MPNforum Magazine

ARCH’S CORNER
First off let me welcome each of you to my corner of our new forum. ” MPNforum, Vol. I, no.1″ has a nice ring to it for me. I hope you hear it like the old dinner bell and you will pull up a chair and sit down at my corner table when you visit the MPNforum. Many of you are old friends from other lists in which I no longer participate. I hope that my new acquaintances will quickly become old friends. Good friends all, with a
wide array of interests and talents that in some way or other relate
to or impinge upon the many aspects of the MPN world.

Every one of us has something to bring to our coffee klatch ( tea or mate acceptable), the pot always full, the kettle on and bubbling. There is no need to try to bring everything you about some face of MPN to the table all at once. “The half of knowledge is to know where to find knowledge.” A large part of the other half might be to know how to present the information we found while keeping some of it in abeyance. We can be restrained without being constrained and moderate without being moderated.

What then do I plan to serve at my corner table? The food will be light an easily digested, including the covered dishes that you bring to share with us. My corner will be a happy place, a sounding board for your more mundane Q&A’s and comments. We will deal with the good and the bad and try to smile at both. We will leave the truly serious MPN issues to others better qualified by study or experience, the scientific and social research, the esoteric, the anguish and sorrow of living with a serious illness.

MPN is surely a serious disease and can lead to disability, even death. Its seriousness cannot and should not be ignored. My intent is to provide an occasional brief respite, to lighten things up a bit, not to deny reality.

I hope to be a ‘can-opener’ for your questions and commentary and my corner a comfortable place for your attempts to answer your own or others’ questions. Always related to MPN issues, we will explore your speculations, your approvals, your additions and corrections and we will not shy away from our inevitable differences. Our watchwords will be decency and goodwill, but one phrase will rule, namely “I don*t know much about that.” In the world of myeloproliferative neoplasms so much is yet to be known and what is known leaves much to be understood. To profess to know even a modicum of what*s going on in an abnormally proliferative bone marrow or is reflected in the blood stream and other tissues is an egocentric delusion.

There is a natural tendency for some people to feel that they have nothing to contribute to a forum like this. Although this is clearly not true, the fallacy is often reinforced by those more confident in sharing their knowledge, which may or may not be wisdom. I hope that all who visit my corner will always feel free to share anything concerning MPN that they wish to add to the mix.

Ethics, privacy issues and common sense preclude my dealing with your
personal medical problems. There is always a danger in giving advice
based on a history and physical examination obtained by long distance
employing computer and “cyberscope.” Since I happen to be a doctor and sworn to “first do no harm,” I will not attempt to advise any of you about a personal illness. Practicing ‘Net Medicine’ is a slippery slope to be climbed very carefully.

I hope that after this issue of MPNforum my corner will be filled with your chitchat. But if the conversation lags, like the Symposiarchs at the symposiums of ancient Greece, I’ll add just enough water to the wine to keep the conversation flowing, lively, but not offensive. I’ll also refill the coffee pot and dust off some of my long forgotten posts to other lists as temporary wadding. Speaking of wadding. Wow! I*ve just posted my first contribution to MPNforum, …and with my usual crisp brevity at that. :)

So until Vol. I, No. 2, when I hope you’ll consider visiting my corner again, keep well and try to be happy. If anybody is still awake would you please put the lights out and lock the door.

Best, Arch

© Arch M. and MPNforum.com, 2011. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Arch M. and MPNforum.com with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.