Good-bye and good riddance

Bone growth stimulator

In March, my physiatrist prescribed a bone growth stimulator to help my broken pelvis recover better and faster. As I shared then, this is a medical device that could only be used once a day for 30 minutes; once I started using it on day 1, I had exactly 269 treatments left. At the end of the full 270 days, the device would turn into a piece of expensive inert trash.

On December 7, the device pulled it's version of Cinderella and is now dead. And I’m pleased to say I used that thing faithfully all but one day I was at home (we got home really late and I just said no). I even used it on the day I had the lumpectomy. The rest of the days I missed, I was traveling. The device can’t be put through any sort of TSA screening so thankfully I didn’t have to try to take it with me on those trips.

Altogether, I completed 243 of 270 treatments. And while I got really sick of using it (seriously, you cannot do anything other than stand or walk around awkwardly while wearing it), I hope my broken bone got the full benefit.

And then what happened?

I mentioned that I’d had a thing removed from my arm in October, and that my dermatologist thought it was a dermatofibroma, but it wasn’t. Instead it was an atypical leiomyoma, and because of the location, it’s quite rare. The pathology reported some alarming features and no clear margins, so I had to have it re-excised in late November.

Boy, I’ll tell you what, that local anesthesia injection really hurt with the re-excision. My dermatologist said that’s because the body very quickly forms thick scar tissue in the healing process, which later gets remodeled into thinner, less bulky tissue. Because I had the re-excision just a month after the first excision, the injection just sort of ripped all that thicker tissue apart.

He showed me how much tissue he took for that one—it was a lot more than I thought he’d take, and I could see the fat globules just like you see in anatomy books. It was oddly compelling. The incision itself is less than beautiful, although I still think it will improve. At least I hope so.

The path report came back with minimal information—basically all it said was yup, you got clean margins.

But at my annual physical with my PCP in November, I mentioned all this and shared the path report. Because these atypical leiomyomas are also associated with kidney cancer, he ordered an ultrasound. And guess what? I have a couple of small tumors on my right kidney. So a week ago, I had a CT scan with and without contrast dye.

Now here’s the thing. I’m allergic to contrast dye, and the last time I had it, I got hives. So I had to take prednisone and Benadryl ahead of time only . . . I got hives again. Worse than the first time. Any thought I had that maybe I wasn’t really allergic? Gone. I’ll finish up the new course of prednisone today, and thankfully the hives started going away pretty fast once I started on the full course of treatment.

And to put a pretty bow on the story—yes, I have some small benign angiomyolipomas on my right kidney. I’m sure we’ll follow those to make sure they don’t grow. The report also said this: incidental noted is prominence of the IVC. I wondered if that’s because I’m a runner? Who knows.

Since last we met

I’m digging out from the absolute whirlwind of the last month while simultaneously getting ready for the roller coaster ride of January. So I wanted to catch up here before I forget things.

Let’s see—in November, we made our annual trip to see Ben and Jen and the kids for Thanksgiving. They’re no longer in Yuma AZ (which to be honest I was glad to have seen and I’m good never going back), but live in the most amazing area in Camarillo CA. I could live there so easily, the ocean is right there as are mountains, and the climate is pretty sweet too.
Jordan and Amanda couldn’t come this year; Amanda is in her third trimester and didn’t want to risk air travel at this point. I get it, it’s a long flight and these days flying isn’t all that much fun.

But we had a grand visit with Ben, Jen and the kids. In no particular order, we:

• Indulged my strong desire to go to a brick and mortar Uniqlo (in Santa Monica, which was not at all crowded on an early Sunday)
• Drove up the coast and then took Malibu Canyon to get the rest of the way to their house.
• Took a hike and saw forever across the ocean to the west. While I love mountains, I’m Team Ocean all the way.
• Saw tide pools on a very brisk day, and clambered all around the rocks finding more to see.
• Took Alison shopping as a small thank you for all the years she’s given up her room and her bed when we visit. 
• Ran a Turkey Dash race as a family in less than ideal conditions (40F and pouring—I do mean pouring—rain). The link is to next year's event, but the details are basically the same. The kids ran a 1k and were champs, and then we adults ran the 5k race. Sometimes the more miserable conditions make races more fun, especially once they’re done. I know we all felt a real sense of achievement that day.
• Enjoyed amazing food (always a given there), and got to visit with a niece (is she still a niece? She once was so I say she still is) I hadn’t seen in a while.
• We had some amazing Indian food at a place Ben loves. 10/10 would go back there again and again.
• We got a gingerbread house kit again for the kids, I wasn't sure if they'd be into it or if they were too old. I needn't have worried; they built it and then in 20 seconds, tore that sucker apart. 

In Santa Monica

VERY windy at the top of our hike.

Alison is taller than I am now. Jen is still slightly taller.

Tide pool--gorgeous.

I could watch this all day.

Just before Armageddon. 

The boys' racing gear laid out the night before.

Every single item was so good, best Indian food I've had in the States.

MOCSA Speaker's Bureau

I volunteer with MOCSA (Metropolitan Organization to Counter Sexual Assault) as a member of their speaker's bureau. I've spoken a handful of times, sometimes for their volunteer training or their Friends of MOCSA lunches.

