LIVING WITH MCL

for 4 days of essentially doing nothing, except for playing golf, eating and sleeping, and maybe a jog or swim or two, but no bike. And neither am I taking the computer. So there'll be no emails, posting to the blog or even watching of television. Of course we've Tivo'd all the shows we don't want to miss. But if you do need to get in touch with us, we'll both our phones with us, so you text or call. We'll be back on Thursday with a full report.

For the last couple of days, I have been fretting over bidding on a wine dinner with the Burghound, and award winning director Matthew Diamond . Tonight I had just been trying to recruit a few other friends to participate, and convinced myself to bid $2,400, and then up my bid to $3,200 if necessary (It's a dinner for 8). But much to my surprise, when I logged on to the website, I discovered the bid was already up to $4,300 (that's over $500 per person). Bummer!!! Now I'd be willing to go more, provided I only had to pay one quarter of the cost, but I haven't had any success drumming up much enthusiasm for others to go over $300 per person. Oh well, how could I be so naive to think, if I thought something was worth $3,200, someone else wouldn't think it was worth a lot more. If I didn't realize it before, I do now. There's a whole other class of people out there, who live in an entirely different world than I do. At least now, all I have to worry about ...

Here it is 3:41 AM, and I've already been up for 30 minutes. I had breakfast, put the dishes away, that were in the dishwasher, and now I'm playing on the computer, trying to kill another hour and 15 minutes before heading off to work. I don't understand it. It's not like I do anything differently on Wednesdays, than I do any other day of the week, but it just seems that come every Thursday morning, I find myself unable to sleep.  I toss and turn for an hour or two, eventually getting up around 3 AM. (Every other morning I manage to sleep until 6 AM, or 4:30 AM if I'm going to work.) I did go for an easy bike ride in the morning, and then to the golf course to hit some balls later on in the day, neither of which were very stressful (I was hitting the ball pretty good).  Plus I only got one call from work, making for a very relaxing day. Could that be the problem? Not enough stress! I didn't even get a chance to take a nap during the day, so I can't use...

I know gasoline prices have been going up relentlessly lately, but it wasn't until this morning that I realized just how much. After filling up my 1998 Toyota Camry, I had to do a double take when I glanced at the total price on the pump. I couldn't believe it! My first reaction was I must be seeing things. But after thinking about it a minute, 15.9 gallons at $3.24/gallon, $51.52 is about right. What's so distressing is, we haven't even got to the summer driving season yet, and likely even higher prices! I can't wait to see how much money I spend on gas for our trip to Vegas next week, and Oregon in July for the International Pinot Noir Celebration , in a car that only gets 22 miles to a gallon, that is when I drive conservatively. Now only if I were a conservative driver. Oh well, it's only money, and you know what they say, You can't take it with you!

We got new phones today at work, which just so happen to have a camera built in. So on the trip home, I thought I would test out the new camera, and at the same time give everyone a brief view of part of my 80 mile (one way) commute to and from work. Most people can't believe I've been able to do that drive for the last 18 years, but I think this photo, sort of puts everything in perspective. Typically I don't give the view much thought, but a day doesn't go by that I don't see at least one tourist stopping to admire the view and take pictures. Then, of course, there are those days, I can't help but admire the view myself. (Click on the picture for a better view.)

One thing I learned when I first started riding a bike competitively, about 25 years ago is, it's not so much the quantity of the miles you ride, it's the quality of those miles. The problem is, I see too many people adhering to just the opposite. I see them at the gym all the time, people getting on the exercise cycle or treadmill, and then reading a book or magazine while they pedal or walk, both at very slow speeds.  I could no more read a book or magazine when I exercise, than I could walk on water.  Sure it may be better than sitting on the couch at home and doing nothing, but I still wouldn't call that exercise. And as far as I'm concerned, the same goes for food and eating. Every since going to France, several years ago, coupled with my love for the Food Network (especially Iron Chef America ), I have gained a greater appreciation for how food is prepared and presented. I no longer care how much food is on my plate, more importantly it's how the food is...

