LIVING WITH MCL

Can it really be called a downside? According to Joseph M. Connors, MD, Clinical Professor and Director of the BC Cancer Agency’s Centre for Lymphoid Cancer, Vancouver, British Columbia, in an article in the ASCO Post , the downside to Canadian health care is We [the Canadian health care system] don’t get to give patients treatments unless they have proven benefit, so we have an entire system devoted to examining what evidence justifies which treatments....... ..........I [Dr. Conners] cannot give a drug without evidence-based proof that the drug has efficacy and works better than the less-costly alternatives in the particular disease I’m treating. So the drawback to a centralized system is that it constrains innovative behavior, is resistant to change, and is slow to introduce new approaches. The system waits for adequate evidence before moving ahead....... Well, I'm not so sure I'd categorize that as a downside, and neither do I believe it constrains innovation. Just because...

I don't usually post about all the latest advancements in lymphoma research, mostly because I don't keep up with it so much anymore (it seem's I got a little burned out doing so much of it early on), but also because there just hasn't been anything I considered to be of note. This year though, seems to be different. I've started doing a little more reading and investigating of some of the latest happenings in lymphoma/leukemia research, and while there still isn't much I'm encouraged about (anything that is truly interesting is still in early development or clinical trials), there were three reports I thought worth mentioning. The first one was a phase 3 trial, showing that  Maintenance Rituximab to be no better than Rituximab administered upon disease progression . While this may not seem so earth shattering to some, I think any research proving less is better, i.e. reducing the number and frequency of treatments, can only be beneficial, and lead to a bette...

Every time winter rolls around, I get into these funks. I have little or no energy.  All I want to do is either stay in bed, or just lay around doing nothing. Every ache and pain is magnified, and it's all I can do to muster up enough energy to drag myself out of bed and do something. Even the thought of blogging about politics, health care issues or the problems of others can't get me excited. And every year I wonder whether this time is different. I wonder whether it's my MCL that is making me feel more run down, rather than the time of year. For the last 9 years it's always turned out to be just this time of year making me feel more run down. But what if this time is different? What if it's not just the shorter days and colder temperatures? How do [will] I know?

I was talking to someone I've known for a number of years recently, and he happened to mention he only had $45 in the bank. At first I didn't believe him, but he was adamant. He's married, with one kid, and earning what I believe to be a half way decent wage, and he only has $45 in the bank?? How can that be? Sure I know there are likely many in that situation, but I felt a lot better when I thought I didn't know anyone in that position. Couple that with just learning another friend is experiencing a reemergence of his lymphoma (he was initially diagnosed after me), and is starting treatment again today, things don't seem to be boding well for the new year. Of course that got me thinking. [Something I really need to stop doing.] How is it I have been so fortunate in life, where so many others have not? How have I been able to dodge so many bullets put in my path? Even a diagnosis with a very aggressive variant of lymphoma hasn't been as devastating [yet], has it...

Two years ago, when I got my DroidX, I was all excited. The thought of being able to log on to the internet where ever I was, having access to GPS, my Kindle books, a camera etc. all in one convenient, compact device, seemed like a good idea, maybe even necessary and important. But now I'm not so sure. When I think about it, is it really worth $30 per month ($60 if you add in my wife's Droid), to have access to the internet everywhere, especially when you consider I'm already spending $40/month for wifi access at home? I hardly ever use it, except when I am at home, and I'm too lazy to go get my laptop to check whatever it is I feel is so necessary to check. And why do I need a Kindle or camera on the phone, neither of which is a good substitute for the real thing? The GPS may be about the only thing that is a good idea, but is it worth $30/month, considering how little I use it? We have become slaves to technology. We've been brain washed into thinking we need to s...