LIVING WITH MCL

After a recent email, and several exchanges on a few of the message boards I frequent, I felt is was imperative of me to reiterate my stance on the use of vitamins, supplements and herbal remedies. As long time readers of my blog may already know, I am against the taking of all vitamins, supplements and herbal remedies. But I wasn't always that way. Prior to my diagnosis I truly believed the taking of Vitamin C, E, Calcium, fish oil (and a few other items) were essential for good health. Obviously that didn't work, and now I'm even of the opinion it was that belief which led to my diagnosis of MCL. That's not to say all of the hype is a complete fabrication. After all, I am a firm believer in the efficacy of EGCG , a by product of green tea. Nor am I saying maintaining proper nutrition isn't important, because it definitely is. What I am saying is, if you can't get it naturally, it's probably not worth getting. And that's a policy I adhere to religiously...

I know this topic may not sound that enticing, but bear with me. You might find it of some value. A couple of weeks ago, while sitting at the coffee shop, one of the old[er] timers, who we used to ride with, stopped by. We hadn't seen him in awhile, and were surprised to learn he was recovering from bypass surgery. He had a heart attack. WOW! A heart attack. That's not something I think about a lot, or at all for that matter. Why should I? I have Mantle Cell Lymphoma, and I've planned my life around that. Not having a heart attack. I was more interested to find out he didn't realize it at the time. It was only after he went to the doctor, because he wasn't feeling so good, and had a blood test, did he learn he had a heart attack. I've heard that before, but it never dawned on me it actually happens. The explanation he was given for the mildness of the heart attack was while he had [I think it was] 2 blocked arteries, because he was in such good physical conditio...