LIVING WITH MCL

So Edie's free lights are continuing their upward trend, and her doctor has recommended adding Vorinostat (Zolinza) to the mix (4 - 100 mg tablets per day for two weeks, then off a week). A recently completed clinical trial  has shown it to be efficacious when combined with Velcade, and since the Velcade alone hasn't been doing the trick, this seemed like the logical alternative. The only problem with Vorinostat is it's given in pill form. That means it comes under the Medicare Part D Prescription drug plan, and this drug is not cheap. $4,945 for a 14 day supply. Fortunately we were only on the hook for about $2,300, but it could have been a lot worse. We would have been on the hook for the entire amount, if it weren't for the Affordable Care Act [AKA ObamaCare], which mandated a 50% discount once you enter the donut hole. In addition, thanks to the Affordable Care Act (ACA), the amount of the discount provided by the manufacturer is also counted towards the Out-of-Po

Despite no clinical evidence of the effectiveness of the flu shot for those with a compromised immune system, most experts will agree it's not effective. The immune system just can't mount the necessary response to the vaccine to fight off the flu. On that same note, most experts will also tell you, getting a flu shot will do no harm, so I've always gotten a flu shot, hoping the experts wrong. Unfortunately this year has almost convinced me of the futility of getting a flu shot. For the second time this year, I've gotten sick. Both times with the same symptoms, headache, runny nose and sore throat, and both times lasting about the same number of days. [Note: I am feeling somewhat better, but still experiencing some lingering effects.] Maybe I should have gotten a second shot. Maybe it wasn't even the flu that I contracted, or maybe it was a different strain of the flu. I can't be sure. What I can be sure of is how much this experience highlights the much greater

I just don't get it anymore. Not sure why I ever did, but I did, and now I'm done. I've just grown tired of all the lame posts, all the posts informing me of where everyone is, and what they're doing at every given moment of every day, the constant game requests, and especially the idiotic [and very annoying] repost requests. Why do I need to subject myself to all that useless information. If you want me to meet you somewhere, to join in with whatever you're doing, or you want to play a game, give me a call on the phone. I have one of those smart phones that I carry around with me constantly [for some other unknown reason]. So I've deactivated my Facebook account. I may come back. Who knows? I might find it important or even necessary, although I can't imagine why, but I did say I was going to stop blogging, and you see how well that worked out. I just wonder how many people will notice, or even care?

You'd think yesterday's death of a police chief, 8 days from retirement in New Hampshire , would finally shock everyone to that reality [although I doubt it], and realize what a colossal waste of lives and resources the war on drugs has been for this country. Resources that would be better spent insuring everyone in this country had easy access to high quality, reasonably priced health care. We learned it in 1933, when congress finally repealed the  18th amendment which tried to prohibit the sale and use of alcohol, but did nothing more than lead to a near complete breakdown of law and authority, and expand the influence of organized crime, that to this very day still wreaks havoc and generates corruption at all levels of society. So why can't we learn it now? It's still taught in school isn't it? Why after 40+ years haven't we figured out what a colossal waste of valuable resources and lives the war on drugs has been. While the breakdown of law and authority h

I've always thought of him [and still do] as nothing more than a shill for the vitamin and supplement industry, promoting products that do nothing more than line the pockets of himself, and the industry that produces the products he is constantly touting. I'm not even sure why I bother watching him, but I did so yesterday, and it just further solidified my position. His first guest was a self appointed diet guru. He was providing information on how to eat healthier, and while some of the info may have had some merit, two bits of information stood out that I had a great deal of trouble with. The first was adding sugar to vegetables, supposedly to make vegetables taste better, encouraging people to eat them more. While eating more vegetables is certainly good advice, I'm not so sure adding sugar is such a good idea. Sure it will make your vegetables taste better, but adding sugar to anything will make it taste better. And how much sugar is enough or too much? Where do you dra

Whenever I come across articles such as this one I'm intrigued. If only it were that simple. Exercise regularly, eat a healthy diet, get plenty of sunshine, and you'll be healthy forever. The thing is, I already knew that, and it didn't help. Despite what you may hear or have heard, there is no magic formula! You can no more prevent cancer  than you can boost your immune system . Maybe you can delay the inevitable, but truth be told, if you live long enough, you're going to get cancer. Then there's the two biggest factors contributing to cancer, the environment, and your heritage. Two items you have little, if any, control over. It's been pretty well established, if your parents lived to be 100, you'll likely do the same.  Of course living in a polluted environment has been known to cancel that out. So while there's nothing much new in this article, and there's at least one step I have a problem with, i.e. talk to your doctor about the benefits of t