Race Report: A Tale of Two Seasons...

This past Sunday was my goal race for the Cancer-to-5K fall season, the National Race Against the Odds.


Below follows my race report to the Cancer-to-5K group:


Race Report:  A Tale of Two Seasons...


That is, the season I was eagerly anticipating, and the season that actually was.  

At the beginning of our fall season, I was looking forward to getting faster and stronger and healthier.  I felt strong in my first group workout.  I was thinking that I could crush my spring time (39:05).  That season was not meant to be.

Just a few weeks in, my left knee starting hurting.  Not crazy writhing pain, but enough to be concerned.  Took a little time off from running, 

On September 10, I did a fun run.  It was a great 5K race, Light the Way 5K, benefiting Columbia Lighthouse for the Blind, that I ran with my friend who runs with me during the week (who just celebrated her 1-year cancerversary).  We got to run in and around Nationals Park (twice!).  I tried out intervals of 8 & 2, and finished in 39:36.  The Presidents came out for us.  Unfortunately, my knee did not appreciate the race.  

With my knee continuing to hurt, Coach Bob put me on walking workouts for a while.  With directions to ice my knee, do leg extension exercises.  Eventually I went to an ortho-doc and he told me I had no major damage, just a problem with my knee tracking correctly.  Followed up with my physical therapist who instructed me to do certain stretches and tape my knee.  The knee eventually started feeling a little better, and FINALLY, a few weeks ago, Coach Bob let me start doing running intervals again.

I was up to intervals of run 3, walk 2.  Then, coming into race week, I caught a cold (I think my third in the last six months).  Had an extraordinarily stressful few weeks leading up to race day.  Work stress, home stress, medical stress.  You name it, I was stressed about it.  Coach Bob wisely told me not to try to workout if I wasn't feeling 100% that week.  Rest and recover.  I unwisely went hiking the day before on the Appalachian Trail in MD.

Race day. I had not yet fully shaken my cold, and my knee was hurting from the hike the day before, but I was hellbent on beating my race time from the spring.  I was crabby heading over to the group in the parking lot and when Craig asked how I was, he got an earful.  But the excitement and anticipation began rubbing off on me.  Negotiated with Coach Bob on my intervals and got him up to run 4, walk 2 :-)   My race day sherpas were Kyle and Judy.  

From the moment we started running, I was on a mission.  I was going to run the heck out of my 4-minute intervals and do everything in my power to beat my spring race time.  But oh, those hills.  Short and quick, short and quick, I kept telling myself.  My RPE was way off the charts.  My watch was telling me that my running pace was in the 10-11 minute range, which is FAST (for me).  Kyle and Judy were steady by my side.  For a while, Coach Bob & Joseph ran with us, during which time he joked that I had specifically timed the 4-2 intervals so that my running would be on the downhills.  Hmmm, that did happen once or twice.  But Coach Bob left us and we found ourselves running up the same hill AGAIN.  Someone on the street shouted - "last hill".  I just snarled at him.  

Finally, nearing the playground towards the end.  But wait - what's this?  Alyssa and Collen suddenly appeared from the road!  (can't wait to read their race reports :-) )

Coming in to the finish I gave one last push to catch up with Alyssa.  My watch said 39:23, but it also said 3.18 miles.  The official race time had me at 39:30.  So who knows.  I did not beat my time from the spring, but I came awfully close, which I thought was quite a feat considering all the hills and crap in my lungs from my cold.  I did spend the remainder of Sunday coughing.  And my knee was angry with me Monday morning.  But I left just a little bit of all my stress out there on the hills in Arlington, and so it was definitely worth it.

My race sherpas & me, photo by Ben Fabella

Brunch at the Mad Fox was a wonderful way to end the season.  Thank you so much to Colleen, Jennifer & Andrea, my race day sherpas and Coach Bob for getting me through this.  I look forward to running with all of you and my Cancer to 5K teammates again SOON!

Third time, not quite a charm

Had sonogram again today.  Third time.

The good news first.  Cyst on left ovary is gone, so that is one less thing to worry about.

However, uterine lining is still thickened, approximately the same as before, close to 11.5 mm. It becomes thick, the technician told me, because polyps/fibroids form and push it up.

I met with the dr. who would perform the D&C -- she does indeed recommend getting it.  (I also spoke with my radiation oncologist who also recommended I get it.)  Risk of uterine cancer is elevated because of tamoxifen.  (See national cancer institute Q 6.)  Tamoxifen also causes these polyps to form and for the uterine lining to become thickened.  Based on my “symptoms” (bleeding) she is not overly concerned, but the D&C is a sure way to know.  

She does it Friday afternoons in the same downtown building as my regular doctor at an outpatient surgical center.

Thankfully they use twilight sedation.  She does not know the specific drugs they use for the sedation, but she is sure it is not general anesthesia.  I will have the opportunity to discuss with the anesthesiologist the specific drugs they will be using before they stick any needles in my arm.

