LIVING WITH MCL

A number of years ago, I was watching a television series with Ernest Borgnine. He was retired, and was playing amateur detective with 2 of his friends. During the episode, he asked somebody if he knew what it was like being old. The guy didn't know the answer, so Ernest Borgnine gave the following response, which I have a paraphased below, because I don't remember the exact quote. There is no difference being old versus being young. The mind is as fresh as ever, it's just the body doesn't react in the same way. That is exactly how I felt yesterday after riding my bike. I know I'll be 58 years old in less then a month, and I shouldn't expect to be able to perform as well as I did when I was 38, but that doesn't keep me from thinking that I can. I had done a fairly hard 38 mile ride on Thursday in the hills of Whittier, CA, followed by another hard and fast paced 45 mile ride with one of the local bike clubs in the area on Saturday, so maybe I shouldn...

If you remember, back on May 12, I wrote, How did we get along before the advent of the internet? . Well as a person who watches a fair amount of television, I started to wonder, how did we ever get along before TiVo? Last week our DirecTV HD TiVo unit started acting up. It would pixilate often, freeze, and then reboot itself almost every hour. It was extremely annoying, especially as it was occurring during the final episode of 24 . We did manage to get through the final episode without too much problem, but soon after that, it froze and died. DirecTV was very accomodating, and sent a new unit out within 2 days, but we were without TiVo for 4 days. Now, if you read my previous post , you'll realize that a telephone line is required for the initial set up, which we don't have. So it was a little hassle getting it hooked back up again. I ended up having to take the unit to a friends house, which on top of the "illegal left hand turn" ticket I received on the way...

Just about everyone has a cellular phone. Internet access is available via wireless wi-fi connections. Many of us travel around communicating with our wireless Blackberry's and Palm Pilot's. We even have a wireless device connected to our A/C at home, which allows Southern California Edison to shut the A/C off, in times of high usage, for a reduced rate. Credit card transactions are conducted wirelessly. There are wireless speakers for your stereo, and you can control most home electronics from just about anywhere wirelessly. We live in a wireless world. Wires are a thing of the past. Especially the phone line. Right? Well not so fast. If we live in a wireless world, why does DirecTV require I have a phone line connected to my TiVo box, in order for me to get my TiVo connected? And this from a company that sends TV signals wirelessly to homes. Even TiVo users, without DirecTV, can hook up wirelessly using a USB adapter to their boxes instead of hooking it to a land...

As I was driving to work this morning, I was wondering why I even bothered to get up. It had pretty much rained all night, and was still raining as I started on my 78 mile commute to the beautiful metropolis known as Oxnard, CA. (For those of you unfamiliar with southern California, Oxnard borders Ventura on the south, and is about 40 miles south of Santa Barbara.) It's not really that beautiful in Oxnard, but that isn't a problem. The plant where I work is on the very southern end of Oxnard, 1/4 mile from a protected beach. Between us and the beach is agricultural land where lima beans and other similar crops are planted. My drive takes me along a 50 mile scenic route through Santa Monica, and past the beautiful and rugged coast line of Malibu. The stretch includes the area where Bay Watch was filmed, and another stretch of road popular in automobile commercials. While todays rain isn't typical for this time of year, (it is the dry season right now), and we can get...

I know this is a little off topic, but living in the hotbed of the illegal immigration debate, I can't help but stray occasionally. For me, all this discussion about the reform of our immigration system, has brought to mind the movie Rollerball. Not the 2002 version, which was truly awful, and didn't make the point I want to bring up, but the original 1975 version , starring James Caan. The year is 2018. There is no crime and there are no more wars. Corporations are now the leaders of the world, as well as the controllers of the people. A violent futuristic game known as Rollerball is now the recreational sport of the world, with teams representing various areas competing for the title of champion. That is the plot line of Rollerball. Six corporations, energy, transportation, communication, housing, food and luxury in control of the world. I thought the movie was particularly compelling for the statement the team owner made to Jonathan (James Caan), when Jonathan commented ...

So are the Days of Our Lives I never watched that soap opera, but that intro always seemed so profound, and it even seems more so today. It's hard for me to believe that I was diagnosed with MCL over 4 years ago, and I have not had any treatment. Yet still, so many other things have changed. Even sitting in the oncologists office this morning, I realized I'm still here, but so many others have moved on. My original oncologist moved on, as did a number of nurses that were always in the back office. The receptionists always changed more often than the others, but I mention it today, because one of the old receptionists returned for a visit. At least I think it was a visit. I didn't recognize her at first, until someone mentioned her name. I didn't say anything to her either, because she didn't look as good as I remembered, and I surmised from her conversation that she may of had cancer, hearing something about chemo in the conversation. I guess I should have said ...

