Happy Saint Patrick's Day

I'm posting a little late in the day -- I like to give these kind of special wishes early, so anyone checking in can see them -- but I was sipping Guinness all day, and then just as I was losing enough of my buzz to type correctly, Louisville lost their first round game in the NCAA tournament, and I started drinking all over again, because they ruined my whole bracket.

(And do note that I said I was drinking Guinness -- green food coloring in beer is just not right, no matter what the day is.)

I also spent the day sifting through various St. Patrick's Day videos and blog posts, trying to decide which one to give you. I thought about going sentimental, with a nice post from an Irish woman who came to America a few years ago, and as much as our St. Patrick's Day celebrations annoyed her for perpetuating Irish stereotypes, they still made her miss home. Then  I thought about this one, with that cranky lady from the greeting cards, but it was rude. Then there are The Muppets, and you can't ever go wrong with them -- especially Beaker, Animal, and the Swedish Chef, my three favorites.

But I'm going more wholesome: a flash mob in Sydney, Australia. A flash mob is a group that "spontaneously" comes out of a crowd and does something planned and choreographed, and then disappears back into the crowd when they're done. Two of the better known are from the group Improv Everywhere: this one in at Grand Central Station in NYC and this one in a grocery store in Queens. My kids love flash mobs.

This one just took place a couple of days ago in Sydney, and features dancers from Riverdance along with som elocal school kids. Very cool, and very appropriate for the day.

Hope you had a happy  and safe one.

Cancer Humor

I forgot to mention that I had my annual physical about two weeks ago. As she was trying to call up my records on her reluctant computer, she asked me some general questions about my health. I answered to each one that I was having no problems. "I'm the healthiest cancer patient in town," I told her. She enjoyed that. Always good to break the ice that way before a physical gets...physical.

(I got that cartoon from Daryl Cagle's blog.)

If you've been reading for a while, you know how much I enjoy cancer humor.

But having a sense of humor during the process -- being able to laugh at the absurdity of it all -- can be an essential part of staying sane. When I was in the treatment room, I made it a point to ask the onc nurse to put the TV on Comedy Central. There were usually horrible "comedy" movies at 10:00am as I was starting treatment, but if I took a nap, I could sleep through them and be awake for, say, The Daily Show or something else funny. And I'd laugh. Out loud. A lot. The nurses told me they didn't much laughter in the treatment room. They seemed to appreciate it.

This week, NHL survivor Sue Schroder compiled some stories from cancer patients about laughing during the difficult times, for a piece in the Grand Rapids Press. It doesn't involve much of that dark cancer humor that I enjoy, but it does provide some nice reminders that we all need to find the laughter in the worst situation. It's always there; it just needs to be found.

Running

I had the chance to look back at some of my old Lympho Bob entries recently. It's interesting to me how important running was when I was first diagnosed-- it was a kind of barometer of how good I was feeling. I remember very early on telling a story about how worried about me John was, and Peter telling him that he'd heard me on the treadmill one morning, and that meant I was doing fine. (I wrote up that story and submitted it to Runner's World, which rejected it. Cancer/running stories are a dime a dozen, and even a story with cute kids didn't make the cut for them.)

I've been reminded of my early cancer/running stories again as the weather has finally been better, and all but about 5 square feet of snow has melted from our yard, and all of the runners are returning to the neighborhood. I also recently saw a colleague at work who's about two or three months out of chemotherapy for Hodgkin's Lymphoma (diagnosed while pregnant -- a very brave woman), and found out that she'd recently completed a 5 mile run, in prep for a 10 mile race this summer. I was a little jealous, and a little bit silently embarrassed at how long it's been since I ran 5 miles.

Maybe that will be motivation for me to get out and do more long runs? I'm not making any promises, but this horrible winter has given me some serious cabin fever, and while the treadmill is fine, I do miss the outdoors. Spring is racing season, and I haven't run a  5k since that killer off-road race last August. I could use a challenge.

Maybe this will motivate me, too: a story about Charlie Spedding, a British marathoner and 1984 Olympic bronze medalist, who just overcame Large B Cell Lymphoma, an aggressive type of NHL. Pretty interesting life, chronicled in a book called From Last to First, which is being reissued later this year. Could be a candidate for Nodes of Gold....

British Columbia Researchers

In the past, I've discussed some of the work being done by researchers at the British Columbia Cancer Agency. They're doing some really cool things with genetic research, looking at the ways cancer cells evade attempts by the immune system to wipe them out.

This is a brief video, posted last week, that gives a quick summary of the some of work they're doing. They kind of fly under the radar, maybe because they're Canadian (and thus all humble and stuff), but they deserve a little more recognition for the important research they've been doing.

Seaweed

I'm still very busy, but I hate the thought of anyone going another day without reading about cancer, so here's a link to a fascinating story about seaweed.

Researchers at an international conference on cancer research this week reported on some very early-stage study on the use of seaweed extract in battling NHL. Read the report from Science Daily here.

Apparently, a compound in seaweed called fucoidan (which sounds like a joke name, but it's real) is similar in chemical structure to heparin, an anti-coagulant. The researchers used the fucoidan on NHL cell lines (that is, not in actual people) and it was found to inhibit growth of lymphoma cells while leaving healthy cells unaffected.

The article doesn't go into much detail about why this might be the case, but the researchers seem very positive about the possiblities. They were seen as the conference wearing t-shirts that said "I am so fucoidan excited!"

OK, I made that last part up, but if they manage to get this to a phase 3 clinical trial and it gets eventual FDA approval, I'll buy a t-shirt like that for the first 10 Lympho Bob readers who ask for one.

Cereal

Okay, I know I'm mkaing excuses and not providing you with the latest in lymphoma news, but I really am up to my elbows in student papers. Plus my eldest is in four different bands practicing on Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday, my middle one is in a play that practices Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday (plus band on Friday and oboe on Wednesday), and my youngest is good to her father and only has dance and choir and piano during the week, leaving the weekends free. So who has time for writing about cancer?

I'll give you another interesting link instead: a look at 54 breakfast cereals that are no longer with us.

Lots of Saturday morning cartoons in there, plus some that look like ice cream cones, donuts, and other things that shouldn't be made intro cereals. My second favorite is Croonchy Stars, featuring the Swedish Chef from the Muppets.

But of course, number one in my heart will always be the cereal from lymphoma survivor and Nodes of Gold honoree, Mr T.

Dr. Seuss

It was the great Dr. Seuss's birthday yesterday. I celebrated by reading to one of my classes -- my own small version of Read Across America.

It's been busy around here this week, so I don't have much time for anything too cancer-related. So here's a nice slide show of ten great quotes from Dr. Seuss books.

Enjoy.