Status Update: It’s Complicated

Larry takes his happy yellow shoes to the gym in Illinois

If you were wondering about the outcome from the effort this weekend to get my feet moving with the program again, this will not be the update with the answer. Not because I’m trying to create dramatic tension, or use a cliffhanger, but because, well, so far we don’t know. 

What do you mean, you don’t know? Surely you know how your feet are working?? And I do know the answer to that:

We did get some additional information this week. Over the weekend, my right foot seemed to perceptibly improve while my left foot didn’t do much to perk up, and then right foot seemed weaker again with less sensation. It’s not been a handy straight line to gauge whether there is progress or improvement. 

On Monday, one of the oncology doctors called from Ninewells Hospital to ask if we could come right away for an MRI to assess both whether additional issues might be creating problems and whether we needed to do any additional treatment such as surgery or more radiotherapy on a different area of my spine. 

We dragged my sluggish feet and my churning emotions up to Dundee. The prospect of more radiation right now felt so exhausting, not to mention thinking about a surgery. On the other hand, if we did need to take action, I felt like we needed to know. And I’d need to find the energy to move forward.

The results of the MRI were encouraging: the other vertebra that they were concerned about is not pushing on the spinal cord. There were no additional fractures. There was no sign of additional spinal cord compression. So—no additional radiotherapy needed. No surgery right now. I felt great relief as I hobbled out of the ward to go back home.

And that’s where we are today: home—which poses its own challenges. In the past three weeks, my pain levels have improved, but without reliably functioning feet, I am significantly more disabled in daily life.

Thanks to a resourceful friend, I am borrowing a walker that allows me to get around part of the house. We have a referral for occupational therapy and a district nurse assessment. We are continuing to monitor the medication and hope the inflammation levels reduce the further out we get from radiotherapy. I continue to do my exercises. My feet so far continue to not show great improvement. This might continue to be a long fight. To be continued . . .

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Photo for Today

This is Olive. She is a one-year-old Scottish terrier wearing a pink shark lifejacket on a boat. Everything about this makes me smile.