2007 April | Living with MCL

I’m a fair weather golfer too!

Apr 082007

Last month at the monthly men’s club tournament, I shot one of my worst rounds ever, but at least now, after watching the Masters golf tournament yesterday, I feel I can safely attribute most of the problems to the weather.

While the Augusta National course is a tough course, it is obvious the weather was a major contributing factor in an average score of 77 on a par 72 course. I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many times golfers taking more than one shot to get out of a bunker or so many misjudged shots resulting in balls going in the water or simply just not making it to the green, some even rolling nearly back to the feet of the shot taker.

At least the pros had the benefit of the sun along with the cold and the wind, we weren’t that fortunate that day during the mens club tournament.

The weather today for the Masters was much better, producing much better scoring and a very exciting tournament, with the lead changing several times, before Zack Johnson finally got the win.

Now, I just hope the weather here in southern California starts improving soon, so I can start playing better also.

My latest counts are in, and

Cycling, Golf, Life, My MCL No Responses »

Apr 052007

they are not as encouraging as they had been.

My lymphocytes jumped to 94.2 thou/cumm from 83.8 thou/cumm last month. I did have a higher lymphocyte count last December and August, so that doesn’t necessarily mean anything has changed significantly.

I sense when the numbers start getting this high, the variation from test to test varies more also.

But now I’m beginning to question the wisdom of being tested every month. I know I’ve done it, to some extent because I am superstitious, thinking there will be a sudden change if I should skip a month, but each new test now only seems to add additional worries, rather than any important information. After all, I still feel relatively fine.

Especially since this months test shows my hemoglobin down to 11.6 g/dl, which is the lowest it has ever been (the previous low was 11.8 g/dl in December), and I was still able to achieve my best time up the back side of Turnbull Canyon yesterday, since September 8th of last year.

I guess I have to attribute that to the new bike! I wonder if buying a new set of golf clubs will help my golf game?

The new and improved URL

Life, My MCL No Responses »

Apr 032007

If you happen to be very observant, you may have noticed, I have changed the URL of this site.

Now when you type in http://mlkashinsky.com, or click on the bookmark or other link you have saved for this site, you will automatically be redirected to http://livingwithmcl.com.

I just thought http://livingwithmcl.com was more appropriate to the topic at hand, and easier for others to find and remember.

But nothing really has changed. The look of the site is the same, and you don’t even have to change your bookmarks or links, as you will be redirected to the new site. (I do recommend though, that you do change your links or bookmarks.)

And hopefully all those that have subscribed to the original blog will continue to receive notification of new posts.

[PS: I apologize if you have received multiple notifications of the last two posts. During the transfer to the new URL, in an attempt to make sure "post notifications" was working, I may have overdone it.]

5 minutes a day, that’s all I ask

General Health, Golf, Life No Responses »

Apr 022007

Well for the first time in a long while, I got a really good nights sleep.

I may have awoken once during the night, for my usual bathroom break, but I slept so good, I’m not so sure I did.

I briefly awoke around 5 AM, when Edie got up, but without much effort at all, I managed to grab another hours sleep before finally dragging myself out of bed. So basically I got a full 8 hours of sleep, which really felt good.

One thing I did notice, and it’s probably because I was so refreshed when I got up, I realized just how stiff I was. My lower back was a little sore, but I was still able to manage after a short time. So since I had the time, I decided to do a few stretches, that is, if you can call what I did stretching.

It was pitiful. I didn’t realize how limber I wasn’t. I’ve never been a stretcher, except for the brief time I was taking karate lessons, but it’s not because I didn’t think I needed to. I just never thought I had the time, or at least that’s what I told myself.

But after this morning, I think it’s time to change that tune.

5 minutes a day, is what I’m committing to. That certainly isn’t much time, and it’s something that I hope I can adhere to. And it really shouldn’t be that tough, as stretching is something you can do literally anywhere, any time, even at work, so I won’t have any excuses if I don’t.

And if I’m really lucky, it might even help my golf game!

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A little about me

Hi, my name is Marc [that's my wife Edie beside me], and I have Mantle Cell Lymphoma, a typically aggressive form of lymphoma, except it so seems in my case.

I was diagnosed over 10 years ago, and have managed to survive since then without treatment, by following a few simple rules. Eat a [mostly] well balanced diet, exercise (cycling, at least up until recently), abstaining from taking supplements or any medications, drinking 5 to 6 cups of [Japanese] green tea a day, and most importantly [lots of good wine], flossing and brushing my teeth twice a day, everyday.

I started this blog mainly to chronicle my life, putting down in writing what goes through the mind of a cancer survivor (although I have been seen straying into unrelated areas on occasion), and along the way help educate others about lymphomas and other blood cancers, and filter out some of the hype and misinformation so often associated with the internet, which unfortunately there is plenty.

You can read a lot more about me by clicking here