Getting Normality Back To Life – What is the New Normal?

Following one of my recent visits to Marsden HQ, I began to think about one of the questions posed by my consultant when she asked “And what is the new normal for you Shiona, you’ve had a somewhat stormy year?” At that point, I realised visiting the Marsden two or three times a week had become the norm this summer but more worrying was the fact, I didn’t even question it.

Its been a couple of weeks since my last blog post and during that time I have been in steroid drug reduction mode getting myself weaned off my energy boosting drugs. This has been a slow process and one that I can only imagine in my head as similar to a withdrawal from cocaine. As of today, my liver ALT levels are now normal (36) for the first time since May and my steroid level has been reduced to 50mg/day. The medical team had warned me about the length of the weaning process in advance and fortunately my body has been able to withstand the relatively high steroid dosage without too many side effects, although I am now starting to get a bit of the attractive puffy moon face. Following a trip to the world athletics championships last week, I did get a bit of a wake up call and was feeling quite exhausted by the end of the day. Prior to my cancer diagnosis, I have never been one for taking a lot of medication and was very reluctant to pill pop unless absolutely necessary but that has all had to change … my initial daily dose was around 18 pills with my breakfast followed by another 6 pills before bed. Fortunately my morning steroid pills have steadily reduced from 10 to 4 pills, which is more bearable

I also decided it was time for a follow up to check what was going on with the pre-cancer cells in my right breast. Whilst this has always been much less of a risk than my melanoma it was still lingering in the background to be dealt with. A trip to the breast consultant was booked and following a positive meeting with my consultant the plan was to have a mammogram in 6 months and treat the breast cancer with tamoxifen (more tablets!).  At the request of the melanoma team this treatment will not start until the steroids have reduced further (as all tablet medications ultimately end up in the liver and they don’t want this to complicate my progress).

David did pose the question as to whether the immunotherapy treatment for the melanoma could have had any impact on the pre-cancerous breast cancer and once again the quote “We don’t know … you remain a very interesting and complex case for us “ came up. The reality is that the immunotherapy treatment I have had for my melanoma is so new we are still in the realms of the unknown if it will have had any impact on treating the pre-cancerous breast cancer cells.

Looking back I am so thankful that I didn’t go through with the mastectomy and reconstruction at the same time at the axillary lymph node clearance as I would have just been recovering from that surgery when the tumor was discovered in the brain which would have been pretty devastating for me.

So that brings you up to speed on my current medical situation, now for the fun things, I am now in full holiday planning mode starting with a trip to the famous Edinburgh festival next week to take in some shows, visit my Scottish family plus climb a couple of munroes as part of the WellChild Trek the Lakes 8 Peaks in 48 hours training plan, which takes place in mid September.  Before the WellChild trek I am off to Copenhagen with Liz and Jen for our annual girly weekend, which will be followed by a much-needed holiday for both David and I to lovely Corsica. David has requested that we have a couple of days of R&R before I plan any stages walking of the famous GR20 whilst we are there!  Lets see …

I have also returned to do some work which has been a relief to get back to my marketing as that also brings normality plus it is my passion and its great to get back using my brain doing what I love.

We are also in full steam ahead planning fund raising activities for the Melanoma team at the Royal Marsden. Coming up in the next couple of months, we have planned a comedy fundraiser on 19^th October with the fabulous Jonny Awsum and Guests. We also have a shomelanoma team running the Royal Marathon Parks Half marathon on the 8^th October. Huge thanks to David, Fraser, Chris, Fiona and Katie for volunteering to run. A date and venue for the Danceathon will also be coming soon

I am also getting myself back to full fitness and health, which has also been a welcome relief. My bike is in for a full service and will soon be back out on Richmond Park. Yoga and Pilates has resumed and walking training for the Lakes is full speed ahead. There is no doubt that having a strong positive mindset has been hugely important in the last few months. This feels good as it helps me feel I am in control.

Thank you again for all of your support and messages, they are hugely appreciated and I hope to see and catch up with you all very soon.

Here is my god daughter Imogen, her sister Felicity, brother Cameron and cousins getting creative with their fundraising for shomelanoma in Scotland this week – ” guess the number of sweets in the jar ”  Well done team !

https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/shomelanoma