Living with MCL

Maybe I shouldn’t have gone for a bike ride this morning, after a relatively hard ride yesterday [but not overly hard], and a pretty fancy dinner last night, consisting of two especially good bottles of Pinot Noir (2006 Dumol Ryan’s Vineyard, and a 2005 Frédéric Mugnier, Nuit St. Georges, Clos de la Marechale), and just rested instead. But I’m a glutton for punishment I guess, and I refuse to let this feeling of malaise, I have been experiencing lately, continue. So I ventured out anyways.

I didn’t go with the club, since I got up late (remember those 2 especially good bottles of wine) plus there wasn’t a scheduled ride today, as the club was putting on a cyclocross race. Instead I went out by myself, and did my favorite ride, Turnbull Canyon.

I knew I wasn’t feeling that great, but I was able to make it up the first climb (Colima) struggling only slightly. It wasn’t until I started up the back side of Turnbull, that I realized just how badly I was feeling. After getting only a 1/3 of the way up Turnbull, a rider from the Banning Bikes group, which I passed earlier, while they were regrouping after Colima, went by me like I was standing still.

Now I realize I’m not the strongest rider around (far from it, noting I am 61 and anemic), and it may have been only a minute or two before they resumed their ride, but still it was demoralizing. Fortunately, I didn’t see anyone else behind him, so I tried picking up the pace [a little] in the hope I could at least stay ahead of everyone else, before getting to the top. I did manage to get to the top before anyone else caught me, but my time was really disappointing, and I think I paid for that little bit of extra effort on the way home.

The last 8 miles, which should have taken only about 25 minutes at most, took almost 32 minutes. I was didn’t have much left. Fortunately I can rest the remainder of the day, and hopefully after a little while, I might even feel like walking over to the park, and watch the remainder of the cyclocross races, if it’s not too late already.

I learned I don’t like going on vacations. Of course that’s really nothing new. I’ve always known that, but I can’t help myself. I just love the anticipation of going on vacation. It’s just that once I’m on vacation, all I can think about is getting back home.

[Is that what happens when you get old, and set in your ways, or is it just me?]

I also learned October is probably not a good month to go on vacation.

While this is supposed to be the warmest month of the year in San Francisco, it was anything but that on Saturday and Sunday. When we arrived on Friday, the weather was actually pretty nice. It was sunny, warm, and there was very little wind. Of course that all changed when the sun started to set. Not only did it get colder, but the wind picked up, making walking to dinner a little trying.

And it didn’t get any better the next two days, including the drive down the coast to Monterey on Sunday, where it was even colder and windier. We spent one night in Monterey, and then drove to Solvang the next day, where the weather, while not perfect, was much more tolerable. Plus the wine there is very good! We ended up buying 19 bottles in only a day and a half of wine tasting.

Another lesson I learned was not to drive a car into San Francisco. I definitely won’t do that again. Traffic is horrendous, and parking is unbelievably expensive. I ended up spending $54/night to park the car at the hotel where we were staying. [That is just ridiculous!] Next time I’ll fly, and walk (it’s not a very big city), or take a taxi or bus to where I want to go. $108 goes a long way in a taxi, and even further on a bus.

I also learned I don’t need to go to another lymphoma conference. For all the talk about how great our health care system is in the US, treatment options for cancer (which consist of infusing deadly chemicals into the body) haven’t really changed much in the past 40 years, except for maybe the reemergence of Bendamustine, an old East German drug [chemical] which is showing good promise in treating lymphoma. There is some new research going on, but nothing at all earth shattering, or that I didn’t know about already, but even those are years off. Hopefully I’ll still be around then, but I have my doubts.

I did get one piece of new information from of the conference, and that was, in addition to having MCL, I may also have Cutaneous T Cell Lymphoma (CTCL).

You see, ever since my diagnosis with MCL, I have noticed a number of lightly discolored spots on my chest and back. They never bothered me, they’re relatively small, and they’re not very visible, so I never gave them much thought, that is until I saw pictures at the conference which bare a striking resemblance to what I have. The spots make up well less than 5% of my body’s total surface area, so if it is CTCL then it is likely a very mild form known as Mycosis fungoides (MF).

In about 10% of the cases, MF can spread to the blood, lymphnodes and other organs, but the spread in very unpredictable. In most people it progresses very slowly, or often times, not at all, which after 7½ years, just might be my case.

Of course it is possible I don’t have CTCL, as I was told by the expert, at the lymphoma conference, it is rare to have both a T Cell and a B Cell Lymphoma (MCL is a B Cell lymphoma), but it has been known to occur. And I have often been told I am a one of a kind individual.

It will be interesting to see what my oncologist has to say about that at my next appointment.

Worst of all though, it wasn’t until I got home that I learned I gained 4 lbs. I wouldn’t think that was possible, only being gone 5 days. I guess 5 days off the bike, and way too much food and wine, definitely takes it toll.

But it is good to be home, back in my own bed and back to my regular boring life.

to relax anyone.

Just got back from the Central Coast Wine and Food Festival at Wally’s in West LA, and despite the fear of blood gushing out my nose at some unexpected moment, I was spared that embarrassment.

Instead, I managed to enjoy some great food from the such famed names as Wolfgang Puck and Mark Peel, and some unexpectedly good wines from wineries I had never heard of before from the central coast region of California.

All in all it was a good day!

Now if I can just make it through till my appointment with the ENT doc on Thursday, I’ll be a happy man.

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.