LIVING WITH MCL

Jane over at A Patients Perspective , wrote about her day yesterday, so I've been inspired to write about mine, which was equally "one of those days". I started out going for a pretty hard 40 mile bike ride into the hills of Whittier. I left a little earlier than normal, to avoid the heat, but even then, by the time I got to the top of Turnbull Canyon it was still plenty warm. I only brought one big water bottle, and managed to make it back without any significant problem, but it would have been nice to have an extra bottle. I'll plan better next time. Still it was a good ride If I had stopped with that, and just stayed home and rested, things probably would have been fine, but I had made arrangements to go golfing at 2 PM with some friends, so that was not to be. Well, let me tell you, it was freakin' hot at 2 PM, and I ended up shooting one of the worst rounds of my life. I'm going to assume I was worn out from the bike ride. I could have also been a l...

I recently posted to A Patients Perspective concerning the effects of taking vitamins and supplements . I believe it may have contributed to my lymphoma and my wife's myeloma. Of course I can't be sure, but there is more and more evidence suggesting it is. Dr Rob Lamberts over at the Medical Blog Network sheds some additional light on the subject, casting a somewhat suspicious eye towards the supplement industry . Now this article on MSNBC may be supporting my belief, by suggesting it's not the antioxidant benefit of vitamins, but the phytochemicals in natural foods, that provide the real cancer fighting benefit. Phytochemicals seem to slow tumor growth, but key is in variety of foods By Karen Collins, R.D. .....Research does show that berries are among the fruits highest in antioxidant content and that they are excellent sources of several phytochemicals that seem to help block cancer development. However, other fruits and vegetables provide different nutrients and p...

Some mornings are just more fun filled (frustrating) than others. This morning our manager of outside processing comes over to me, and brings a note from a vendor requesting clarification on some instructions I had given on an order. That's really not unusual, except in this case, the instructions were meant for the manager of outside processing to perform prior to sending to the vendor. It's obvious he didn't read my instructions, and simply copied (CTRL-C) the entire section of the planning document, and pasted (CTRL-V) those instructions into the purchase order that he sent to the vendor. Then a little later I get a certification to review from a vendor who did some work for us. What is suprising in this case is, this is not the first time this vendor has performed this work for us. Of course you wouldn't know that after reviewing the certification. Some of the information that is required to be put on the certification is a little confusing, so I have refined ...

Becky says I'm evolving , but I think I've always been a sensitive guy. This morning though seemed to have struck an extra nerve or two. The morning started out as most mornings do. I dragged myself out of bed at around 4:30 AM, went down stairs to have breakfast, and then headed off to work. The one difference being I decided to park at Leo Carillo State Beach, and ride my bike in the remaining 17 miles. It was actually a perfect morning for a ride. It was overcast, not cold, and only a slight head wind, which turned into a tail wind when I was about 4 miles from work. (I just hope that doesn't bode poorly for the return trip this afternoon.) Anywaze what caught my attention this morning was the sight of two dead seagulls lying on the side of the road, and a third seagull standing there as if it was lost. That third seagull didn't even move when I got within about 2 feet of him, which is highly unusual. That sight just haunted me for the remainder of the ride, an...

Ever since I was diagnosed with MCL, it seems that every occurrance in my life takes on some significant meaning. I've always been somewhat superstitious to the point I never liked Fridays that fall on the 13th, I never carried around $13 or 13 cents in my pocket, wouldn't walk under a ladder, and I always turned around if I saw a black cat cross my path. I can remember one day, before my diagnosis, a black cat crossed my path on a day that I was going scuba diving with a friend at Catalina, and for what ever reason, I didn't turn around. We ended up going to the back side of Catalina, which isn't always accessible because of the winds and waves, but that day was a good day. At the end of the second dive, as we were surfacing, my weight belt (I stopped using a weight belt after that) got tangled in some kelp, and I stopped ascending when I was about 30 feet below the surface. I didn't panic 'too much', but I couldn't seem to get easily untangled. ...

We used to go out to dinner a lot. Well that is if you consider once or twice a week a lot, but over the past year though, that has changed. One reason for the change was my aunt coming to live with us. She doesn't eat much, and it's hard for me to justify spending $25+ on a meal for her, which she barely touches. The second reason was building the barbecue in the back yard . It was something my wife always wanted, and it's a work of art. How can we justify not utilizing it as often as possible? Thirdly, we like to drink wine, and any more, it ends up costing $8 or $9 just for a glass of mediocre wine, and a lot more if you buy a bottle. And if you bring your own bottle, the restaurant charges you $15 or more for corkage, on top of what you paid for the wine. But now I can add one more reason not to go out so much, and it's just that the quality of food, and the overall experience has deteriorated so much. Saturday night we went to a new French restaurant in town ...

