Thursday, October 26, 2017

A week with the new medication

I've been taking Ibrance for a week right now.  I'm still shocked that my insurance company approved it so quickly, given that it's primarily a breast cancer drug, and not a liposarcoma drug.  But, they approved it and I've been taking it.

After a week, to be honest, the only side effect so far is some nausea right after I take it.  I'm taking an anti-nausea medication with it, and that seems to be working just fine.

I know the side effects tend to be cumulative, although some people see problems with white cell counts fairly quickly.  I am going to have a blood test done next week (CBC), just to make sure that nothing extreme is happening at the two week mark.  After that, we will do the test monthly, just before I start each round.

My local medical oncologist was surprised at the decision Sloan Kettering made when they gave me Ibrance.  She seemed to think that Yondelis or Halaven, both approved specifically for liposarcoma, even though Halaven is also a re-purposed breast cancer drug, might have been better choices.

But, I think she also understands that Sloan Kettering is calling the shots these days, and she didn't try to talk me into anything different.

I've noticed no effects in the gym so far.

I have been fighting a minor injury in the gym.  I have a few "knots" in my right quad, and they seem to be causing my knee to track improperly.  So, my right knee has been sore, mostly at the top of kneecap, but occasionally at the bottom of the kneecap as well.

I had been seeing a physical therapist to work on compensating for having lost most of right psoas muscle, but I think we are done with that aspect of therapy.  I'm doing abdominal work in the gym with very few problems, and the movements that were really troubling me in July and early August, such as running, burpees, rope jumping, and box jumps, are all better now.

So, I'm still seeing the therapist, but now we are focusing on the knee.  She's using a combo of dry needling, massage, ultrasound and Graston tools to work on releasing the knots.  On my own, I'm biking more before CrossFit, to loosen up the quad.  And, I'm using a barbell to roll over the knots in my quad.  It hurts like hell, but things seem to be getting better.  To be honest, the dry needling is the most painful of the treatments, but it seems to be helping, so I'm just going along with it.

I need my quad and knee to be better by the time I'm on snow for the ski season, and that could be just over 3 weeks away, although the long term forecast doesn't look great for snowmaking.

I'm hoping that just a few months of uninterrupted training will be enough to have me ready for the ski season.  I have a new job at the mountain this year, and I expect to ski a lot more this winter than the past two years.

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