More bad news

 Diagnosis, My MCL, Vacations  2 Responses »
Sep 212009
 

As if the company I work for being bought out, and the onset of fall, with the weather changes and the much shorter days it brings isn’t enough, I just received my latest blood work today, and it was not to my liking.

Not only did my lymphocyte count drop from 94 thou/mcL to 62 thou/mcL (which may or may not be a good thing), my hemoglobin dropped back down to 11.4 g/dL, and my platelets continued on their downward slide, dropping to 158 thou/mcL from 172 thou/mcL last month, and 200 thou/mcL in July.

What’s really disappointing, I went on a pretty hard bike ride this morning, and climbed the 2 miles up to the top of Turnbull Canyon within 2 seconds of my best time this year. I was really feeling good, that is up until just now.

It’s always possible the hard bike ride, and the slight dehydration, may have skewed the results, but I’d have thought the results would be higher (like my creatinine, which was up to 1.2 today), not lower.

Whatever, something is going on. Either the tests are screwed up, my [enlarged] spleen is acting up, and imprisoning my platelets, or maybe my indolent MCL has transformed into something else. Either way I maybe looking at some sort of treatment sooner than later. (And I just booked a trip to Roatan in June 2010 with my dive group.) Sounds like a good reason not to make plans too far in advance.

Anywaze, fortunately I have an appointment scheduled with my oncologist tomorrow in the afternoon, so I emailed her to let her know she needs to start thinking about the next step. And I guess I’d better start doing some more research again. It seems after 7-1/2 years of thinking I may never need treatment, has left me somewhat lacking in knowledge.

And to think this all started when I switched to using Japanese green tea leaves in May, from the green tea I used to buy at Trader Joe’s and Fresh and Easy for $2 for 40 bags. Umh!

 Posted by at 4:33 pm

I don’t need a lot to be happy

 Life, Vacations  4 Responses »
Aug 162009
 

I don’t need a fancy car. My 1993 Lexus SC coupe still looks like new, and works just fine. I don’t need a big luxurious house on a golf course or on the beach somewhere. My 1800 square foot home, 3/4 of a mile from Eldorado Park golf course, and 4 miles from the beach is quite comfortable, and I don’t have the need to be traveling the world, spending weeks away from home, visiting exotic destinations.

Patagonia

But sometimes, despite not needing some things, you want them anyways.  A new Mercedes Benz E Class Coupe is one such thing I would like to have, but mostly I want to go to South America and visit the wine country’s of Argentina and Chile, and experience the eco tourism of Patagonia.

The only problem is, a trip to South America would entail a minimum of 15 hours of travel time (each way), and 3 weeks away from home [and off the bike], two [three] things I don’t relish. Plus I’m not sure Edie has her heart set on this trip as much as I do, as the trip to Patagonia does have some physical challenges.

So here I sit, trying to decide whether 15 hours of travel time, and 3 weeks away from home is worth it. I know I want to go [this could be a once in a lifetime trip], but I also know how much I enjoy the anticipation of traveling, yet once I get there, can’t wait to get home.

I also know I can go wine tasting, horse back riding, kayaking and white water rafting right here in the states. Travel time would be considerably less, I wouldn’t have to be away from home [and off the bike] for so long, and it would be considerably less expensive, but I wouldn’t be experiencing all the culture and uniqueness of South America.

BIG SIGH! I’m just not sure what to do.

How far in advance to make vacation plans?

 General Health, Vacations  2 Responses »
Jul 112009
 

One of the most difficult things about having a terminal illness, even when it may be in remission or slow progressing, is never knowing when it may take an unexpected and/or unwanted turn for the worse.  At the very least it makes planning for vacations difficult.

Of course, as I realized this past week, planning for vacations can be a problem even if you don’t have a terminal illness, because anyone [even healthy people get sick you know] can pick up a virus any time, and even if you do have a terminal illness you can get sick from things totally unrelated to your particular disease. Plus there reasons, other than illness, that can arise, resulting in the cancellation of a planned trip as well.

As it turns out, in January of this year, Edie and I were planning a trip to France this month. We were going to leave on the 10th of July, and return on the 28th, spending the last 3 days in Paris, and watch the end of the Tour de France on the Champs Elysees. I even booked hotel reservations in Paris, less than 200 yards from the Champs Elysees.

But for some reason, for a reason I can’t remember (it could have been the lousy exchange rate), in April we decided not to go this year, and right now that seems like a pretty prudent decision. Continue reading »

 Posted by at 6:15 pm

How much would you pay?

 Food & Wine, Life, Vacations  8 Responses »
Jun 152009
 

How much are two nights at the Mandalay Bay Hotel in Las Vegas, one 6 course and one 7 course dinner at Charlie Palmers Aureole restaurant, and three midday food preparation demonstrations, all accompanied by no less than 69 French, California and Washington wines worth?

