LIVING WITH MCL

Well, we made it home safe and sound, and in only 2 days. I would have preferred to stay another day, but I didn't want to be forced to make the drive in two days, and besides we were pretty wined out from the last 3 days. So after unloading the car and unpacking (Edie did most of the unpacking), we spent the rest of the day just relaxing. Now the only thing I'm looking forward to is sleeping in my own bed tonight, and getting back to my normal routine of riding my bike, playing golf, and even doing a little work.

I say maybe, because we still have at least a 2 day drive home, and anything can happen, but even though nothing could be worth me wrecking the car and almost killing Edie and me, the International Pinot Noir Celebration (IPNC) is an event not to be missed, even if Pinot Noir isn't your wine of choice. I don't plan on reporting on the IPNC , because Alder Yarrow at Vinography.com , Dennis Schaefer of AppellationAmerica.com and a host of other reporters and bloggers were also at the event, and I'm sure all will do a much better job than I could ever expect to do. I will just say that the quality and the quantity of food, as well as the service, not even taking into consideration they were cooking for and serving about 700 people, was just fantastic. And the wines! There just seemed to be an endless supply of wine, young and old, and from every corner of the world, including the US, France, New Zealand, Chile, and even a pinot from Italy. (NOTE: You do have to learn to sp

As I sit here on the veranda, outside our room at the Black Walnut Inn , over looking the Willamette Valley and Dundee Hills of Oregon, in what is almost absolute quiet , except for the chirping of some bird, and an occasional rooster crowing, thinking how beautiful and tranquil it is, and day dreaming about what ever, I am quickly jolted back to reality, as the people in the next room open their door, and I hear them talking, along with the blare of their TV. Since the initial turmoil of the first couple of days of the trip, things have settled down, and I have been able to relax more, and while we have had some good experiences, and met a number of very nice people, I still can't help but anticipate getting home. I guess I'm just not cut out for vacations. No matter how much I anticipate going some where, once I get there, I can always find things to be disappointed about, and I am always longing for home. So why do I persist? Is it because I know mine and Edie's time

Well after a good meal last night, a full day without any driving, and an enjoyable round of golf (although I played terrible) this morning, at the Salishan Spa and Golf Resort , I am starting to recover from what has so far been the vacation from hell! From the moment we left for Oregon on Saturday, encountering excessive traffic getting out of LA, and not being able to get a room in Pismo Beach Saturday night, to Edie forgetting her pillow at the B&B in Geyserville Sunday night, to me falling asleep at the wheel, and side swiping a guard rail Monday in Oregon, and then getting a ticket in Port Orford, shortly after that, for doing 45 in a 30 mph zone, this vacation has not gone very well. Yeah that's right, I fell asleep at the wheel and hit a guard rail, and I hit it pretty hard, cause it sure gave me a jolt. But I guess I should be fortunate all I hit was a guard rail. I could have swerved into oncoming traffic, side swiped a pedestrian or cyclist, or simply run off the r

Well, I'll be taking a little hiatus from posting, as Edie and I are heading off to Oregon this afternoon, for the International Pinot Noir Celebration , which starts in 7 days. The plan is to take a leisurely drive through the wine country of California, and then head for the coast of Oregon, all the time looking out for some wine to taste, fresh fish to eat, and beautiful golf courses to play. Hopefully no one will go through any withdrawal pains from not reading any of my typically senseless ramblings, and I won't go through withdrawal pains from not riding the bike. We'll be back in about 10 days.

As I sat in front of the TV (I had a sore middle back this morning, and decided not to go for a bicycle ride), watching the Tour d'France this morning, I was thinking, none of the riders in the Tour would have sat out because of a slightly sore middle back. Of course they would have access to a good masseuse to smooth out any soreness. Still, even considering that, what the riders in the Tour go through is absolutely amazing. A little soreness is nothing to these riders. Even if there was no masseuse, they would just ride through the pain. Even crashes are nothing. Riders that are unlucky enough to crash, are typically bandaged up (many times while racing to catch up to the peloton ), and then quickly get back on their bikes. But even for those that don't crash, the effort that is put in by these riders, and the pain they go through is phenomenal. To put that in perspective, one of the most difficult rides I do, is about 60 miles (95 kilometers) and has about 2600 feet (8

Sleep 20 hours a day, getting up only to eat and go to the bathroom. When you get tired of sleeping, you go hunting for a bird or mouse, and maybe even a rat (if he's little) to torment, until it eventually dies.  You might even decide to eat it, if you find you're hungry after that hard bit of exercise. Then you just go back and find that nice comfortable chair, and start the whole process all over again.

