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30 Dec |
Reflections on the year 2006 Day to Day Life
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As I look back over the past year, not a lot has seemed to happen of any consequence, at least not a lot good, and it certainly was not how I perceived it occurring when I was reflecting on 2005.
The biggest disappointment was Edie’s diagnosis of Multiple Myeloma. And as if that wasn’t bad enough, it looks like it is progressing at a fast enough pace, treatment is imminent. (Here I was diagnosed almost 5 years ago with lymphoma, and I still haven’t needed treatment, nor see any in the near future.)
I know, no one ever said life was fair, but some things just shouldn’t be.
On a good note, I have managed to stay accident free on the bike. (Knock on wood, I haven’t spoken too soon since there is still one more day, and one more ride left in the year.)
We did managed to get to Italy in 2006, which we had been wanting to do for years, but were a little disappointed in the whole experience. I had heard so much about Italy, I think I set my expectations too high. I also did too much planning, which I think took some of the spontaneity out of the experience.
At least we got it out of our system, and from here on out, we plan on concentrating our travels within the US. Besides the fact that the monetary exchange rate is less than favorable, just the hassle of traveling between airports has just made air travel no fun anymore.
Other than that there isn’t much more to reflect on. Edie’s myeloma and my lymphoma, seem to have occupied just about every other aspect of our lives, and I don’t think I need to bore you with all those details. Besides, if you’re a regular reader of this blog, you already know most of them.
Oh yeah, I almost forgot. One good thing, worth mentioning again, did happen. After 12 years of Republican control of Congress, the Democrats finally managed to win back control. Hopefully, and I don’t want to alienate any of my loyal readers by getting too political and stating,
maybe now the US can get back on track, concentrating it’s efforts on helping the citizens of the US, and not squandering our precious resources, on some crusade to spread democracy throughout the world, while ignoring the plight, and the security of American citizens at home.
So here’s looking for better things in 2007.
And let’s hope the weather starts turning a little warmer here in southern California, like Al Gore keeps claiming it’s supposed to be.
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26 Dec |
Can’t we all just get along? Day to Day Life, My MCL, Off Topic
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I know I have been as guilty as the next person, when it comes to having a chip on my shoulder at times. After all I’m sick, and I have that right. Don’t I?
No, not really. I don’t have a monopoly on having problems. We all have problems, but typically they’re not any one individuals fault. They may be the fault of our entire society, or simply the luck of the draw, so why do we insist on taking our frustrations out on each other?
It started with Dave, from Delius Restaurant, when he blasted me, for posting a review, expressing how dissatisfied I was with the service and food, at his restaurant, two weeks ago. It seems he was more concerned that he got a bad review, than the fact that he had a dissatisfied customer.
Then the other day I got involved in a discussion on syngeneic transplants, on the Multiple Myeloma group I subscribe to. Rather then go into any great detail, I’ll just say that the conversation transgressed into what cancer is, i.e. an abnormal cell, a mutated normal cell or a foreign cell.
Who cares what you call it? Cancer is something that you would have hoped your immune system would have recognized as not being good (foreign, abnormal, mutated, etc.). The fact that it wasn’t is the problem. So lets not get caught up in semantics, when we’re discussing our disease, and what may or may not be a viable treatment.
And this morning, my good friend Garry, one of the old gang, got all excited when another rider picked the pace up, a little more than Garry liked, as we went up a slight grade in Huntington Beach.
When we realized that Garry had fallen off the pace (not because he couldn’t keep up), we slowed down, and waited for him to catch up, at which point he had a few choice words to one of the offending riders.
When I go for a bike ride, all I want to do is ride, and is one reason I stopped riding with Lightning Velo, and now most ride with Velo Allegro, or by myself. There were just way too many rules.
I have enough things on my mind without worrying about how fast I may be going, and I certainly didn’t need to listen to any ensuing heated discussions.
So for a 2007 New Year’s resolution let’s all just try to lighten up, at least a little. We all have problems, and there’s no need to inflict our own individual frustrations on our friends, co-workers or even customers.
In the immortal words of Rodney King,
Can’t we all just get along?
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23 Dec |
Subscription options added Off Topic
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I just love Wordpress blogging software!
There are just so many things you can do with it, and best of all it’s free.
While a few themes can be a little tricky, with just a little work, modifying the appearance of just about any theme is really easy, even if you don’t know any code.
Plus there seems to be an endless supply of add ons, which make modifying the appearance and functionality of your blog a breeze.
A week or two ago, I added a preview button, followed by the CAPCHA code, where you have to verify you are a human before you can comment (principally to reduce spam, which I was getting at a rate of 100+ a day), and today I just added a subscription button to the comments section.
Now you can subscribe to the comments for any post, and receive email notification anytime someone comments on that post. You don’t have to keep checking back for additional comments. And you don’t even have to comment to receive follow up comments from others.
You can also receive notification of new posts just by registering for this site, via the register link in the “Meta” link section of the left sidebar (to the right), or by clicking on the “Subscribe” button above.
And each one of those add-ons where accomplished with a simple one file upload, and activation from the Dashboard.
What a trip! 
*NOTE: I was not compensated for this endorsement in any way.
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21 Dec |
Treatment time is here! Diagnosis, Edie, Treatments
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A week or two ago, I posted about Edie possibly needing treatment very soon. Well it seems that time has come.
Yesterday, Edie had her second opinion consultation with Dr. Brian Durie at Cedars Sinai Hospital, and he concurred with the conclusion of her current oncologist at Kaiser, Dr. Simmons. (One good piece of news we have found is that Dr. Simmons is the oncologist to be seeing at Kaiser for myeloma.)
We have decided to go with the Thalidomide plus Dexamethasome protocol, which I believe is delivered in pill form. That doesn’t make it any less severe a treatment, but it does make it easier to take. It also leave lots of doors open for future treatments.
All that remains now is securing an appointment, with Dr. Simmons, so that she can begin treatment. Oh yeah, and making sure we get the most out of the next few weeks in the way of culinary pleasures. Among other things, Dexamethasome wreaks havoc on the taste buds. Not sure what Thalidomide will do, but we know it can’t be good.