As it turns out, I shot probably the worst round I have shot in well over a year. I didn’t even break 100.
My tempo and sequencing were both way off, and I just couldn’t manage to get them back. I should have stopped after nine, but I guess I’m a glutton for punishment.
I did manage 3 pars and a birdie, but even that wasn’t enough to lift my spirits. 
Oh well, it’s off to the range tomorrow.
Well, it’s been about 4 days since my last post, and there hasn’t seemed to be anything of consequence worth reporting on lately.
The plant, where I work, is on it’s annual preventative maintenance shut down, so I haven’t had to go in to work at all this week. In fact, I don’t have to go in until July 10th, when some visitors, from Boeing, are coming to do a fracture critical (quality) audit.
The plant doesn’t start up again until July 23
So to keep busy these last couple of days, I’ve either been riding my bike or playing golf every day, and sometimes even doing both in the same day. Today I’m playing golf.
Yeah, I know. Life’s tough!
Anywaze, I’ve been pretty happy with my golf game as of late, as I prepare for the Long Beach Men’s City Championship July 6
So that’s about it, except for next Monday, when I have my obligatory bimonthly visit with my substitute oncologist (mine is on maternity leave), and my monthly blood work. I am anxious to see if my blood counts continue on the favorable trend exhibited last month, or if that test was just a fluke.
I’ll keep you posted.
The number of vacations spent in sunny climates was inversely associated with a diagnosis of lymphoma, the researchers report, especially for Hodgkin lymphoma and B-non-Hodgkin lymphoma.
Mantle cell lymphoma falls under the latter category.
After accounting for other factors associated with lymphoma risk, the researchers found that individuals who spent more than 1,190 cumulative days in sunny locations had a 60-percent lower risk than those in sunny locations for 350 days or less.
Whoa!! I think I’ve exceeded the 1,190 cumulative days, having lived in Southern California, and Houston, TX, for the last 29 years.
One exception was high UV exposure during outdoor leisure activities up to age 15 years, which was associated with an increased risk of lymphoma.
Oh! I guess that must have been my problem. When I was 15 years old, there weren’t things like video games and computers to occupy my time, and keep me in the house.
So I guess there’s something to be said for parents insisting their children stay in doors and become couch potatoes, at least until age 15.
Of course, the one caveat (remember there always has to be at least one caveat)
this must still be balanced against the strong association between sun exposure and skin cancers, including melanoma, a potentially lethal cancer that can spread and be hard to treat.
Well if you haven’t figured it out by the title, today is my birthday, and I’m 59 years old.
WOW! It’s almost hard to believe, considering just over 5 years ago, I was having doubts that I would ever get to be 55, let alone 59.
Back then, I said if I could get 5 good years, I would be happy, but now that I got those 5 good years, I’m not at all happy. Nothing has changed. I still have MCL, and I now I want another 5 good years.
It’s just so hard, knowing you have a terminal illness, and trying to live life as though you didn’t. It’s so hard to get up every morning, put on that happy face, go to work, play golf, ride my bike, or do any other myriad of things, as if nothing was wrong, all the time knowing the disease could hit me anytime.
But it’s also hard not knowing when it seems everything is more difficult to accomplish, or you have to take a nap after doing all those things you love, whether it’s the disease that is gathering strength, depression from dealing with the constant cloud over you, or, as this day reminds me, I’m just getting older.
It’s plenty hard enough just dealing with my MCL, I sure don’t need no stinkin’ birthday to remind I’m getting older.
Of course gifts can go a long way to relieving some of those anxieties. 
This morning, I decided to ride my bike part way to work. That’s something I used to do quite often, but rarely do anymore, for whatever reason, but this morning I decided to do just that.
It was an unusually nice morning for June, typically characterized by cold temps and fog or heavy overcast, but this morning was totally different. So with only a few scattered clouds, and temperatures above 60°F, I picked a nearly perfect day to park my car in Malibu, and ride the last 16.2 miles in to work.
But before heading north on PCH, I decided to take a 3.25 mile detour up Yerba Buena Rd to the junction at Cotharin Rd.
It was a great climb, especially when I stopped about half way up to view the Pacific Ocean through the hills of Malibu. It’s tough to appreciate the view through a camera phone, but trust me, it makes the climb worthwhile. (It’s a lot prettier later in the day, when the sun is
high in the sky, and the wind has picked up, clearing out the haze.)
The return ride isn’t quite as enjoyable, as the normally westerly wind, was instead a mostly south wind forcing me to work a little harder than I had planned. But you know what they say,
“what doesn’t kill you, only makes your stronger.”
Of course it doesn’t hurt to have the Pacific Ocean to your south, to help direct the focus away from how much you’re struggling.
And the best part is, now I can go play golf tomorrow morning, and not feel guilty about not riding.
Well not exactly just yet, but 9 months from now, during the grape harvest season.
I know I’ve indicate before that I don’t like making plans so far in advance, and this is the second time I’ve done just that this year, but I find if I don’t make plans when I’m thinking about it, I end up not making them at all. Besides the airline tickets are fully refundable.
So last night, I went out on a limb, and made reservations. But it was a trying experience.
I started out at Orbitz and thought I had found the flights I wanted. There was just one caveat. I had to hurry as there were
only 4 seats left.
So I hurried, and clicked select. Unfortunately, after clicking select, I received a message that the tickets were no longer available. I guess I must have waited too long. So I tried 3 other similar flight itineraries, and was greeted with the same message. Bummer!
Not to be deterred though, I went directly to the source – Air New Zealand.
At the Air New Zealand site, I had no trouble getting the dates and times I wanted. So I started the booking process.
But then I realized I needed to increase the credit limit on my credit card, to cover the purchase of the tickets. I called the credit card company, and within about 10 minutes my limit was increased, but it seemed that extra time, plus the time needed to fill in my life history, including passport numbers, telephone numbers (with country code), etc. caused my session to time out.
And it was already passed my bed time!
Now, under normal circumstances, I might have considered all these problems an omen that we weren’t meant to go to New Zealand, but we really wanted to go to New Zealand, so I threw caution to the wind, and completed the booking process.
So next March Edie and I are off to New Zealand, starting in Wellington, exploring the wine country, and then ending the trip in Auckland.
And I’m not going to repeat the same mistake I made when we went to Italy. I’m not booking anything, except for the airline tickets, and maybe a hotel in Auckland.
Other than that, we’re just going to wing it, like we did when we went to France, which we really enjoyed. After all, it’s the unknown that makes vacations exciting!
Anyone else interested?
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 9 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