks weird but I’m totally fine with it.

Several other events have happened in my life, not relating to my treatment or travels. On my last day in Cyprus, I awoke to the news that the 57-year-old husband of one of my best friends back in Glasgow had died very suddenly and unexpectedly the previous night. A day or so later, the husband of my beloved aunt and godmother in New Jersey died, of advanced prostate cancer.

It’s easy to say, but this first tragic event in particular illustrates why worrying about one’s own mortality – or indeed about the mortality of sick parents, friends or relatives – is so futile. Enough sad/bad things happen that aren’t even on the radar. Be concerned, yes, but try not to over-worry. Events such as these will happen regardless. If anxiety about your or someone else’s future is becoming overwhelming, please seek help. And let the people you’re worrying about know you love them. That should make you and them feel better.

I’m hoping to go up to Glasgow for my friend’s husband’s funeral later this month. It will depend on how I feel after starting this new chemo and on the ever-changing situation with regard to the never-ending pandemic. 

In the meantime, I’ll be booking regular swim sessions at the two local leisure centres to which I’m fortunate to have access. I may also be on the lookout for another break that involves winter sun and warm seas. If you have any ideas, let me know!

To finish, fingers crossed eribulin works for longer than either paclitaxel or indeed the drugs I was on before that. I’m not aiming for or expecting anything, but more than just a few months would be very welcome.

Making my peace with Parkrun

I wanted do one final Parkrun after lockdown ended.

In the end I did two and, with a grand total of 103 runs under my belt, I’m now bowing out.

These popular, volunteer-led 5k running events used to take place every Saturday morning in hundreds of parks across the UK. By the time they stopped with the first lockdown, in March 2020, I’d done 101 runs – a considerable achievement, it has to be said, considering I did most of them after I finished treatment for primary breast cancer in February 2016 and a dozen or so after I was diagnosed with secondary, incurable breast cancer in April 2019.

I didn’t run for a good few months after my secondary diagnosis. Indeed at one stage, I genuinely thought my running days were over. Thankfully they weren’t.

The cancer is in my bones and the fact that it has also “infiltrated” my bone marrow means I’ve been anaemic essentially since my secondary diagnosis. The ongoing inability of my bone marrow to make enough haemoglobin to transport sufficient amounts of oxygen around my body is a major challenge.

I’d really just started doing Parkruns regularly again when the pandemic hit. My stamina and strength massively reduced over the 16 months of lockdown. I kept running on and off, despite the anaemia and despite the fact that I had problems with my feet – caused by the medication I was on and made considerably worse by running.

Anyway, Parkrun finally started up in England again a couple of Saturdays ago. By pure chance, one of my brothers and his son were visiting us in London at the time. We all egged each other on – in a nice way – and decided we’d all go for it. This, I said, would be my last. It would be good to have some support.

It was a two-lap course. I started at the very back of the pack, assuming I’d be running very, very slowly compared to many if not all of the other runners. Also, I’d decided that being at the back would be safer from a coronavirus point of view. Given I’m on active treatment for advanced breast cancer and immunocompromised, I’m categorised as clinically extremely vulnerable. Very soon after lockdown began, I decided to stop shielding – ie staying at home and not going out other than when absolutely necessary – in favour of being careful when I was out. No point in being reckless now, I thought. I sought advice from a doctor friend and she agreed the risk was low.

Off we went. I jogged around ten steps then realised I couldn’t jog a step more. My legs felt so heavy. They just wouldn’t move. No matter what my head was telling my body, that clearly was not going to change. It was all a bit strange, as several weeks earlier I’d done a run of the same distance – slowly, but problem free.

I started walking and after a few minutes tried jogging again. No change; a few metres at a time was all I could manage. My head was all over the place. This was my final Parkrun and it was turning out to be a huge disappointment. I genuinely thought of giving up there and then. Then I thought how daft that would be, given that all I’d be doing instead was cheering on my brother and nephew and all the other runners. I then gave some consideration as to what Parkrun’s about – it’s about participation, community, effort and overcoming adversity. Parkrun has changed the lives of thousands of people for the better and taking part has been such a privilege. For many, just walking the course is a huge achievement. Dropping out would be such a negative way to finish my Parkrun “journey”, I thought. I checked with the “tailwalker” – the person who brings up the rear and makes sure no-one comes last – to see if he would be ok with me walking most of the route. He said that was more than ok. It turns out his wife was Scottish and we spent a fair part of the course talking about Parkruns in Scotland.

I duly finished the course. In a pack of more than 450, other than for the tailwalker, I came last. I jogged the final few metres – because how could I not? My husband, brother, nephew and a few enthusiastic Parkrun officials/volunteers cheered me over the finish line. It wasn’t a disappointment at all. In fact, it all felt great.

