Living with MCL

Well three week off work, as a result of our annual maintenance shut down, is over, and even though I had to come in to work a couple of days to get ready for our AS9100 audit, coming back to work after being off for so long is really difficult.

If only the weather had been a little cooler, I might have enjoyed the time off. But with temperatures reaching into the high 90′s°F, and humidity greater then 80%, going outside has essentially been unbearable.

Even golfing is unenjoyable. The heat and humidity just seem to suck the life out of you. Yesterday, Edie and I went out around 2:30 in the afternoon to play a round, hoping to get in 18 holes. Everything was fine for about 5 holes, at which point, I could no longer swing the club. My rhythm and tempo were gone, and it was like I forgot how to play. We quit after 9 holes, got some Chinese take out, opened a bottle of wine, and sat in front of the wide screen TV, savoring the comfort of our air conditioned house. It was lovely.

But what has been bugging me so much lately, is I don’t know how much of this lackadaisical feeling I have been experiencing lately is due to the weather or my MCL.

I certainly hope it is the weather, but until this heat spell ends, I am not going to know, and I doubt that I will get out of this stupor of not wanting to do much of anything.

I love California because this kind of weather doesn’t occur, except for maybe one or two weeks during August and September, and if July has been this hot, I can’t even imagine what August and September will be like.

Well, the two favorites were barred from this years race, but that sure didn’t take anything away from the excitement of this years Tour. It has been, by far, the most exciting race, since Greag Lemond came from a 50 second deficit, to beat Laurent Fignon by 58 seconds in the final time trial back in ’89, to win the Tour by only 8 seconds.

This years Tour has seen the Yellow Jersey change hands 8 times, and just when we thought Floyd Landis rode himself out of any possibility of winning the Tour, he made a miraculous recovery on the 17th stage to recover 7 minutes and 30 seconds on the race leader. Now Landis is considered the favorite to win the Tour out right, with Saturdays 57 km time trial being still to go, before the final victory stage on Sunday.

Landis stands in 3rd place, 30 seconds behind Oscar Pereiro and 18 seconds behind Carlos Sastre, but is considered the superior time trialist, and has beaten both riders in the previous time trial by over a minute

Of course nothing is over until “the fat lady sings”, and the Yellow Jersey has been known to make supermen out of mere mortals, so tomorrows time trial is sure to have plenty of excitement. I don’t recommend missing what is, IMO, the greatest sporting event (challange) in the world.

You can watch it live on the Outdoor Life Network (OLN – channel 608 for Direct TV subscribers) starting at 8:30 AM EDST, and repeated throughout the day. But if you don’t have Direct TV, or your cable provider doesn’t give you OLN, you can still stay abreast of the action via the official Tour d’France website, and the OLN website.

I’ve noticed lately that I may have actually gone “over the top” as far as being obsessively compulsive. I have always had some compulsive behavior patterns, but lately I seem to be more aware of them. Hopefully that is the first sign which can lead to a cure. But do I really want to be cured?

One of my first compulsions started after being diagnosed with MCL. Within about a month of diagnosis, I decided to stop taking any medications or supplements of any kind, and that includes such seemingly innocuous items as aspirin or even a multivitamin. In fact I wouldn’t even put some lotion on two mosquito bites, I received the other day, to ease the itching. I chose to suffer, in the belief that it was all the vitamins and other nutritional items I took prior to being diagnosed with MCL, that led to my diagnosis.

Then there is my obsessive need to drink almost two quarts of decaffeinated green tea (4 tea bags) a day. I’ve read that something in the green tea acts as an anti-oxidant to prevent cancer, or at least slow the advancement in my case.

Now how misquided or idiotic does that sound? I refuse to take any medication or supplements, because I think that may have contributed to my MCL, but I intentionally drink lots of green tea.

Then there is my obsession with cycling and golf. So far this month, I have put on 460 miles, and it’s only the 19th of July. I do believe that it is the exercise that has kept my lymphoma in check. But lately I have been obsessing over my weight, which I have been continually stressing over in an attempt to lose an additional 15 pounds, which has made me want to ride even more than usual. Unfortunately I have been having a great deal of trouble losing those 15 pounds, because I also have this compulsion to eat everything in sight.

Now as far as golfing goes, I’m not sure I want to go into that, but if it wasn’t for it being as hot as it has been lately, I would be playing or practicing everyday. Suffice it to say, I think about my game, even when riding my bike, and always anticipating my next round of golf.

So what does everyone think? Do I have Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD), or are these just normal obsessions that everyone has?

I never thought I would be uttering those 4 words, but this hot weather has just gone on way to long. You expect this kind of weather in August and September, but not in June and July.

When I went on my bike ride this morning it was already 72F at 7:30 AM, and the sun was shining. Not only that, but the humidity was very high. I actually thought I was having a hot flash or maybe even a night sweat, although I don’t think you can have night sweats once you wake up.

Anywaze, I was struggling just to maintain the pace of the group, and didn’t think I could finish the ride, which was relatively short at 44 miles. But I struggled on, knowing I would regret it if I didn’t, and fortunately, another one of those great things about California, as we got closer to the coast, near Huntington beach to be exact, we encountered a marine layer that dropped the temperature an estimated 10F to 15F.

For the first time in a long while it actually felt cool, and I couldn’t believe I welcomed it. My energy level picked up, and I managed to finish the ride without any problems. I’m even ready for more, although I will admit, I took a shower, and am comfortably sitting in my air conditioned house right now.

There are actually some clouds outside, along with a nice breeze, which I hope is an indication of things to come, that is a cool down in temperatures in the coming days. I know it is predicted to rain tomorrow and Tuesday.

We shall see!!