Amazon delivered my walking cane yesterday.  It’s replacing the hiking stick I’d invested in pre-cancer diagnosis that has effectively fallen apart.

Despite the positives of my new osimertinib drug my right leg is being a bit of a nuisance.  Pins and needles in the foot.  This might be the drug itself, or a small tumour sitting on the nerve higher up the leg.  Hip and buttock problems too.  In truth it could be anything from a long list of things.  I’m two months off my next scan and don’t really know.

What I do know is that it provides discomfort.  Pain is too strong a word.  And while I’ve shown that I can get around without a stick I do reach for railings.

So my new walking stick will come out for occasional use.  I will look like my Grandad.  But at least I will reduce the risk of a bone breaking fall.  Whereas my hiking stick provided give in design, this is just a single piece of wood.  Helpful for pavements rather than hill dwelling.

On a positive, pre-drug change the right leg struggled to support me.  If I was negotiating awkward terrain and couldn’t see how far away from the ground my foot was I had become timid about taking a risk of hurting my whole leg.  Putting my foot down sharply was agony.  Now it isn’t.  I’m confident enough to take an awkward step whereas I wasn’t before.  But I picture myself walking around Lake Bled in a Slovenian outing back in March and I can spot a deterioration I really wish wasn’t happening.

Writing a Travel Blog With No Travel