Dem Bones

I kid my friends now that, when we're out and about, they have to make sure to wait for the old woman who has taken over my body. It hasn't always been this way; I used to walk very quickly and could outpace most of my acquaintances.

Now, with hand/foot syndrome and its attendant ugliness, I limp along, favoring my left foot. Because I'm favoring my left foot, the back of my left calf cramps, as does the side of my foot. Then my right knee starts to protest. Then my hips start to hurt. Finally my lower back starts to throb.

I have arthritis in my right knee and my right ankle (from a fractured kneecap and broken ankle) and bursitis in both big toes. I've had these problems since the mid-80s, as my klutzy college past caught up with me. Add these ailments to the joint pain associated with Nexavar, and the "owies" from walking gingerly, and I see the sense of the old spiritual. The skeleton is interconnected - and right now it all hurts!

Monday's scan results at Cleveland Clinic: I'm still stable. My left big toe has lately been wreathed in a most off-putting combination of blisters and callouses, and both thumbs have been stiff and blistered to the extent that I've stayed offline for much of the last 10 days. As a result, with Dr G's blessing, I'm off Nexavar for the next week or ten days to try to get the hand/foot problems under control. Then we may drop back to a quarter dose for a while to see how I do.

I've been spending my time with shoes off, feet up, reading and knitting with the occasional spate of laundry and cooking intervening. Today I put shoes on for a trip to the grocery store - a "big step forward"; being off Nexavar has lessened the hand/foot but I'm still happy to run about in stocking feet until it's cleared up.