The good news is,
I am the target of this wonderful outpouring of support, the kind that could manifest itself as cookies and other baked goods -- and there are some outstanding bakers in this group. I also have unlimited access to a large dessert menu from room service -- ice cream, pudding, cobbler, milkshakes, cookies, brownies...
The bad news is,
The chemotherapy has shifted my tastes such that the sweeter something is, the less appealing it is.
That just doesn't seem fair.
does any kind of bread sound good to you Joe? How about a pepperoni cheese roll? I will send your favs via Jan! Then we can bribe your hospital care takers with sweet treats!
ReplyDeleteYou get a raincheck on the sweet stuff.
ReplyDeleteHey Joe,
ReplyDeleteThe good news is that your diagnosis and blog have sparked this "instant shower of love" (aka cookies and baked goods) which will prove very healing for you even though you can't eat us. Without sounding bookish (okay, maybe it will), research confirms the importance of a network of friends in producing the best outcome in your illness. The geographical proximity of these friendships is not significant; the protective effect seems to come from the simple fact of feeling connected. There's no bad news to that.
Your sense of humor will serve you very well through this as well. Your writing is wonderful and will be good therapy. As we say in California, "Thank you for sharing..." and allowing us to post comments which convey in some small way our love and concern. We're here for you, Jan and the boys. Remember to take deep breaths...
Hugs,
Rhonda & Rich
The good news is, maybe your tastes will shift towards hospital food?? One can always hope...
ReplyDeleteI'm not totally off sweets. Mildly sweet is still fine, like raisin bread. (Under normal circumstances, I occasionally eat plain sugar.)
ReplyDeleteSounds like you might like those Norwegian cardamom roles that Lauren made at Christmas?
ReplyDeleteNot quite sure how to present this, Joe. Being no good at beating around the bush, I'll just blurt it right out.
ReplyDeleteIf you're off of your sweet tooth, your body is giving you a timely message, since--
"High blood sugar levels increase the rate of in-hospital deaths by nearly 40 percent in patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML)."
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSKUA07460320070830
Hopefully, your docs have already given you this news. If not, you could run it by them.
Among alternative docs it's a generalization that "sugar feeds cancer". Not sure if anything that sweeping has made it into the mainstream literature.
The remarks others have made about the value of friends' support and of a maintained sense of humor are right on the mark. We're here for ya, Joe, and the creative quality of your posts guarantees we'll keep coming back!
Here's the actual article. Sorry, I should have provided it to start with instead of the newspaper note.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17534900
In order not to be a complete wet blanket, yet one more post...
ReplyDeleteSweet things can be made using xylitol in place of sugar. Xylitol has a very low glycemic index, so does not produce blood sugar spikes or the problematic hormone spikes that go with them.
We haven't baked anything for years, so I have no experience with using xylitol in baked goods, but my understanding is that it is not difficult.
The stuff is expensive (like x10) compared to sugar, but it's readily available at health stores or on the internet.
I originally learned about xylitol because it not only doesn't conduce to dental cavities, it actively discourages them.