Happy Thanksgiving

Another Thanksgiving has come. I hope all have a blessed and wonderful day of thanksgiving. I'm personally thankful that my wife is recovering and getting better every week. I'm doing OK. My counts are still below normal because of permanent damage caused by my stupid foray into FCR-land.

I had a severe inner-ear infection a couple of weeks ago. It seems to have abated, but it's left me with a nasty cause of tinnitus. For those who have been lucky enough not to have experienced this 'ringing in the ear', it's a constant (in my case) high-pitched buzzing, caused by long-term exposure to loud noise (not my problem) and infection.

It's very annoying, and it's accompanied by hearing loss. I have an appointment in January with the ENT doc, but there's nothing they can do. Medical science has a long way to go.

Anyway, hope things are better with you all. Be thankful for what we do have.

Survived Halloween

Halloween is my least favorite holiday. I dislike being tied to the house, waiting for teenagers to show up after 9 o'clock for a freebie. I also dislike the trend for parents in their thirties to hold out a bag for themselves after their tiny tot has gotten a treat.

We had over 65 trick-or-treaters this year, down from about 150 last year. I had one woman confess that she drives over to our area from hers, because it's 'safer and has better candy'. At least she's being honest. I've long suspected this, because there are only about 30-40 children in the two blocks around ours, and they don't come around twice.

Anyway, I'm holding my own. My ear infection has improved, though the antibiotics have interfered with my digestive system, reminding me of the days a year ago when flavopiridol did much the same (though to be honest, it was worse with flavo).

I'm shopping around for another treatment to keep my CLL in check. At this point in time, I think that that is the best we (and especially) and I can hope for.

Have a great holiday season, folks. By this time next month, I'll probably be involved in yet another clinical trial.