The procedure takes 10-15 minutes.  I will be asleep for it.  She will dilate cervix, go in and scrape to remove fibroids and obtain cells for cancer testing.  There is a slight risk of bleeding, slight risk of infection, slight risk of creating hole in uterus.  If hole is created, may go in laproscopically to make sure it's not bleeding.  And it would then heal on its own.

Then recovery for 30-40 minutes.  Need to have someone to bring me home.

The night before the procedure, no eating after midnight.  Can have water up to five hours before.  Ok to have xanax (whew!).  After procedure - cramping for a day or two.

How long is the screening good for?  A year only.

So, I will look to schedule this before the end of the year, and in November if possible.  Want to get this over with as soon as possible.

Deported, and then some

Last Tuesday, after 17 months, I finally had my port removed.  Or, as Nurse Alka at Sibley put it, I was deported!  I really can't say enough good things about Sibley hospital; they really made the whole process as stress-free as it possibly could be.  At the last minute, I did opt for a teeny-tiny bit of the sedation, which is a combination of fentanyl for pain and versed for the anxiety.  I was awake for the procedure, and aside from the injection for the local anesthetic, it was relatively painless.  Another nurse talked to me about hiking during it to keep me distracted.  Although now I can't remember her name, she was really nice and born one day after me, same year.

I was home by lunchtime, and rested the remainder of the day.

In other news, my endometrial biopsy was indeed inconclusive and I had my follow-up ultrasound last Thursday.  My uterine lining is still too thick (it is 11.3 mm, compared to 11.5 mm, but it should be 5-10 mm), so my doctor wants me to do a followup procedure.  Rather than risk going through another endometrial biopsy and not obtaining sufficient tissue, she wants me to do a D&C (a full scraping of the uterine lining) with some sedation.  That is something to look forward to next month.  And my ovary cyst is still there, and apparently it looks cobwebby which is either good in that it is starting to degenerate, or not good, in that it is gathering strength.  A followup ultrasound for that in January.

So apparently, the testing is never done.

Last weekend I had my photography workshop in West Virginia.  It was spectacular weather and scenery, although quite exhausting.  Will post pics soon.

Happy New Year!

It's the eve of Rosh Ha'Shanah and I just got back from Sibley hospital a little while ago -- a  normal mammogram result is a good way to start off the Jewish New Year!

Not much else to report.  My knee has been hurting so no running for the last few weeks :-(

Attended a Cancer Legal Resource Center conference last week. Will head to West Virginia next weekend for a photography workshop.  Now that it's fall, trying to figure out what my "new normal" will be in the coming new year.

It has a name

That is, my breast blister.  I went to the dermatologist today and she told me it was a "lymphangioma circumscriptum."  Yikes.  She told me to google away and read all about it, but basically, it is lymphatic fluid building up and flowing out periodically, likely caused by radiation, chemo, surgery or a combination thereof.  She said it's nothing to be worried about, so I shall not worry too much about it.  Nothing much to be done about it other than tight bandaging.

Yesterday I had my endometrial biopsy.  I proved to be not the ideal patient and was so tense that it is possible my dr. did not get sufficient tissue samples. But she might have.  It was painful but I was fine afterwards.  Results will come in approximately 7 days.  If results are inconclusive due to insufficient tissue samples, she will want to monitor me with ultrasounds to determine if my uterine lining is becoming thicker (which apparently is a bad thing).

Feeling a bit sorry for myself today; am feeling run down and like I'm fighting off a cold, even though I just had a cold a few weeks ago!  Of course it is nothing compared to chemo, so not quite sure why I'm feeling so whiny about it.

Have been running, when I can.  My knee has started bothering me in the last week or two.  But I did get a 5K race in September 10, at nationals stadium.

My friend Janel & me before the race

 And went for a really nice hike Sunday at Wheaton Regional Park with a friend.  See pic below ... reflections in the lake.

One year ago

One year ago today I received my sixth of six rounds of chemo!  Minicupcakes, applause in the chemo room, and a welcome home banner helped mark the day. 

I would say that today is a better day!

Follow-up

Had two appointments today.  First was my pelvic ultrasound.  After drinking my obligatory 32 ounces of water, and then waiting about 45 minutes (test needs to be done with a full bladder) I was VERY ready to get the procedure started.

The test showed that I have a cyst on my ovaries - something to be monitored but not concerned about, my doctor told me.  My uterine lining was 11.5 mm thick, which was a little thicker than my doctor wanted to see (10 mm was her cut off), so I need to return in a few weeks for an endometrial biopsy.  She said she was not really concerned that it was cancer (she said typically the lining would be 20-25 mm thick at that point) but she just wants to be sure.  So, will have to have follow up for that.  It's scheduled for September 19.

My second appointment today was a followup with Dr. Croog, my radiation oncologist.  My edema (swelling) & redness are much decreased (which I really hadn't noticed).  She said everything looks good.  Need to go back to Sibley later in September for a followup mammogram.

So follow-ups leading to more follow-ups pretty much sums up today.