LIVING WITH MCL

And what a year it was. So many things happened in 2008, it's hard to know where to begin. First and foremost was the free fall in stocks, the near collapse of the worlds financial markets, the rise and fall of oil and gasoline prices, and of course there was the election of Barack Obama as the next president of the United States. My faith in the American public was finally restored. Everything else pales in comparison, even the fact Edie and I made it through 2008 not much worse for wear than we started the year, but there was at least one thing of note. Edie did have an autologous transplant in October, but so far she seems to be recovering fine. She still suffers from persistent neuropathy, resulting from the Velcade she was taking for her Multiple Myeloma, but this month she was approved for Social Security Disability so that has helped. Edie no longer has to endure the unendurable anymore by trying to work. But it seems there is always a downside to everything. Now

I actually wrote this post earlier in the week, but not wanting to spoil everyone's Christmas/Chanukah totally, I decided to hold it until today. [Plus it's freaking cold outside, so I had some time on my hands.] I know I'm probably not the only one, but I don't like this time of year. I'm not sure why I dislike this time of year so much. Heck, I don't even know when I started disliking it so, because at one time I actually remember enjoying it, plus Edie loves this time of year. It might have started when I was diagnosed with MCL, or maybe it started when one of my close riding buddies, who helped start our bike club [which has now gone its separate way], died of pancreatic cancer a couple of years before my diagnosis with MCL.

I just received the results from today's blood work, and I'm happy to report my blood glucose is within the normal [average] range at 94 mg/dL. And that was a non fasting result. It seems I forgot I was supposed to fast for the test. I'd like to report the reduction was because I was able to lose the 10 pounds I committed myself to last month , but while I did have some initial success, trying to lose weight this time of year, is proving to be more daunting than I expected. Fortunately I was successful in eliminating 90% of the sweets from my diet, which I think was the contributing factor to the normal blood glucose reading. My lymphocyte count did jump to above 100 thou/cumm again, but that's still basically the same, even slightly lower, than it was last December, despite fluctuating greatly over the past 12 months. [At those levels, there is a lot of error that can occur when interpreting the results, so that kind of fluctuation is not surprising.] Plus my hemoglobi...

Of course I also hate the cold, wind, fog, etc. but today it happens to be raining, so I'm hating the rain. You wouldn't know that if you were looking at the Live Mega Doppler 7000 HD, courtesy of the local ABC news channel . In fact, you wouldn't think it was raining hardly at all. At least you wouldn't think it was raining as hard as it is, but trust me when I say, it is raining outside, and raining rather heavily, for Southern California that is. So here I sit with

I actually thought I was feeling good enough to go for a ride this morning, but after checking the thermometer outside the house, those thoughts quickly disappeared. It was 37°F outside the house, and 39°F at the airport. (We live in our own little micro climate close by a large park, where the temperature is always a few degrees colder than the surrounding area.) 40°F is my cut off point, below which I won't go out on the bike. That's just way too cold, especially when you consider I'm generating a 20 mph wind when I ride, making it feel a lot colder. And this isn't even the

And winter doesn't even start for another 4 days. Two months ago, I came down with a cold, which kept me off the bike for over a week. It even kept me from visiting Edie when she was in the hospital recovering from her transplant. And now it seems I've contracted yet another cold. That's two colds within a two month period. I can't remember having experienced two colds in such a short period, or even more than one cold in an entire year that has caused me to feel as bad as these latest two. Plus this time, even Edie is sick, so now I'm beginning to wonder. Is this due to our

Edie received an unexpected large check today from the US Treasury, designated "SOC SEC FOR INS". The only explanation we can come up with is her application for Social Security Disability was approved, and this was just a retroactive amount since she became disabled. The strange part is there was no paperwork with the check, nor did we receive any notification her disability had been approved prior to today. Seems strange, we wouldn't have received an explanation prior to receiving a check, but maybe the government was just anxious to get some money into our hands so we could help the troubled retail sector. Or maybe it's just our share of the TARP funds, and everyone will be receiving a similar amount shortly :)

I guess I was a little premature when I switched from being a contrarian/pessimist to a contrarian/optimist . I should have known Republicans in the senate couldn't get past their partisan agenda , and do what's best for the entire country, instead of only what's in their own self interest. As I see it now, unless President Bush acts authoritatively, and helps the Big 3 automakers with money from the TARP fund, another large part of the US manufacturing base (which is what has made this country so great) will be disseminated, and we'll be headed for another great depression, which we may never emerge from. Whoever said there were worse things in life than having lymphoma or myeloma, sure knew what he was talking about.

For the longest time, I'd been thinking our economy was headed downward. Lately I was even thinking we were headed toward a great depression of sorts, but a comment by one of the retired, old timers in the bike club, while we were having coffee/tea after our ride, got me to thinking. He said, I'm sure glad I'm living on a fixed income. That's when it dawned on me, while so many people have condemned social security as a ponzi scheme , it may be the true savior of our economy. Sure things will likely worsen some for many in the next couple of months, but there is an abundance of retired individuals, having the protection of that social net, who will ultimately help cushion the blow, until the various proposed stimulus programs are implemented. Social security didn't exist in the 30's, and neither did unemployment compensation, and that contributed greatly to making the great depression 'great'. Plus the numerous stimulus package(s) that were introduced, a...

Several months ago I wrote about how American Express was unwilling to credit me the $45 annual membership fee on my Starwood Preferred Guest American Express card, knowing they would lose over $500 in merchant generated fees a year from me using that card. Eventually I did get the credit (plus an extra $50 for my troubles), but it took canceling the card, to finally catch the attention of someone at American Express who realized losing $500 per year wasn't worth gaining a measly $45 annual membership fee. Now just recently I experience a very similar problem with my cable internet provider (Charter Communications). When Charter wanted to raise my monthly fee to $69.98 per month, I balked, and got them to agree to a charge equivalent to Verizon FIOS service + $2 more ($44.98/month). I agreed to the extra $2 per month, because service was good, and it was worth $2 per month not having to switch providers. But the next month I received a bill for $47.64. Apparently because I didn...