The spirit of Christmas will not come with fruitcake this year.

This particular blog entry has taken me weeks to publish.  It has been delayed due to writer’s block, too many topics folded into one posting and a lack of energy.  I am still not certain what to say.  I will describe a bad day in this house briefly as a warning on what NOT TO DO for the holidays.  In previous years I have put together a killer fruitcake (you have got to be kidding me Rick).  Well it has received good reviews with friends in previous years and I am a fan of a nice fruitcake.  So I wanted to make several small cakes to give to friends.  To do this right requires gathering of dried fruit (10 cups), nuts, flour, eggs, powder sugar and time with patience.  The last step requires folding the fruit into the cake batter, a step that is more like mixing concrete and rocks rather than a cake.  I estimated I had around $70 into the project.  Well in doubling the ingredients I made a bad calculation (doubling two cups of butter is four cups and not eight).  I was frustrated with the time it was taking and I could see I was not getting the results I wanted.  The entire day was void of the Christmas spirit even though Bing Crosby was singing “Chestnuts roasting on an open fire.”  So to our many friends out there, if you do not get a fruitcake from us this season, we still want to extend the best of the holiday spirit to you. My efforts yesterday fell miserably short.   

Now an update on my health.  The index the doctors’ use to track my disease, AL Amyloidosis is a concentration of a certain protein in the blood.  The protein, referred to as the Lambda Free Light Chain, this past month was at 6.4 micro grams per deci-liter (µg/dL).  The doctors want this under 4.0 µg/dL and preferably down in the normal range below 2.7 µg/dL.  The overabundance of this particular protein will create problems with nerves and possibly my organs.  Just before Christmas, I will be evaluated on the efficacy of my stem cell transplant that was performed last year.  At the end of the evaluation, the doctors will give a recommendation for further treatment.  There is always the possibility of going back on chemo for a while.  That is fine if I can get stronger. 

As a closing thought, please protect your holidays.  The people we love are a lot more important than silly things like fruit cakes and gifts.  We wish you the best this holiday season and a great 2013.