I have to admit when I first received the email describing this event, I was skeptical. There was no way to know how big this event was going to be, nor were there specific description of the dinners, or wines that would be served, to really make an informed decision about the event.

Still, after considering the package included 2 nights at the Mandalay Bay, and 2 dinners at Aureole restaurant I didn’t think we could go too wrong by attending. Plus it just sounded like a good excuse to get out of town for the weekend.

So we decided to go, and headed out early Friday morning, as the first event, a pate preparation demonstration, was scheduled for 2:30 PM.

Well the only thing I can say is the event was definitely worth the price. In fact it was probably worth twice the price. Of course we might not have attended if it cost twice as much, but it still would have been worth it.

There were only 29 attendees at the event, making all the demonstrations and dinners very intimate, allowing everyone an opportunity to ask questions, and actually learn something. It was also great interacting with the chefs, the sommeliers and the entire restaurant staff, who were as friendly as anyone could ever expect.

And then there was the food and the wine, all of which were spectacular.

It would be hard to describe the food as other than near perfect, although Friday’s 7 course Lyonnaise inspired dinner was slightly better than Saturday’s American inspired dinner, but that would be expected as chef Vincent Pouessel is French. Still both dinners were excellent, and we got to taste everything from crayfish to bison.

And the wines. All I can say is WOW! They were way beyond anything I expected or could have even imagined. Some examples of the wines we tasted were

  • 1984 Joseph Phelps ‘Eisele’ Cabernet Sauvignon
  • 1976 Beaulieu Vineyards ‘Georges de Latour’ Cabernet Sauvignon
  • 1970 Mayacamas Napa Cabernet Sauvignon
  • 1990 Jaboulet ‘La Chapelle’ Hermitage (Rhone)
  • 1998 Guigal Hermitage

Just to name a few.

And contrary to what I have come to expect after tasting wines brought to parties by friends, that weren’t nearly as old as the wines we had this past weekend, these wines were all good. Some of these wines may have been past their prime, but despite that, they all had enough fruit and all of the character and balance you would expect from a quality, older wine, but just having the opportunity to taste these wines was an experience I will not soon forget.

In my opinion this was a once in a lifetime event, and Charlie Palmer’s Aureole restaurant will have a hard time topping it, but I plan on attending the next event, regardless of the price, that is assuming it is within reason.

 Posted by at 7:35 am

Vacation let down

 Cycling, Life, Vacations, Work  2 Responses »
May 162009
 

Well, it’s been a week now since Edie and I returned home from Grand Turk, and despite being happy to be home, the reality of how difficult it is readjusting from a very relaxing week, with limited access to information from the [real] world, is finally setting in.

cimg0573Two notably good things were the HINI [swine] flu is not dominating the news anymore, and Morris is finally warming up to Chloe. I guess Morris has finally come to the realization that we still love him, and Chloe is here to stay.

Oh, if that were the only two things I had to deal with, life would be good, but that just isn’t the case.

First off, gasoline prices have jumped 10% [maybe closer to 15%], and that’s just after deciding I didn’t need to replace my Toyota Camry (34 mpg), after cracking the transmission, and deciding I would start driving the Lexus (23 mpg) from now on.

Secondly is the difficulty getting back in decent cycling form, and hurting my knee trying to do a little too much a little too soon. The knee felt good today, but I’m still afraid to push it too hard for fear it will starting to hurt again.

But the worst thing was Continue reading »

 Posted by at 2:48 pm

There’s no place like home

 Vacations  No Responses »
May 102009
 

cimg0550I don’t know about the rest of you, but I always seem to enjoy the anticipation of a vacation, more than the actual vacation.

Now it’s not like we [I] didn’t enjoy the vacation. There were actually a lot of things to like about Grand Turk, i.e. great diving, quiet and untraveled beaches, friendly inhabitants, and near perfect weather. (The only rain we did get, started just before our 1st dive Thursday morning, but by the time we surfaced the weather was beautiful again).

My problem is, I always seem to focus more on the few things I don’t like.

Traveling of course is always a hassle, but that’s a problem no matter where you go, so there’s no need to mention that. Then there was the resort which didn’t quite live up to expectations, but neither was it awful, so I won’t complain about that too much either.

cimg0569The most disappointing aspect of Grand Turk was the lack of high quality restaurants. When I go on vacation, it’s the food [and wine] I look forward to the most, and Grand Turk just did not produce. If it weren’t for the Chinese restaurant, Captain Zheng (hands down the best restaurant on the island), which we went to twice, I would have been even more disappointed.

Then there was Continue reading »

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