That doesn't sound like much.  After all, it's barely over half a football field, but when you're swimming, it's like an eternity. But this morning, I did exactly that. I did have to make a turn (it's only a 25 meter pool), but I didn't stop, like I did last Sunday . I did manage to swallow some pool water, towards the end though.  It wasn't that good. Next week, I'll increase the distance to at least 75 meters, and hopefully 100 meters. Increasing 25 meters a week won't get me to my goal of 800 meters for the triathlon in time. My only concerned is I may become spoiled by the heated pool, where I'm practicing. This morning, the pool was a balmy 83.5 o F. That's a far cry from the 70 o F maximum, expected for Long Beach bay during the triathlon . Thank goodness wet suits are permitted during the race.

After running 3 miles, swimming 200 meters, doing a chest and shoulder workout at the gym, and then playing 18 holes of golf at the Men's Club monthly golf tournament yesterday, I am just plain sore. Mostly it's my calves that are sore, from running, and my back is stiff from probably everything else. Just getting out of bed this morning was a real struggle. One thing I learned yesterday, I think of great importance, is running on the road is a lot different than running on the treadmill. The treadmill is much easier. Hopefully I can recover quickly. Afterall, the best measure of fitness, is not how far or fast you can ride a bike, run or swim, (although they are important measures), it's how quickly you can recover from doing all that stuff. I better go stretch now!

This morning I went for my first swim in.... well I can't remember the last time I went swimming. Most likely it was in college or high school. Fortunately it's one of those things, like riding a bike, you don't forget. I managed to complete 200 meters (8 laps of a 25 meter pool), but it was not easy. I did 5 freestyle laps in just under 30 seconds each, but I had to rest after each lap, and switch off with 2 breast stroke, and one back stroke lap, just to recover in between. I know 30 seconds, for 25 meters, isn't that great, but you have to start somewhere. Plus the swim followed a 3 mile run just before. So if you haven't guess by now, I'll tell you. I'm in training for the Long Beach Triathlon , September 23rd, of this year. Fortunately it's a sprint triathlon, which means it isn't very long. I know I can do the 11 mile bike ride, without even having to think about it, and the 3 mile run should be a piece of cake also, but the 800 me...

Being today is Friday the 13th, I thought it would be fitting to give a brief history of this rare but not uncommon day. (July of this year also has a Friday the 13th, as does June of 2008) By some accounts, well at least one, Friday is considered a lucky day. Friday is Freya's day, the Norse goddess of love and fertility, and it was common to be married that day. It was also a day of worship among many cultures as it is also the day of Venus. Freya, however, was considered a witch among Christian cultures, and thus the good association was deemed evil. The fear of the number 13 comes about from the Norse myth about 12 gods having a dinner party at Valhalla, their heaven, when in walked an uninvited 13th guest, the mischievous Loki. Once there, Loki arranged for Hoder, the blind god of darkness, to shoot Balder the Beautiful, the god of joy and gladness [and sunlight], with a mistletoe-tipped arrow. Balder died and the whole Earth got dark. The whole Earth mourned. It was bad...

First it was Ed Bradley , recently dying of Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia, and now listening to the evening news, I learned that Fred Thompson , potential presidential candidate, who also played a DA on the TV show Law and Order , was diagnosed with Non Hodgkin's Lymphoma (NHL) 3 years ago. This, on top of the fact that an old cycling buddy, plus the boy friend of another cycling buddy, were both diagnosed with NHL within the same time frame, a 37 year old woman, working at our sister company, was recently diagnosed with Multiple Sclecrosis, and the Chief Inspector at the company I work for, just underwent treatment for lung cancer. Then I can't forget about my wife ( Edie ), diagnosed with Multiple Myeloma, and two other other cycling buddies, one who was diagnosed with bone cancer about 3 years ago, and still undergoing treatment, and the other who was diagnosed with breast cancer, and brain cancer, about 6 years ago, who so far is still in remission. Oh yeah, and then there i...

