LIVING WITH MCL

Well it looks like my domain and website have been successfully transferred to my new web hosting service . At last all the gyrations I have been going through the past couple of days are over. Hopefully there won't be any more bugs* occurring, but even if there should be one or two more, my new found knowledge should help me straighten them out easily. Anywaze, the best to everyone, and have a HAPPY NEW YEAR! *NOTE: It appears that my post notification plug-in is not working, so if you do so happen to get notification of this post, or received several notifications of this post, please let me know.

They say experience is the best teacher, and changing web hosting services has easily proven just how much truth there is to that old adage. When I decided to switch web hosting services, I thought it would be a simple task, with the new web hosting service guiding me, and essentially doing most of the heavy lifting, so to speak. Well they certainly guided me, but they didn't do any of the heavy lifting. But what is so exasperating is there really isn't much heavy lifting, and the process isn't that difficult, provided you have all the necessary information before starting the process. It also helps to understand all the terminology involved in domain hosting. I only wish I knew then, what I know now! The most important thing I learned is make sure you know who your domain registrar is, and how to log on to yhe registrars website to update all your domain information, including name, address and especially what nameservers (DNS) your domain is pointed to. Determining your

I have decided to change my web hosting service, due to some problems I have had, and still having, and since the contract with my current hosting service is up next month, this seemed like the perfect time to switch. So this is just a warning, should the site go down for any length of time, it is probably due to the transfer. But don't fret, I will be working night and day to get the site back up with minimal disruption.

Now, while that is true in a lot of cases, life doesn't have to be a bitch. It can actually be pretty damn good, at least from my perspective, and you're still going to die. Sometimes sooner than later. Today I was just reading about Michael Klein , an investment manager dying in a plane crash, while vacationing on his own private island near [in] Panama, along with his 13 year old daughter. Here's a man that had pretty much everything going for him. He founded two companies MIBEK Corporation and Transoft Networks, both of which were acquired by other firms, the latter being Hewlett Packard. And most recently he was the CEO of Pacificor, LLC . Now I didn't know Michael Klein, nor anything about him before reading this news article , but this just struck me as tragic. He was only 37 years old. And I only bring it up because it just goes to show how fleeting life really is. We are all vulnerable, and when our time is up, it's up. At least he died, I assume bas

In keeping with my complete disdain for the US health care system, I thought I would bring you this very recent story about the death off a teenage leukemia patient. It's so easy to surmise from this story, that the sick and infirmed have no place in the US. For if that weren't the case, then what other possible reason could there be for US citizens continuing to support, and even praise, a system that not only condones the actions of insurance companies, in denying health care to individuals, but actually rewards them for doing just that. This the most recent example (one of many) involves Cigna Health Care, but it certainly shouldn't be construed as unique to this company. It is the mission of all health insurers to deny and delay care as long as possible in order to increase profits. Eventually Cigna did relent, but it took significant protests by 150 people outside the offices of Cigna, and an internet campaign orchestrated by the DailyKos website and other blog

Lemons and tea go even better together than their popularity might suggest To get more out of your next cup of tea, just add juice. A study found that citrus juices enable more of green tea's unique antioxidants to remain after simulated digestion, making the pairing even healthier than previously thought. Lemon juice caused 80 percent of tea's catechins to remain, the study found. The study compared the effect of various beverage additives on catechins, naturally occurring antioxidants found in tea. Results suggest that complementing green tea with either citrus juices or vitamin C likely increases the amount of catechins available for the body to absorb. Although these results are preliminary, I think it's encouraging that a big part of the puzzle comes down to simple chemistry. Eating fish is good for you, especially if you drink lots of alcohol. Essential fatty acids (EFAs) are just that; an "essential" part of the total fat intake necessary for a healthy huma

Just when we get a reprieve from two weeks of temperatures in the 30's, now the rain starts. So here I sit, surfing the net and rambling on my blog. No bike ride for me today. :( I just don't know how people back east and the midwest, cope with even worse weather, and I was born and raised in Pittsburgh. I did manage to get a lift though, after reading some Gilda Radner quotes . Check them out , especially the last interview with Jane Curtin. Who knows, it might even improve your day as well. Gilda was one of the best!