After a hard bike ride Friday, golf on Saturday, and another hard bike ride Sunday, just like in the Tour d'France , I decided today would be a rest day. I did walk to the golf course, this morning, to sign up for the club match play competition, starting next month, and then to the bank, but after that I settled in front of the TV, for a day of total relaxation. Of course that can get pretty boring after a while. Even with over 200 stations to select from, there's only so much television any one person can watch.  So I did little things, like pay some bills, take out the garbage, put the new registration sticker on the car, clean out the glove compartment (why do they call it a glove compartment?) and center console, in preparation for our trip to Oregon on Saturday, and surfed the internet. Oh, and I did do a little bit of work also! One thing of interest I discovered, when cleaning out the center console of the car, was my SuperCuts frequent hair cut card. It's the ca

I know I'm getting older. I realize it every time I'm on a bicycle ride with younger and stronger riders. What makes that feeling so demoralizing, is in my mind I don't feel any different, than I did 30 years ago, but when the jumps are hard and speeds exceed 30 mph, reality sets in, and I realize my body just won't respond as quickly as it once did. But what's even worse, is when the father, of one of those riders, joins us sometime during the ride, and I discover I'm even older than the father. That's when it really hits me just how old I am. There was one consolation, as minor as it may seem, at least I was stronger than the father.

Yesterday, I watched the HBO special Brooklyn Dodgers: The Ghosts of Flatbush , and it brought back memories of, what I like to call, "the good ol' days". While certainly there were problems, i.e. the threat of an atomic war, wars in Korea and Vietnam, we were united in our resolve to deal with those issues to the benefit of everyone. It was a time of innocence, when a 10 year old boy or girl, could get on a bus (or in Pittsburgh a street car) by themselves, and go downtown, to the gym in Oakland, the local swimming pool or just about anywhere else, anytime of the day or night, without worrying about anything. It was a time where you interacted with everyone in your neighborhood, and you had to learn to get along with everyone, whether you liked them or not. We didn't have video games or computers to occupy our time, keeping us in the house, and isolating us from the real world. It was also a time, and pointed out in this documentary, when ball players played because

Well, I didn't make the cut in this years Long Beach Mens City Golf Championship , but I did shoot a decent round of 89 this morning, redeeming myself for yesterday's horrible round . But I have managed to put that all aside, since I have been selected to be the honorary teammate for the 2007 Leukemia and Lymphoma Society's , Los Angeles Team in Training (TNT), Tucson cycling team . A few months ago, I had mentioned to the coach of the Tucson Team, that I would be a perfect honorary teammate for one of the teams, since obviously I had lymphoma, and had even coached one of the Solvang TNT teams 2 years ago. Now, while I was serious when I made that comment, I never really expected to be asked. So, as you might imagine, I was quite surprised when the coach actually asked me if I would like to be honorary teammate for the Tucson Team. I thought about it for about a millisecond, oh maybe it was even less time than that, but in the end I agreed. So if you'd been consid

Today was the first day of the Long Beach Men's City Golf Championship , and I have never been so disappointed in a round of golf, than I was today. I started out quite good, shooting 7 bogeys and 2 pars for a 43 for the first 9, which included a par on #18 (I started on the back 9), which is one of the more difficult holes, and one I seldom par. But on the very next hole, that good game came to an abrupt end. I hit an OK drive, but it ended up behind a tree in some standing water, but I still had a shot to the green. I just had to keep the ball below the branches of the tree. So I took a drop from the standing water, and hit what I thought was a perfect shot. Unfortunately I hit the ball a little too hard, as it ran through the green, and out of bounds. Unbelievable! So I dropped another ball, and hit the same shot again. This time, I hit the ball into the sand trap in front of the green. I didn't have a bad lie, but I was so upset by the previous shot, I hit the sand

to Laguna Beach and back, there's nothing like a nice hot shower and a nap to rejuvenate you. Unfortunately, I don't have the luxury of partaking of the nap portion today, as we are going to a friends house for a 4th of July barbecue in Santa Monica, and some friends are picking us up in about 10 minutes. At least this time, I'll have a reason for being tired besides a low hemoglobin.

Well, I'm back from my visit to my oncologist (followed by a 18 holes of golf), and I received the results of my latest blood test. While the results didn't continue in the direction I was hoping, based on last months test , they were somewhat encouraging none the less. My absolute lymphocyte count (ALC) rose to about where it was two months ago, 88 thou/cumm, indicating last months test, as I expected, was a fluke.  But the results are essentially where my ALC was in July of last year, which I am assuming means my disease is relatively stable at this point. Hemoglobin was slightly lower at 12.5 g/dl, but still above the low of 11.9 g/dl two months ago. One good trend, that has continued is my RDW , which has continued on a down trend for the last several months, going form a high of 16.7 to 14.8 as of today, although my oncologist didn't put much credence in the test either way. Still I was encouraged.