A Spring in my Step

Hello Folks!

Long time, no write.  I’ve been waiting for something dramatic to happen, but life has been boringly normal… and I’m lovin’ it!™

A significant anniversary occurred on April 21st.  One decade previously was the day I got the Bad News.  This year the four-letter “C” word is hovering in the air.  Not that I’m counting any chickens just yet.  Eggs can look deceptively benign.

The last time I had a consultation with a doctor related to the melanoma was mid-March.  At that point there were no new lumps and just a few BCG pustules gradually shrinking away on my foot.  Every so often I get a little itchy spot on the leg, but it subsides in a day or two.  If these things popped up anywhere else I’d say they were insect bites, but I rather suspect that there is some sort of immune system thing happening, like hives or something.  The pustules are still just about detectable and there is one other minor lump which is probably scar tissue (Dr. G wasn’t sure, but he wasn’t worried either.)  My dermatologist couldn’t find anything to complain about, and a PET scan revealed no suspicious activity.

For what it’s worth my dentist, my hairdresser, and my guru gave me a thumbs-up too.

The only fly in the ointment is that I seem to have a small tear (as in “rip”) in my right fovea.  The evolution of this is quite interesting.  Apparently, as one ages the jelly-like glop in the eyeball becomes less viscous.  However, it doesn’t do this uniformly, so there are often sort of lumps of denser material floating around.  In my case one of these was attached to my retina.  When it decided to float off (for some reason) it took a bit of retina with it.  Ominously, I have a similar glob attached to my left retina too.  The effect of this is to leave me with a small blind spot right in the middle of my vision, and a pincushion effect in the area surrounding it.  I can no longer read with that eye, but my general vision of my surroundings is OK.  At some point (probably around September) a retinal surgeon is going to pull the ragged edges back together and inject some gas into the eyeball.  Then I will have to spend a week face down 24/7 so that the gas bubble presses the retina back into place until it heals.  At that point I should have about 80% of vision back in that eye.  I am actually quite surprised I’m not having anxiety over going blind.  All that meditation seems to have done me some good.

A. had a rough time with her thesis project just before Christmas and decided to take a leave of absence from January until April (inclusive).  It struck me that this represented a rare opportunity.  It’s not like we see a lot of her these days, what with the 1300Km commute etc..  She had long wanted to see the bits of England where I spent my youth (dungeons, torture chambers, labour camps, British Rail cafeterias etc.).  This seemed like a good time for the two of us to take it in, so we spent two weeks there in April.  P. was content not to do so much walking, so she stayed at home.  We managed to connect with a whole bunch of far-flung relatives and a few good friends with the aid of many train rides and much excellent beer.  As luck would have it, our trip more or less crossed paths with a couple of our close Canadian friends, so all four of us were able to spend a beautiful day exploring Durham together.  It was a wonderful trip, from which my feet have almost recovered.

Now that I’m back it is almost time to get a boat into the water.  Last year we bought a small sailing dinghy for A. to play with when she’s home.  This year, what with my leg being all healed up, I think I will ride it out to sea.  You know the expression: “three sheets to the wind”?  Stay tuned.  I might be the first person to cross the Atlantic in a dinghy … by accident.

News Roundup

First, let me tell you about three non-fiction books P. and I have been working our way through.

There has been a lot of hype about Jordan Peterson’s 12 Rules for Life, so we thought we’d see what all the fuss is about.  After reading the book, we’re still wondering.  It’s an OK read, but there are lots of types and it is quite repetitive in places, suggesting that Mr. Peterson is being paid by the word.  His rules (listed on WikiPedia) are all fairly commonsensical and little original thinking is evident.  However, it is not a bad reminder that being a Good Person is not necessarily all that hard.

The Beautiful Cure by Daniel M. Davis is all about the human immune system, our current understanding of how it works, and the primary researchers who figured it out.  To borrow a well-known phrase:  “it’s complicated”.  I found it very helpful in understanding how my own treatments work, and there is a very illuminating discussion of vaccine adjuvants which ought to give any anti-vaxxer some food for thought.  There is enormous potential for immunotherapy in many areas of medicine – all very exciting.

Finally, a real eye-opener is Amy Chua’s Political Tribes.   The central thesis is that family, racial, kinship, and other such connections between humans often trump (so to speak) national identity, and that the failure to take this into account has led to many very poor decisions in international affairs.  There is a chapter apiece on Vietnam, Afghanistan, Iraq, and Venezuala.  The last chapter is devoted to political tribalism in the US, which promises to be a fascinating read when we get there.   The book is a relatively easy and engaging read, but it doesn’t give me much optimism about the human race.  Still, highly recommended.

And now for the story spike:

• Cancer ‘vaccine’ eliminates tumours in mice – Stanford U. invigorates T-cells¹
• CLL ‘cure’ looks hopeful – combo of two non-chemo  drugs – Venetoclax and Ibrutinib¹
• Tanning beds considered not so harmful – a meta-study reveals questionable studies
• Beta blockers boost immunotherapy – helps melanoma patients live longer and prosper¹
• Good skin bacteria fight cancer – the lighter side of staphylococcus epidermidis
• Soil-dwelling anti-melanoma microbe – forget the tanning bed; try mud wrestling 🙂
• Gut micro-biome affects imunnotherapy – the interconnectedness of all things¹
• HPV promotes skin cancer – the further interconnectedness of all things¹
• How UV light triggers melanoma – when melanocyte  mutations reach a threshold
• An anti-melanoma drug schedule – timing is important¹
• A 3-minute treatment for depression – intermittent theta-burst stimulation (iTBS) therapy
• Daily aspirin promotes melanoma in men – but the risk is still very low
• Lymph system helps melanoma spread – lymph vessel endothelial cells to blame
• Cancer drug resistance reveals Achilles heel – how many feet has Achilles got?!
• Two step process leads to immortal cells – pity it’s so hard for the rest of us

(Note 1: The Beautiful Cure explains some of this stuff.)

That’s it from me.  I’m off to avoid a sunburn and seek enlightenment elsewhere.

Good health to you all!