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26 Jun |
There is no magic bullet Diagnosis, My MCL
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I just hate it when people ask me for advice about what I’ve done [and am still doing] to keep my MCL at bay for so long. I hate it because I really don’t have a good answer, and I don’t want to mislead anyone.
Sure I drink a lot of green tea, and a lot of red wine, but I’m not really convinced they have been effective in holding my MCL at bay. There just isn’t any scientific evidence proving their efficacy. I am hopeful, and believe that in moderation, taking only what can be obtained naturally, can’t do any harm. I won’t take and EGCG or Reservatrol supplements.
There are however, some practices I follow which I believe have been effective in extending my longevity, i.e. restricting caloric intake, and intense exercise, but I haven’t seen any scientific evidence to prove the effectiveness of those practices either, although there is this one anectdotal study on the restriction of caloric intake by Arthur B. Robinson, which seems plausible to me.
So despite everything I continue to do, I don’t have any illusions that there is a magic bullet out there. Principally, I believe it is just the luck of the draw, that has allowed me to last this long [without treatment], and the fact I likely received my MCL diagnosis earlier than most people.
Of course that doesn’t mean I won’t keep looking for that magic bullet either, nor do I plan to stop riding my bike, or drinking green tea and red wine.
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23 Jun |
A semi decent birthday present Life, My MCL
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It’s hard to believe I’ve actually made it to another birthday. My 61st to be exact.
When I was diagnosed with MCL over 7 years ago, I said I would be happy if I could just get 5 good years. Well, I’ve far exceeded that goal, and now have come to realize, that another 5 years won’t be good enough.
And why should it? I’m not feeling significantly different than when I was first diagnosed. Sure I’m 7 years older, and I’ve slowed down a little, but who doesn’t once they get over 50?
The only real problem is always dealing with the fact of an incurable disease hanging over your head, and never really knowing when the shoe is going to drop, and things start to get worse. [Fortunately I've got a good support group close by to help me with that.]
But at least for now, everything is the same. My latest blood work is in, and everything is still stable, essentially the same as it has been for the past 18 months. My platelets and LDH were even slightly improved over last months, which is good, but I attribute that more to lab variation than anything more profound happening.
So happy birthday to me!
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6 Jun |
The green tea phenomenon – Part II General Health, My MCL
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I’ve started writing 3 different posts on 3 different subjects this past week, but haven’t finished any of them. I just don’t seem to have any drive to inform the world of what is going on in my life. And who really cares anywaze?
So instead today, while I sip a bit of green tea this morning, I thought I would discuss some of the things I’ve learned, during this past week or so, about drinking the good stuff, i.e “real” green tea, not the stuff from Trader Joe’s or Fresh and Easy, but the loose leaf variety, that actually looks green after brewing.
The best thing I’ve discovered so far is the extra caffeine, I’ve been getting, hasn’t resulted in any heart palpitations, and I’ve drank over 40 cups this week.
But more importantly I think I’ve finally come up with the perfect brewing technique to optimize flavor and EGCG intake.
- I use two (2) grams of tea for every eight (8) oz of water, and I don’t reuse the tea leaves.
- I use only filtered water. (The Brita water dispenser works great for that purpose.)
- I heat the water to just below the boiling temperature, about 200°F. [Now boiling the water is supposed to optimize the extraction of EGCG, but for the best taste the water should be heated to between 175°F and 195°F, depending on the particular green tea you have chosen, so I decided to compromise.]
- Next, I brew the tea for 5 to 7 minutes. [This is also another compromise, since the optimum brewing time for taste is 1 to 2 minutes, but to optimize EGCG extraction, brewing time should be 5 to 10 minutes. So to make up for the lower water temperature, I go a little longer on the brewing time, which seems about right, and I feel comfortable I'm getting the most EGCG, without compromising taste.]
- And finally, I discovered it is important to use a good filtering (infusing) system for brewing the tea. [Contrary to the review I read, the ingenuiTEA (by Adaigio) just doesn't do the trick. The loose leaves clog up the filtering system, resulting in slow drainage into the cup, and lots of loose leaves entering into the cup as well (which results in a bitter taste after a while). So I went and bought two of these infuser cups (one for work and one for home), which were recommended by some one I consider very knowledgeable on the subject of brewing green tea.]
Ok, hopefully that was informative for everyone.
Now I can go have breakfast, and start gettiing ready for my morning bike ride, confident in the knowledge I have performed my self imposed requirement to post at least weekly to my blog, no matter how benign the post may be.