102 Parkruns and out – or so I thought.

Then something happened a few days later that made me want to try again. I had blood tests done, and it turns out my haemoglobin level was almost as low as it had ever been since I was diagnosed in Spring 2019. It was pretty darn low. That went a long way towards explaining why I could hardly put one foot in front of the other the previous Saturday. The day after I got the test results, I had yet another red blood cell transfusion – my third since late June. Two days later I ran what I’m pretty sure will be my final Parkrun as a participant. I’m ok with that; I now feel I’ve made my peace with this wonderful initiative.

A blood transfusion doesn’t fix everything. It gives you a very welcome temporary energy boost but it does not make you superwoman, or indeed get you remotely close to the level you were at before your diagnosis. Even after this latest transfusion, my haemoglobin level is still only at two thirds of what it was pre-diagnosis. I was wiped out after the run, my hips and my knees hurt and I basically spent the best part of the rest of the weekend on the sofa. I even went for a nap on Saturday afternoon. To be honest, I would probably have stayed in bed had I not been going to see Chrissie Hynde – yes, that Chrissie Hynde! – in concert that night at the Royal Opera House in central London. The following day I still felt shattered and I cancelled a lunch date in town, which is most unlike me.

However slowly I ran, it was worth doing this final run for reasons of personal satisfaction. It was also fitting that it was at my home course of Tooting Common, where I’ve done the vast majority of my runs (the previous week’s run was at a nearby Clapham Common). I’m not sure I want to spend whole weekends in recovery mode, though, so it’s 103 and out. In future I’ll be helping out as a volunteer, which I’ll be more than happy to do.

I have my next set of blood tests next week. We’ll find out how my haemoglobin is bearing up two weeks post-transfusion and we’ll be looking closely to see what action there has been on the tumour marker front. At the end of my third monthly treatment cycle almost a month ago now, the marker had, to our pleasant surprise, unexpectedly fallen slightly when the trend over the first two months of treatment had been upwards.

The other procedure I’m having that could help on the haemoglobin front hasn’t yet had an impact. It can take a while to work, so we still have a few weeks to go with that.

The seemingly never-healing cold sore wound on my lip has almost gone. Hurrah! I have had this wound on my lip for two whole months now. Two whole months. Also on the positive side, the medication-induced ulcer that started developing on my tongue a week or so ago went away as quickly as it came. I nearly cried when I first felt it. Just as I get rid of the cold sore wound, I thought despairingly, a tongue ulcer comes to replace it. If you’ve never had one of these, count yourself very, very lucky.

Here’s nice story to finish. I told our sons a while back that I’ll lose my hair as and when I move on to my next treatment – intravenous chemo. I didn’t want it to come as a surprise to them when it happened. My hair at that point was the longest it had been in years. I mentioned to the younger son a week or so ago that I was thinking of getting it cut. He himself is a redhead and has a beautiful thick mane that reaches half way down his back. Without hesitation, he says, “Nah, mum, use it ‘til you lose it”. I compromised with a trim! 

When a 5k run means so much more than a 5k run

The very slow 5k run I did this morning ranks among the sporting endeavours of which I am most proud. It is also almost certainly the slowest 5k I have ever run.

The idea that I might get out there and try running five kilometres began forming a week or so ago. I hadn’t done any running at all in more than two months. As a result of that and various other factors, I’d really lost my confidence. But the omens were good. 

The main thing was that the wounds I’d had on my right calf and right sole were finally healing. I had two pigmented and irregularly shaped lesions removed towards the end of April and the resulting wounds were taking longer to heal than I’d anticipated. Apart from the odd bike ride a month ago to see how the wounds would bear up – they didn’t – the only exercise I’d done since having the procedure done was walking.

Secondly, my feet were feeling better than they’d felt in many months. The side effects of capecitabine, the previous medication I was on, had worn off. The specific side effect from which I suffered is called palmar-plantar or hand-foot syndrome, where you develop sore and red palms of hands and soles of feet. The skin may also begin to peel. With me, only my feet were affected. They would hurt even when I was walking and the pain would keep me awake at night. With running, I’d get huge blood blisters even in the most comfortable and supportive running shoes.

So as I say, the omens were good.

Then, to top it all, just three days ago on Friday last week, I had a blood transfusion. The reasons for needing a transfusion are never good but I know from experience that they give you an energy boost. In my case, the metastatic breast cancer that has spread to my bones and bone marrow is preventing my body from making healthy red blood cells. My haemoglobin keeps falling, making me anaemic. This was my fourth transfusion since being diagnosed with advanced breast cancer over two years ago. The third one was only a few weeks ago. The effects of a transfusion can last for up to two weeks.

So those were the reasons making me think I should do a run. On the flip side, it’s been a really difficult few weeks on the cancer front (more on that in another post) and I’ve been struggling to deal with it all. Also, I have a cold sore that’s taking forever to heal and that is making me feel really self-conscious, not to mention lethargic and down. 

One part of me was thinking “go for it”. Another part was saying it would be no big deal if I never ran again. 