It's now just over 5 years since that fateful blood test (3/26/2002) that eventually lead to my diagnosis of mantle cell lymphoma (MCL). I was only 53 years old at the time, and never in my wildest dreams did I expect anything like that. But who really does? At 53, I never even thought of myself as old, so why would I expect to get an old persons disease? Even at 58 (shortly to be 59), I still don't think of myself as old, at least not mentally. Physically though, it's another story. The problem being the mind doesn't really get old. Sure it would be easy to rationalize the reason I can't perform like I could several years ago, to the fact I am getting older, but somehow I just can't help thinking there is more to it than that . Everyday it's harder for me to get out of bed, and it takes longer for me to get going. This morning was a perfect example. I did not want to get up, and if it wasn't for me promising Scott (and old friend who also just...

Last month at the monthly men's club tournament, I shot one of my worst rounds ever, but at least now, after watching the Masters golf tournament yesterday, I feel I can safely attribute most of the problems to the weather. While the Augusta National course is a tough course, it is obvious the weather was a major contributing factor in an average score of 77 on a par 72 course. I don't think I've ever seen so many times golfers taking more than one shot to get out of a bunker or so many misjudged shots resulting in balls going in the water or simply just not making it to the green, some even rolling nearly back to the feet of the shot taker. At least the pros had the benefit of the sun along with the cold and the wind, we weren't that fortunate that day during the mens club tournament. The weather today for the Masters was much better, producing much better scoring and a very exciting tournament, with the lead changing several times, before Zack Johnson finally got...

they are not as encouraging as they had been. My lymphocytes jumped to 94.2 thou/cumm from 83.8 thou/cumm last month.   I did have a higher lymphocyte count last December and August, so that doesn't necessarily mean anything has changed significantly. I sense when the numbers start getting this high, the variation from test to test varies more also. But now I'm beginning to question the wisdom of being tested every month. I know I've done it, to some extent because I am superstitious, thinking there will be a sudden change if I should skip a month, but each new test now only seems to add additional worries, rather than any important information.  After all, I still feel relatively fine. Especially since this months test shows my hemoglobin down to 11.6 g/dl, which is the lowest it has ever been (the previous low was 11.8 g/dl in December), and I was still able to achieve my best time up the back side of Turnbull Canyon yesterday, since September 8th of last year. I guess I...

If you happen to be very observant, you may have noticed, I have changed the URL of this site. Now when you type in http://mlkashinsky.com , or click on the bookmark or other link you have saved for this site, you will automatically be redirected to http://livingwithmcl.com . I just thought http://livingwithmcl.com was more appropriate to the topic at hand, and easier for others to find and remember. But nothing really has changed. The look of the site is the same, and you don't even have to change your bookmarks or links, as you will be redirected to the new site. (I do recommend though, that you do change your links or bookmarks.) And hopefully all those that have subscribed to the original blog will continue to receive notification of new posts. [PS: I apologize if you have received multiple notifications of the last two posts. During the transfer to the new URL, in an attempt to make sure "post notifications" was working, I may have overdone it.]

Well for the first time in a long while, I got a really good nights sleep. I may have awoken once during the night, for my usual bathroom break, but I slept so good, I'm not so sure I did. I briefly awoke around 5 AM, when Edie got up, but without much effort at all, I managed to grab another hours sleep before finally dragging myself out of bed. So basically I got a full 8 hours of sleep, which really felt good. One thing I did notice, and it's probably because I was so refreshed when I got up, I realized just how stiff I was. My lower back was a little sore, but I was still able to manage after a short time. So since I had the time, I decided to do a few stretches, that is, if you can call what I did stretching. It was pitiful. I didn't realize how limber I wasn't. I've never been a stretcher, except for the brief time I was taking karate lessons, but it's not because I didn't think I needed to. I just never thought I had the time, or at least that's w...