I was asked to speak at the KU Medical Center's continuing education event in October, which was a great event. They specifically wanted to hear from a survivor of childhood sexual abuse about what would help/not help when we interact with our medical professionals.

Then earlier this month, I was invited to speak at a major fund-raising event in Johnson County. I was the closing speaker, and again invited to share my story with the focus on how important MOCSA is. The keynote speaker, whose notes I was able to see ahead of time, discussed the importance of education and also talked about how to identify grooming behavior and what appropriate steps to take if someone thought they saw that. So I tied my talk into hers, which I think helped make my portion better.

I always wonder if I'll be able to keep my composure when I speak, after all this is a very personal thing I'm sharing and the risk is real. Usually I do OK, but at this last event I received a standing ovation. Boy that undid me!

I've got two pictures from the event: in the first picture from back left is the CEO of MOCSA, the honorary chair who also happens to be the mayor of Leawood, where I live) and a news anchor for a local TV station who was the master of ceremonies. The two women sitting on the arms of the chairs are the chairs of the event. And the woman sitting on the far left was the keynote speaker. The second picture is during my talk. A friend who saw that said I look like I was testifying for Congress!

What a relief

I did run that 10K race today. I will confess I was extremely anxious this morning before the race started. Having already hurt myself running when I shouldn’t have, I was afraid I might be making the same mistake. I wasn’t going to wear the chest strap heart monitor, but Kent pointed out that if I ended up with cadence lock and my heart rate looked alarming, that would be not so good. So I wore it and fretted before the race started because my heart was racing from nerves. Also it was really cold with a wind that just cut through my clothes.

Enough about that . . . I’d set three goals for this race:

1. Be smart and walk if my heart went nutty.
2. Break one hour again
3. Run at an average pace of 9:30 min/miles. 

I considered the last two goals to be probably out of reach since I haven’t been able to train the last three weeks. But a closed mouth doesn’t get fed so I set those goals anyway.

Long story not so long, I hit them all. I ran an average pace of 9:29, broke an hour and best of all had no heart rate issues. I mean not a one. My heart was Steady Eddie the whole way. AND in a pretty crowded 10K race of over 600 people, I placed third in my age group. Now that was a very unexpected and nice surprise!

Today marks five weeks off tamoxifen and I’m also seeing the other common side effects dwindling away. I’m still going to get those cardiac tests, they’re scheduled, and I would rather make sure all’s well with my ticker. Plus I’ve hit all my deductibles this year and I’d rather not start next year with expensive tests. In fact, I hope for a very boring year for my health (and Kent’s too).

I'm a snowflake

Four years ago, I got the shingles vaccine—not the new and improved one that requires two doses but the one that was available in 2015. In less than a day, the injection site on my left arm had a big angry welt and it hurt. While the redness and pain diminished, the welt turned into a visible lump that bothered me. It didn’t hurt/hurt, but it was annoying and I hated how it felt and looked.

In September when I saw my dermatologist for my biannual follow up for melanoma, he commented on it and offered to remove it. I said heck yes, so on October 24, he excised it and sent it off for biopsy. He was very confident it was a dermatofibroma, but as he said, it’s always better to get that diagnosis confirmed by pathology.

Fortunately he did send it for analysis because it’s not a dermatofibroma but an atypical leiomyoma and quite rare. In fact, Dr. Google had very few resources for me. I found some good information here (but you have to create a free account to read), and also here. But there’s not a lot out there.

The pathology report also said more tissue needs to come out because what was taken doesn’t have clean margins. So joy of joys, I get to have another chunk removed from my left arm.

Not sure what to do . . . any runners want to weigh in?

I'm still having issues with my heart rate while running. Last week, I got in just one so-called normal run on October 29 where my heart rate behaved. I tried two more times but ended up stopping almost immediately because of the spikes.

No heart issues w/ HIIT

Thing is, I signed up for a 10K this Saturday, and spent the money for VIP access. This race is held in a large park, and it's where the Great Plains 10K was in September. There were not nearly enough Porta Potties so I spent the money to get to the extra ones, plus a heated tent. So it would pain me greatly to lose the money without having had the fun of a race.

However, in addition to my heart rate spiking, now my blood pressure is doing wonky things. It's high for me: 148/72. I'm normally no more than 110 on the top number and in the low 60s for the bottom number. So this is definitely high.

The other oddity is that I've done HIIT this week with zero heart rate issues. I mean I'm going hard, very breathless and sweaty and my heart just clocks along in the 130s. I would suspect cadence lock for my heart rate while running only a week ago, I bit the bullet and got a chest heart rate monitor and it's showing the same spikes when I run.

The heart rate spikes may still be from tamoxifen. I'm four weeks out and it's one that hangs around. My blood pressure may be due to Prolia as this is a known side effect (see page two of this PDF).

If you're a runner and you were me, what would you do?

• Bail on the race (would be my first ever did not start)?
• Try and know I might have to stop (which would also be my first ever did not finish)? 

The other factor is I know this course now, since I ran it in September. We'll have two water stations and no way to do anything other than walk or trot back to the starting area. The course is a big loop and easily 2/3 of it is trail so it's not like anyone can fetch someone who's in trouble.

Kent's running the 5K there, so I'll be there anyway. I want to run this race, but I want to run it competitively and in a way that doesn't harm me. Decisions, decision.