Well the new blog design has been up for at least 2 days now, and not a single comment. What gives? I must have worked several hours getting it all set up properly, and I know at least a few people have been logging on. So how about some feed back on the design. Good, bad or even a suggestions on how to improve would be appreciated.

Last week Edie had appointments with her regular oncologist and orthopedic oncologist. Now that the radiation treatments are over, it's time to decide what additional steps need to be taken to get through this and eliminate the back pain. The consultations produced a mixed bag of news. Since Edie is still asymptomatic, except for the back pain from the compression fracture in the T2 vertebrea, and the only evidence of the disease shows up as a small precentage of plasma cells in the marrow, this suggests a smoldering or indolent form of myeloma, and there is no need to rush into any chemotherapy just yet. Kyphoplasty or vertebroplasty is out of the question to relieve the back pain, since the bone is fractured, i.e. nothing to keep the cement in place. Fusion of the bones or other operation seems so complicated, dangerous, full of potential complications and without guarantees it would do any good, it just doesn't seem worth pursuing. Plus since it could take from 4 to 6 week...

Well, ok, the Long Beach, CA, Senior (Age 54 - 59) Mens Amateur Champion (low net). I shot a net 214 (272 gross) at the 3 different Long Beach Courses. The best part, in addition to the $150 Gift Certificate, was the trophy. It was an engraved wine carafe. I guess they knew I liked wine. You can see all the results by going to the LB Golf Festival Website and navigate to the Senior Amateur Championship site, or you can just click on the latter link if you want to save time. I was in the B-Flight. Lots of controversy surrounded the tournament this year, as one participant, in my age group, was disqualifed for signing an incorrect score card. Before hitting a ball out of a sand trap, he went around to the other side of the bunker to to get a rake. The rake left a mark in the trap, and without thinking, he raked the trap before hitting his shot. I didn't realize it, and obviously neither did he, but that is against the rules. He was told it was a one stroke penalty, and ad...

In my last post at the Medical Blog Network , I talked about patients being proactive, and sharing responsibility for their care. Even Steve Beller PhD talks about it in his latest post . But none of this could have been remotely possible without the aid of the internet, and it's ability to put us in easy contact with doctors, patients and others experts around the world to fill voids and keep up with the latest research. So I can't help but ask myself, how did we ever got along before the internet? I don't know how many of you in the cyberworld were around prior to the internet becoming part of US and world culture. I know that I was, but what is so amazing about that statement is, I really can't remember what it was like without the aid of the internet. The internet has become such an integral part of my life, I really can't imagine a time without it. How did we make airline reservations? How did we figure out how to get from point A to point B? How di...

Or it's the MCL! Last April, I was finally able to convince my 85 year old aunt to come and live with us in California, after several years of trying without any success. She had been living all alone in Delray Beach, FL, and was not in the best of health. Her sister, who was also living there, had moved back to New York, near her kids about 3 years prior, due to poor health. Sylvia did own her own condominium at Kings Point in Delray Beach, so we had to arrange for a realtor to sell it before we left. We managed to ship most of her belongings back to California, leaving all the furniture behind for whoever bought the condo, and giving everything else to charity. We left the condo in the hands of a realtor who sold it for $118,000 in July 2005. I only bring up the price because, her next door neighbors just sold their condo last week for $20,000 , and they were glad to get rid of it at that price. And that is not a typo! Her condo complex was hit very hard by hurricane Wi...

Finally, the last day of radiation treatment for my wife's plasmacytoma is today, and it's none too soon. It's only been 3-1/2 weeks, but it seems like an eternity. While the treatments themselves have not been painful, or otherwise difficult, the cumulative effects of the treatments are starting to take their toll. Edie is having difficulty swallowing, all wine tastes terrible, most foods the same, and she seems to be sleeping (or napping) more often. Hopefully with the end of treatments these effects will wear off, and life can return to some sense of normalcy, as difficult as that may be. But, it doesn't completely end here. There are still more tests and potential treatments on the horizon. Today, just before her last radiation treatment, there is the CT Myelogram, intended to help the othopedic oncologist better determine on how to proceed with the fracture of the T2 vertebrae. Hopefully it will heal on its own, as the orthopedic oncologist did not hold out m...