12. You can’t run with bad teeth

Mile 9 – Gentle hills

It’s hard to imagine just now as the weather is picking up, but give it a try. It’s a frosty February morning, and you are wrapped up warm as you head for the snow covered trails to start your long Sunday morning training run in preparation for your spring marathon. But every icy breath feels like you are chewing on silver foil. You have a toothache and you can’t think about anything else.

Look after your teeth: use interdental brushes with lots of fluoride toothpaste, floss and brush at least twice a day. You can’t run with bad teeth!

This week started with a visit to the dental hygienist.  I was given a well done for keeping my teeth clean and healthy, then a polish and a good clean under the gums.  It’s important to have your teeth in good shape while going through the induction chemotherapy.  Apixaban thins the blood and Zoledronic Acid affects the bones, including the jaw, so now is not the time to require any dental work.

Goodbye April, that was a rollercoaster.  I have been feeling good this week and much more optimistic.  The couple of weeks when I was bedridden left me feeling that I couldn’t plan activities or meet friends as I would be likely to cancel or rearrange, but I see that would be a slippery slope to isolation.  This week I have managed to meet up with some friends and the diary is filling up for next week too.  I was out for lunch with Sue on Monday, with a work friend in the beautiful surroundings of Singing Hills Golf Course on Tuesday, then I met up with a running buddy for tea on Friday.  We reminisced about the days we used to meet at the roundabout at 6am for a run up Wolstonbury Hill, in particular the stormy morning when dustbins and shed roofs were being blown down the street and, at the top of the hill, neither of us could actually stand on our feet.  Ah, happy days!

I find that this blog has brought a new dimension to my social interaction. Most conversations now start “Hi Benny, I’ve read your blog”, which saves me starting at the beginning every time and we can talk about what else is going on in the world. I’m not sure what I’ll do if I talk to someone who hasn’t read it. Should I revert to my days in software support and tell them to ‘read the manual’?

On Thursday we had a follow up visit with the dermatologist to review the problem that I had with Urticaria, the skin rash from a few weeks ago. Sue had taken lots of photos at the time and, looking back at them, they were rather horrific. Urticaria is caused by too much histamine in the skin. When it flares up, it irritates the blood vessels, causing them to swell (making the skin go red) and in the worst case, damaging them. If the skin looks as if it is bruising then I’ll need to call the dermatologist straight away.

I was prescribed a much stronger antihistamine than the over-the-counter Piriteze that I have used so far; this one is called Fexofenadine. When I picked it up the pharmacist at Tesco said she had never given anyone such a high dose before and she told me to treat it with care. I’m just keeping it in the cupboard for now, but if the rash comes back, at least I’ll be prepared with some form of defence.

You may remember that the rash seems to be related to one of my drugs, Lenalidomide. For my third cycle of induction treatment, my consultant has decided to swap that for Thalidomide, so let’s make that the medication for this mile. You can tell just from the name that the two drugs are related, and after looking up details of how they work on the MyelomaUK and Macmillan websites, they appear, at least in layman’s terms, to be identical. If you look back at post 9, the description for Lenalidomide is exactly the same.

Other sources suggest Lenalidomide is comparatively more potent and less toxic than Thalidomide.

If I was not using my private health insurance I would have been given Thalidomide by the NHS. My consultant considers that Lenalidomide is more effective. After a week of taking Thalidomide, I have not seen any signs of a rash so that suits me. We will see in the next few weeks how effective the treatment has been when my blood test results reveal how my paraprotein cancer cells have reduced. Eventually I’ll try Lenalidomide again because that is the preferred long term maintenance drug.

The reduction in hip and back pain this last couple of weeks has given me an energy boost and I have been on my bike in the garage for six days in a row, as well as walking further than I have done in weeks. My physiotherapist has given me a new, harder exercise programme with fewer chair based exercises, more standing ones and more involving weights. I’ll need to remember to take it easy and not push it too much but I’m not so good at moderation when it comes to exercise. On Saturday I mowed the lawn in the morning but then felt exhausted in the afternoon so I must remember, I am on some powerful chemotherapy at the moment and I have to treat it with respect.

From wearing my sports watch for years, I have access to fitness data like this. It tells a story, doesn’t it?

The optimistic view is that there is an upturn in the last week. Well, off to the garage/gym to see if I can improve a bit more.

Thanks for reading and take care.