Anyway, I can’t tell you how many pep talks I had with myself before I finally put on my running shoes, left the house, and walked to where I wanted to start the run. 

I reminded myself that I will probably have to change treatment again soon. It’s a dead cert that my ability to exercise will be curtailed further once that happens.

Also, hand-foot syndrome is a potential side effect of the treatment I’m currently on and have been on for just over two months. While my feet have indeed been fine for a while, very recently the tingling and throbbing has come back at night and my sleep has been badly disturbed a few times in just this past week.

If I didn’t attempt a 5k now, when would I? The answer to that was possibly never. 

I also tried to think of what the various cycling coaches I know would say to motivate me.

I’m pretty certain that when I was in my 20s, I ran a 10k in almost the time it took me this morning to do 5k. But it really doesn’t matter. It really doesn’t. What matters is that I ran at all today.

What makes it even better is that I did the local Parkrun route. Parkrun is a free, timed, mass-participation, volunteer-led 5k run that pre-pandemic took place on Saturday mornings in parks around the UK and indeed in many countries. I was a huge fan and ran my 100th Parkrun in January 2020. I managed one more before the very first lockdown began two months later. 

The route comprises three laps of Tooting Common, the green open space that starts at the bottom of our street in south west London.

I did stop once, to take a photo of a cluster of mushrooms (see above).

That probably added at least 20 seconds to my time. Anyone who’s pushing or over 58 will know how much effort and time it takes to get down into and back up from a squat!

It was hoped that Parkrun might start up again in England some time this month but it’s been postponed to the end of July. Initially I was really excited at the thought of it starting up again but now I’m not sure about running among large crowds. I wrote recently that I’d like to do at least one more Parkrun. After this morning, morally, I feel I’ve done it.

A stark reminder that you can never relax

The results from the PET-CT scan I had at the beginning of this month could have been a lot worse but they did not bring the across-the-board good news we were hoping for.

Everything had been pointing to a positive overall response to the treatment I started in May for secondary breast cancer. However, the scan results showed that there has been some growth in the cancer that’s in my spine.

The level of growth is not enough to necessitate an immediate change in core treatment but I’m aware this could now happen sooner rather than later.

The results from the MRI scan I had yesterday will provide additional information that will help inform near-future treatment decisions. We’ll also be looking very closely at next month’s blood test results and I’m to have a repeat PET-CT scan in two months’ time.

I wasn’t surprised by the results; nothing surprises me with this, good or bad. I’m not freaking out but I am hugely disappointed.

We had hoped that the drugs were keeping everything under control. Rather, it turns out I’m having a varied response to treatment. Some aspects of the cancer are responding differently from others. While this is not usual, it’s also not hugely unusual.

I’d been having blood tests every month since starting treatment for the breast cancer that had spread or metastasised to my bones (the main focus is certain vertebrae in my spine) and bone marrow. We knew from the results that the drugs were working really well on the bone marrow front. We’d even postponed the PET-CT scan – my first since I was diagnosed – by a couple of months because things were looking so good. There had been some twitches here and there in my back in recent weeks but nothing approaching what I’d describe as pain.

The good news is that there’s no sign the cancer has spread anywhere else and my bone marrow function continues to improve. And so I continue on my current treatment.

Of potential significance is the fact that the latest blood test results showed that a tumour marker specific to secondary breast cancer is very slightly up. It’s fallen every month since I started treatment. While the rise is within acceptable limits, if it contines to rise – and depending on scan results – we’ll potentially be looking at calling it a day on the drugs I’m on and moving to the next line of treatment.

More positively, other tumour markers are continuing to fall.

There has been one change to treatment. “Bone mets” weakens your bones and puts you at risk of “skeletal related events” such as fracture, radiotherapy or surgery, or spinal cord compression. 

I was on a bone strengthening drug called zoledronic acid or Zometa that was aimed at preventing these SREs.  I’ve come off Zometa and have moved to a different drug – denosumab (Xgeva) – that is designed to do the same thing but in a different way. The two core drugs – fulvestrant (Faslodex) and abemaciclib (Verzenios) – haven’t changed. Treatment is on a monthly cycle; I went ahead with round #7 last week.

In other news, I’m still running, edging closer by the week to my 100th Parkrun, the free, volunteer-led 5k running event that takes place in parks up and down the country every Saturday morning. Just last weekend, visiting my family in Glasgow, I ticked off number 94. I ran with two of my brothers and a niece and nephew.

It’s taking some time to get my head round this latest development. Things had been going so well that I’d allowed myself to start looking further ahead than just one or two months. After this turn of events, it’s very much back to one month at a time.

So, a stark reminder that no matter how well you think things are going, with this disease you cannot take anything for granted. As I’ve said before, we can but take things as they come.

In the meantime, on we go. For now,  that involves a ten-day holiday in Israel and Jordan for my other half and me. It was have to been 14 days but we changed our outward flight to accommodate the MRI appointment and are leaving a few days later than planned. We fly out later today. An adventure awaits.