We're slowly being pick off. At least that's how Edie felt after hearing one more friend has likely been diagnosed with lymphoma. (The diagnosis was made based on a CT scan only, but the doctor was pretty confident in his diagnosis. More tests are being run.) Still, when I started to take an inventory of everyone around me who has been diagnosed with some serious illness, I couldn't help but think to myself, there just maybe something to that statement. Since my diagnosis with Mantle Cell Lymphoma (MCL) in 2002, my wife has been diagnosed wit Multiple Myeloma (MM), another friend with Non Hodgkins Lymphoma (NHL), two bike riding buddies, one with NHL as well, and the other with bone cancer, two wine drinking friends, husband and wife, with prostrate and breast cancer respectively, a third with cirrhosis of the liver and another is currently receiving treatment for breast cancer. Counting me, that's 9 people, and very likely 10 who have been diagnosed with some sort of

This is, I believe, the 5th (maybe even the 6th) day in a row, when temperatures have dropped below 40 o F (4.4 o C). I know for sure Monday it was 38.3 o F, and today the thermometer is already at 39.1 o F, and sunrise is still a way off. 40 o F is usually my limit when deciding to go for a bike ride, so the turmoil I'm experiencing right now, deciding whether to break that rule, is almost too much to bare. I need to ride, but the cold makes it almost intolerable, and definitely not enjoyable. (I hate going out late, because then I have to ride by myself. Of course few people ride in this cold, so I may end up riding myself, even if I do go out early.) Such a dilemma! And so far this week, I've only ridden about 50 miles (normally I would have done about 100 miles), which only adds to the turmoil. Now this time of year I typically don't ride as much, nor as hard, as I do during the warmer months, since I'm only trying to maintain my level of fitness, but at my age,

When I was first diagnosed with MCL, I pretty much read just about everything I could get my hands on, I attended various conferences, and I talked to anyone who would listen. One of the most important lessons I learned, and which I've mentioned numerous times before was No one cares more about you than you. But in addition to that, I learned to fear the drug Doxorubicin , AKA Adriamycin, Doxil, Hydroxydoxorubicin, or more affectionately the Red Devil. Besides being a deadly chemical, as is the case with most chemotherapy drugs, it is one of the few chemotherapy drugs known to cause permanent heart damage. I even heard Dr. Sandra Horning , a noted Stanford lymphoma specialist, state at the first lymphoma conference I attended in LA, there was no evidence Doxorubicin provided any added benefit to chemotherapy protocols. This was music to my ears, since Doxorubicin is very common in most lymphoma treatment protocols. And even though Dr. Horning has since changed her tune [which my sk

Well here it is, the second rainy Friday in a row, and that means no bike ride. I did plan on going to the gym shortly, but after receiving an email from a friend this AM, I realized it's been just about a month since I last posted anything on Edie, so today seems like the perfect opportunity to do just that. So far, all of Edie's numbers, i.e. blood counts, kidney tests, protein analysis, etc. have been stable, thanks to Millennium Pharmaceuticals wonder drug Velcade . Of course nothing comes without a price, and the resulting side effect of peripheral neuropathy, has caused her some degree of discomfort. So she skipped the last cycle of Velcade and Doxil, to see if the neuropathy would improve. I didn't really expect the neuropathy to improve much, which it didn't, but I was guardedly hopeful ( remember I am a contrarian/pessimist ). Instead her creatinine level increased slightly, which neither of us wanted to see. So this afternoon, she is resuming the Velcade

Normally I would just ignore such internet dribble , but since it was Becky who tagged me, I thought I would play along. I started off by posting the rules on what to do after being tagged, and then began posting 8 things about myself, also according to the rules. I even managed to come up with 4 things I thought of note, but that was pretty much it. Then I started thinking, why am I doing this? I seldom, if ever, even open attachments sent to me via email by friends on the internet, nor do I read the numerous jokes I am sent. This sort of thing just isn't me. So I stopped, and went over to a friends house to watch the USC vs UCLA game. But as I was watching the game, I decided rather than just dismissing this tagging thing completely, I would compromise and provide a few small bits of information about myself, some of which may even be of value to everyone. I am a contrarian/pessimist. When things are going good, I expect them to soon go bad, and when they're bad, I