It’s been a while. So here’s an update summary of the past couple years.
Early spring 2016, I was training for a spring 50 mile race. I ran back to back 18 milers one weekend. I cutback mileage the following week to recover before peaking prior to the race. A couple days into the week, I had some hip pain. I tried to run again the following day, but had to cut it short and headed home.
I had some similar pain in my lower back several months before that got better after some rest. I tried taking a week or two off of running, but my hip was just getting worse.
I saw a doctor and got x-rays. The doctor said she thought I had some arthritis in my hip, which didn’t make sense to me, as the pain wasn’t in the joint, it was the outer part of my right greater trochanter.
I saw another doctor, then had a couple MRIs. There were dark spots all over. I had more tests, PET/CT, bone marrow biopsy, liver biopsy, lumbar puncture for a spinal fluid test and more. The bone marrow biopsy and liver biopsy were super painful.
The liver biopsy was the first test result back. It was cancer. Surprisingly, and thankfully, it was not liver or colon cancer, like we had feared because of my history of PSC (auto-immune disorder in the bile ducts) and ulcerative colitis. I had stage IV diffuse large b-cell lymphoma, a type of non-Hodgkins lymphoma. It’s a very fast growing blood cancer, and it had spread throughout my abdomen, including my liver and lungs, and my bones. The bone pain was excruciating, getting worse and starting in my other hip too.
I started chemotherapy several days after my diagnosis. My first treatment was done inpatient, so they could monitor my reaction. My treatment involved infusion of several chemo drugs through a PICC line, and intrathecal Methotrexate (injected into my spinal fluid via lumbar puncture).
In under 3 months, I went from near peak 50 mile training to barely able to walk from the severe pain, or do much of anything else either. I was on max dose oxycodone, and it didn’t last long enough to get to the next dose. I also dropped from 167 lbs to 134 lbs (I’m 6’2”) the day I went home after my first chemo treatment. I’ve always been slender, but I hadn’t been that light since sometime in high school, almost 20 years prior.
I had 6 rounds of chemo, 3 weeks between each. The first round hit me hard. While the cancer was very fast growing, it also died very quickly. So the dead cells flooded my system. They also had trouble with the first lumbar puncture treatment, which resulted in leaking spinal fluid. It’s not uncommon, and not that dangerous, but it caused severe migraine like headaches and nausea.
My pain meds were switched to a long acting morphine when I was in the hospital for my first treatment. It worked a lot better than the oxycodone, and the side effects weren’t as bad.
The plus side to the first treatment being so effective against the cancer was that my pain started to diminish pretty quickly too. The reduction in pain and increased ease of movement were dramatic. Because of the morphine, though, I’m not sure how much of the immediate pain reduction was the chemo or the morphine. I started to ween off the pain meds after the second round of chemo, and the pain was gone.
My hair started falling out shortly after the first round, even my eyebrows and eyelashes. It’s amazing how much stuff they both keep out of our eyes. I will never take them for granted again.
After the first round, I tolerated the treatments better as it went on. After the 4th round of chemo, I had another PET/CT scan to check progress. Pretty much all of the sites of probable cancer activity had resolved. And every scan since then has showed no unusual activity.
I even gained weight over the course of my chemo treatment. Shortly after my final treatment, I was actually the heaviest I’d ever been at 188 lbs, gaining over 50 lbs in about 4 months.
As tough as it was and as hard as it was emotionally, I tried to surround myself with positivity and do everything I could to maintain a positive outlook. I told my doctors that I didn’t want to know my prognosis. I didn’t want to know my chances of recovering. I wanted to focus on the recovery, and not let even the smallest doubt creep in that I wouldn’t get better. I don’t care whether it’s placebo effect or not, patients who expect to get better, tend to have better outcomes. And I’ve heard and read enough stories of people giving up when faced with the odds of not getting better. They accept the odds as inevitable and sometimes even get worse right on schedule.
I had my moments of doubt, fear, depression, sadness and more, but I put in the work to get through them.
I couldn’t have gotten through it without my family. They went to appointments with me, drove hours to take me to appointments and treatments, stayed with me at my worst, listened and talked, and helped with many other things.
And I feel great now.
Fast forward a bit.
My only running goal starting out for 2017 was to run 37 miles for my 37th birthday, and I did 38+. My route was a little long. I ended up with yearly mileage and vertical gain personal bests. I got into the mountains for more big runs than I had before, pushing my comfort zone with navigation, route finding and some scrambling. I tagged 21 different peaks as well.
I tried to train for a fast flat 50k race in the early spring 2018, but I ended up having to pull out due to some adductor problems. But the speedwork I did has me setting PRs on a bunch of different routes and Strava segments.
I’ve hit 1500 miles for the year faster than ever before, and I’ve had some big vert weeks, including my biggest ever at 33k ft.
I ran the Issy Alps 50k route (not a race) on my birthday, 32 miles and 13k ft vert, plus a bit over 5 miles between my car and the trailheads at the start and finish, and a little extra distance missing a turn on the route. I did about 38 miles for my 37th birthday.
I set a goal of 50 different peaks for the year. I’m at 9 currently. But I’m going out for a huge week coming up, planning to tag more than 20 peaks over 5 days, which should also be over 100 miles and over 40k ft vert.
I have more big personal running projects planned for this year, and more progressing over the next 2-5 years too.
I also organized and hosted my first trail race in March, the Wallace Falls Trail Run with half marathon, 22.4 mile, and 50 km distances. It was tough to put together, but far exceeded my expectations, largely thanks to my friends helping out. We ended up raising over $3000 for Snohomish County Volunteer Search and Rescue, whose Tracker Team come out for emergency support. I’m planning on making it an annual event. I’m also working on a number of other races for the next couple years. I’m hoping for at least one more in 2018, then adding several more in 2019, and more in 2020.