I had to go into work today (I normally have Wednesday's off) to cover for our sales manager, who had two customers visiting at the same time. I had to entertain one of the customers who wanted to watch some parts being forged, and expose a summer intern to exactly what is involved in the manufacturing of the products they produce. For those unfamiliar with what I do, I work for a small aerospace manufacturing firm which produces forgings used primarily in jet engines and for aircraft structural parts. We manufacture the parts using large hammers, which for lack of a better description, think of as a process similar to a blacksmith making horse shoes. We just do it on a much grander scale, with our largest hammer rated at 50,000 pounds. It's dirty, noisy, and it is a lot of hard work for the guys who do the actual production of the parts. Fortunately I only have to tell them what temperatures they have to heat the material to, in order to obtain the desired mechanical prop...

Ok, some of you who know me are probably saying, here he goes again, talking about fatigue. And yes, I have written previously on this subject , but since I have been getting a little off topic lately, and I recently came in contact with an old business associate, who claimed he was suffering from fatigue, I thought it appropriate to rehash my feelings again. The business associate I referred to, had recently suffered an attack of shingles. I was surprised because that is a condition very common among lymphoma and leukemia patients, and those with compromised immune systems. It is especially common among those who have undergone some sort of chemotherapy, and he didn't have any of that. He had always been a very strong and competitive cyclist, an since he was in the later stages of recovery, I asked him if he had been riding his bike lately. He indicated that he was unable, due to fatigue. We ended up talking about fatigue a little, even reminiscing over chronic fatigue syndrom...

Last Saturday was a beautiful day. I woke up at my usual time, around 6 AM, it was 67F (20C for you foreigners), and beautifully clear. It was going to be a great day, or so I thought. The old gang decided to get together again for a bike ride. It had been a long time since we had all ridden together. Only Garry, Amy and I had been riding consistently, while Naomi and Jim pretty much stopped riding, and Rene, who is in the best shape of all of us, only teaches spinning classes. He's single, and loves the attention of all the women. Anywaze, we went down the coast about 20 miles into Newport Beach, then turned around and stopped for coffee and donuts at the coffee shop in Seal Beach. It just started out being a perfect day, and from the perspective of most people in the world it probably was just that, a perfect day, except............... Living on the coast in southern California (SoCal), you get used to the early morning fog (we call it the marine layer) and the cooler temp...

For all the golfers out there.

We went to our usual Thursday night wine tasting at the Gas Lamp restaurant in Long Beach last night, and the wine rep who usually hosts the tasting brought cupcakes for everyone. I didn't know it, but there is a shop in Belmont Shore in Long Beach, that specializes in cup cakes. That's all they make. So of course I had to have one of the chocolate ones, and it was very good. But when Chris (the wine rep) told me the price, I was stunned. $2.75 each! And these weren't anything special. They were just like the cup cakes I grew up on. He bought a dozen, and it was only $29. What a bargain! Now I'll agree that it was a very good cupcake, but $2.75 for just ONE, seemed a little over the top for me. And who said inflation was dead?

A number of years ago, I was watching a television series with Ernest Borgnine. He was retired, and was playing amateur detective with 2 of his friends. During the episode, he asked somebody if he knew what it was like being old. The guy didn't know the answer, so Ernest Borgnine gave the following response, which I have a paraphased below, because I don't remember the exact quote. There is no difference being old versus being young. The mind is as fresh as ever, it's just the body doesn't react in the same way. That is exactly how I felt yesterday after riding my bike. I know I'll be 58 years old in less then a month, and I shouldn't expect to be able to perform as well as I did when I was 38, but that doesn't keep me from thinking that I can. I had done a fairly hard 38 mile ride on Thursday in the hills of Whittier, CA, followed by another hard and fast paced 45 mile ride with one of the local bike clubs in the area on Saturday, so maybe I shouldn...

If you remember, back on May 12, I wrote, How did we get along before the advent of the internet? . Well as a person who watches a fair amount of television, I started to wonder, how did we ever get along before TiVo? Last week our DirecTV HD TiVo unit started acting up. It would pixilate often, freeze, and then reboot itself almost every hour. It was extremely annoying, especially as it was occurring during the final episode of 24 . We did manage to get through the final episode without too much problem, but soon after that, it froze and died. DirecTV was very accomodating, and sent a new unit out within 2 days, but we were without TiVo for 4 days. Now, if you read my previous post , you'll realize that a telephone line is required for the initial set up, which we don't have. So it was a little hassle getting it hooked back up again. I ended up having to take the unit to a friends house, which on top of the "illegal left hand turn" ticket I received on the way...

