LIVING WITH MCL

Shortly after my diagnosis with MCL, I came to the conclusion vitamins, supplements, immune system boosters, what every you want to call them, are bad for you. They're nothing more than a scam perpetrated on a naive and unsuspecting public, designed by the pharmaceutical and supplement industries to separate you from your hard earned money. If you can't get it naturally from the food you eat, then it's not worth getting. Now here's just one more piece of evidence to support my belief. Researchers at Kansas State's [K-State] Cardiorespiratory Exercise Laboratory now believe anti-oxidants may be bad as well. ....what a lot of people don't realize is that the antioxidant and pro-oxidant balance is really delicate. One of the things we've seen in our research is that you can't just give a larger dose of antioxidants and presume that there will be some sort of beneficial effect. In fact, you can actually make a problem worse. .............. K-State's stud...

Well at least how we pay for it is certainly in question. Here's another in the continuing saga of health care woes another person (from one of the many health related message boards I belong to) just encountered in dealing with his health insurance company. After receiving IVIG monthly for 1 1/2 years and no problems with insurance paying, had 1st treatment this month and denied. No change with insurance company or employer. Called insurance and they stated the drug is one of 6 that my company has chosen to bill under seperate drug benefit and not medical.  Called pharmacy plan and their notes on the drug state to call my company HR department as the drug is not covered. Great news to find out friday after everyone is gone for the weekend...  This is the first battle that I have come upon since diagnosis and preparing myself to justify this treatment after I speak with the HR department and then whomever heads the committee that might have decided to not cover the drug. Any advise...

when I cancel an appointment with my oncologist. This was the view from our porch shortly before I would have had to leave to get to my doctor's appointment. Sort of looks like something you might see in the mid west, or maybe New Orleans, but southern California. I thought this was a desert! Fortunately I went for my blood test yesterday before all the rain, and my counts were all stable. Platelets and hemoglobin even up slightly. Plus I have an appointment with my VA oncologist tomorrow, so I'm okay with missing today's appointment. The problem is Thursday is supposed to be worse. But there's supposed to be a break tomorrow, so hopefully I'll be able to get I ride in the AM before it starts all over again.

At least some of you know I'm not a fan of alternative treatments, or supplements of any kind. Few if any None have shown to be effective by any legitimate clinical research. In my opinion they are just scams designed to separate gullible and desperate individuals from their hard earned money. But I've also never criticized anyone for trying them. Ok, so maybe I have criticized the lengths some people will go in their use of alternatives treatments . I can certainly understand the desperation of some people, but when I read a post such as the one below, from one of the many lymphoma/leukemia message boards I subscribed to, I can't help but be reinforced in my belief of the lunacy and the futility of it all, as well as the potential danger. Dear List Members, I receive[d] my shipment of Essiac tea and made my first batch. The taste is like bad coffee--not too bad. With this particular formula, you consume the grounds along with the tea. Since the teas is pulverized into fi...

It's raining outside, and as you might expect, I am bored [big time]. So I thought I would give you a little taste of some of the discussions I've come across on the various list serves I belong to in relation to my MCL, which I made particular note of, concerning medical care and what ever. In this first post, a woman is complaining about the poor care she is receiving from her primary care physician (PCP). I left my PCP's office in tears today. I'll give you a little background, when I do go I usually have to wait 1 to 1/2 hr to even see him, then, he's with me for about 2 minutes. <snip> Anyway, I'm in constant pain, I mean constant, with the RA, the joint pain from the chemo, the bursitis and degeneration in my hip, the carpal tunnel in both hands, all of which happened after chemo. The Doctor came in and said "what's going on today" I said "I'm in pain" his reply "again?". He says "I'll send someone in wi...

The only thing I can say is 2010 is not shaping up much better. And I had such high hopes. For starters Sylvia (my 89 year old aunt who lives with us) went back into the hospital for the 3 rd time on Thursday, and I'm afraid this time she's not going to be getting out all too soon. And the day before, as Edie was turning into the gas station, she cut the corner a little too tight, and drove right into the curb blowing out the sidewall of the left front tire. $185 [the cost of the new tire] later she was back on her way again. Edie commented that the price of gas at that station was pretty good [which it was], but it ended up being the most expensive tank of gas she ever purchased. And then today, I discovered American Express (AMEX) sided with The Golden Truffle (a restaurant in Costa Mesa where Edie and I had dinner on 11/14/2009), for which I was billed twice. Simple logic should tell you the charge was a duplication. The charges are identical, and they have consecutive tra...

I can certainly assure you of one thing, it's not a lot of fun. Besides all the knowledge and experience gained, making it more difficult dealing with younger people who think they know it all, and even the fact the body doesn't always want to do what the mind tells it (two things I might touch on further at a later date), the most difficult part of getting old is the fragility of the body, and the greater susceptibility to injury. Especially the back. On Christmas day, I hurt my back shaking up a jar of dijon mustard. [No comments please!] For 2 days, despite wanting to go for a bike ride, the pain was so bad, I wasn't even able to do the simplest of tasks. What's even worse, I thought I was pretty much over it on Monday, when for no apparent reason (at least none I could determine), I experienced the same debilitating back pain again that occurred on Christmas day. Fortunately after this episode, and another 3 days of rest, I felt well enough to go on the annual SoCal...