These Boots Are Made For Walking (or hobbling, lurching, and wobbling)

Treatment news, feats of strength, and schnauzer birthdays

My friend Laura on her farm in Virginia

Treatment Update

In the past week, I’ve had some not-so-good news, somewhat better news, and much better news.

I arrived at the Chemo Day Unit last week feeling full of pep, which I was sure indicated that my white blood cells had decided to stop their slacking and to rebound sufficiently for treatment. The sweet lady who does the COVID checks recognized me and called out, “Ah, it’s Miss America!” I glided down the hallway* and got settled into a comfy chair.** The nurse came over to get my treatment started. What a swell day! We were back on track! 

Then the not-so-good news: “Mrs Moffitt, I’m afraid that your white blood cell count still isn’t high enough.” 

Before I had time to completely deflate, she followed it up with the somewhat better news: “We are going to lower the dose of your targeted therapy. We can go ahead and give that to you today, and we’re hoping that your blood count will tolerate the lower dose so that we can stay on your treatment schedule.” I was so thankful for an earlier conversation with Andrea, a friend of my sister-in-law who is on the same treatment regimen. She also had her dose of targeted therapy lowered, and there are several dosage levels that still remain in the efficacy range. So bring on that lower dose and hopefully higher white blood cells! 

At this appointment I also switched from bisphosphonate tablets to an infusion. I knew this would take a while, so I was prepared with a book and my iPad and some work projects. Good thing—it took twice as long as I had been expecting. But the best part*** was that I was hooked up to the machine long enough to be there for the Tea Trolley! Yes, my American friends: they wheel this delightfully vintage trolley into the chemo treatment room and ask if you want tea or coffee. And then they ask if you want cake or biscuit. And when you say you’d like a biscuit, they tell you to take two biscuits. I am delighted by the Tea Trolley every single time. 

The famous sketch “Cake or Death” is somehow even better with Lego!

The much better news from the week was even more exciting than the arrival of the Tea Trolley. My oncologist sent a letter about my most recent blood work, and it indicated that my tumor markers are down, which he—my kind but not terribly effusive doctor—described as “very good news indeed.” It’s an early indicator that the treatment is working, a trend we would all like to see continue! (My GP, who is both very kind and very effusive, was practically giddy.) And other good news is that I have been tolerating this latest round of treatment well. Perhaps the lower dose of the targeted therapy has meant less fatigue, or perhaps my body is just more used to it. Whatever the reason, I’m thankful to be feeling better. I’ll have extra blood checks this month to keep an eye on how I’m responding, and hopefully we will have found a treatment rhythm that works for a long time. 

*Full disclosure: I did not glide. I hobbled. But I’d like to think I hobbled a tiny bit more smoothly. 

**Full disclosure: The chairs are not that comfortable. I did manage to snag an extra pillow for my back, though. The nurse made this sound very decadent: “Oh, you have TWO pillows?!”

***Full disclosure: The best part is leaving the hospital with my goodie bag of treatment meds and without copays, deductibles, insurance paperwork, pre-approval calls, or imminent bills. But the Tea Trolley is really great, too. 

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Feats of Strength

I am still waiting on a follow-up with the physiotherapist. (I have an appointment next week, which I think is with Jenny the Angel again.) In the interim, I have been reading whatever I can find on rehab for spinal cord patients and rehab for osteoporosis patients and rehab for bone mets patients, trying to see if there’s a sweet spot in the Venn diagram where they overlap, which would be rehab for me. And … so far I haven’t found it. (I think there’s a likely reason for this, but it’s too morbid to mention so I’m going to attribute it to incomplete research.) 

But I’m convinced that there is more I can and should do, and that there is a sweet spot between getting stronger and protecting my bones. My hobbling about on crutches seems to be improving, so I decided to add another trick to my repertoire: Very Slow Cross-training. When Dave helped me get on the cross-trainer the first time, he said to take it slow and not overdo it. No worries—I didn’t plan to do more than 4 or 5 minutes. HA HA HA HA! I was done after 5 rotations—and the last two required Dave’s help. I tried again a couple of days later and I was able to do a full minute. Now I’m up to two minutes. Maybe before too long I can hit that 5-minute mark. 

I’ve also managed to increase the number of unaided steps. There has been a bit of hilarious role-reversal, with my children cheering on my faltering, wobbly steps that resemble an oversized toddler lurching about. At my current rate, I might be able to keep pace with the average 12-month-old soon!

Prayer Requests

-       Pray for tumor markers to go down and for white blood cells to come up. 

-       Pray for a good physiotherapy appointment next week and some promising options for strength and mobility.

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Schnauzer Birthday

This white nugget turned 5 years old this week! We got her fully loaded with all the available schnauzer options: 

·      Advanced warning system—can hear approaching footfall of anyone headed for our door meters before they reach the gate. 

·      High volume alert siren—can emit ear-piercing shrieks to ward against all monsters disguised as other humans or dogs.

·      Blend of curiosity and anxiety—wants to see and sniff everything while also being terrified of everything.

·      Enhanced nap capacity—especially proficient at sleeping on humans when they are trying to work. 

·      Super energy production—will chase ball and squeaky rat toy endlessly when thrown. 

·    Strong ownership ethic—will claim whatever pillow or blanket or furniture she desires as her own.  

Note: All of the above features are exercised solely at her own discretion. 

She is never, ever boring. Happy birthday, Sophie!