Just about everyone has a cellular phone. Internet access is available via wireless wi-fi connections. Many of us travel around communicating with our wireless Blackberry's and Palm Pilot's. We even have a wireless device connected to our A/C at home, which allows Southern California Edison to shut the A/C off, in times of high usage, for a reduced rate. Credit card transactions are conducted wirelessly. There are wireless speakers for your stereo, and you can control most home electronics from just about anywhere wirelessly. We live in a wireless world. Wires are a thing of the past. Especially the phone line. Right? Well not so fast. If we live in a wireless world, why does DirecTV require I have a phone line connected to my TiVo box, in order for me to get my TiVo connected? And this from a company that sends TV signals wirelessly to homes. Even TiVo users, without DirecTV, can hook up wirelessly using a USB adapter to their boxes instead of hooking it to a land...

As I was driving to work this morning, I was wondering why I even bothered to get up. It had pretty much rained all night, and was still raining as I started on my 78 mile commute to the beautiful metropolis known as Oxnard, CA. (For those of you unfamiliar with southern California, Oxnard borders Ventura on the south, and is about 40 miles south of Santa Barbara.) It's not really that beautiful in Oxnard, but that isn't a problem. The plant where I work is on the very southern end of Oxnard, 1/4 mile from a protected beach. Between us and the beach is agricultural land where lima beans and other similar crops are planted. My drive takes me along a 50 mile scenic route through Santa Monica, and past the beautiful and rugged coast line of Malibu. The stretch includes the area where Bay Watch was filmed, and another stretch of road popular in automobile commercials. While todays rain isn't typical for this time of year, (it is the dry season right now), and we can get...

I know this is a little off topic, but living in the hotbed of the illegal immigration debate, I can't help but stray occasionally. For me, all this discussion about the reform of our immigration system, has brought to mind the movie Rollerball. Not the 2002 version, which was truly awful, and didn't make the point I want to bring up, but the original 1975 version , starring James Caan. The year is 2018. There is no crime and there are no more wars. Corporations are now the leaders of the world, as well as the controllers of the people. A violent futuristic game known as Rollerball is now the recreational sport of the world, with teams representing various areas competing for the title of champion. That is the plot line of Rollerball. Six corporations, energy, transportation, communication, housing, food and luxury in control of the world. I thought the movie was particularly compelling for the statement the team owner made to Jonathan (James Caan), when Jonathan commented ...

So are the Days of Our Lives I never watched that soap opera, but that intro always seemed so profound, and it even seems more so today. It's hard for me to believe that I was diagnosed with MCL over 4 years ago, and I have not had any treatment. Yet still, so many other things have changed. Even sitting in the oncologists office this morning, I realized I'm still here, but so many others have moved on. My original oncologist moved on, as did a number of nurses that were always in the back office. The receptionists always changed more often than the others, but I mention it today, because one of the old receptionists returned for a visit. At least I think it was a visit. I didn't recognize her at first, until someone mentioned her name. I didn't say anything to her either, because she didn't look as good as I remembered, and I surmised from her conversation that she may of had cancer, hearing something about chemo in the conversation. I guess I should have said ...

Well the new blog design has been up for at least 2 days now, and not a single comment. What gives? I must have worked several hours getting it all set up properly, and I know at least a few people have been logging on. So how about some feed back on the design. Good, bad or even a suggestions on how to improve would be appreciated.

Last week Edie had appointments with her regular oncologist and orthopedic oncologist. Now that the radiation treatments are over, it's time to decide what additional steps need to be taken to get through this and eliminate the back pain. The consultations produced a mixed bag of news. Since Edie is still asymptomatic, except for the back pain from the compression fracture in the T2 vertebrea, and the only evidence of the disease shows up as a small precentage of plasma cells in the marrow, this suggests a smoldering or indolent form of myeloma, and there is no need to rush into any chemotherapy just yet. Kyphoplasty or vertebroplasty is out of the question to relieve the back pain, since the bone is fractured, i.e. nothing to keep the cement in place. Fusion of the bones or other operation seems so complicated, dangerous, full of potential complications and without guarantees it would do any good, it just doesn't seem worth pursuing. Plus since it could take from 4 to 6 week...

Well, ok, the Long Beach, CA, Senior (Age 54 - 59) Mens Amateur Champion (low net). I shot a net 214 (272 gross) at the 3 different Long Beach Courses. The best part, in addition to the $150 Gift Certificate, was the trophy. It was an engraved wine carafe. I guess they knew I liked wine. You can see all the results by going to the LB Golf Festival Website and navigate to the Senior Amateur Championship site, or you can just click on the latter link if you want to save time. I was in the B-Flight. Lots of controversy surrounded the tournament this year, as one participant, in my age group, was disqualifed for signing an incorrect score card. Before hitting a ball out of a sand trap, he went around to the other side of the bunker to to get a rake. The rake left a mark in the trap, and without thinking, he raked the trap before hitting his shot. I didn't realize it, and obviously neither did he, but that is against the rules. He was told it was a one stroke penalty, and ad...