Saturday, July 25, 2009

Bermuda bound

We leave today on our Bermuda cruise out of Baltimore. The Suskin gang, Phil, How and Hannah. I'm not sure if I will be able to update from the ship but we will be back in 5 days (Thursday July 30th). My first cruise so I'm really looking forward to it. No hurricanes or triangles please!

Carpe Diem.

Wednesday, July 22, 2009

The eye check up

My friend Doc Steve was able to see 3 of our kids and I am thrilled to report no eye cancers but really bad allergies. He was able to give them medicines which will help. Wow, getting medicines in Zim is a rarity. Steve, Thanks again for all you do. I look forward to being in touch when you get back to the States.

Carpe Diem.

Tuesday, July 21, 2009

A small and decent world

Yesterday I received an update from Dennis (ZimKids). Mostly good news but unfortunately the reality in Zim is there is a lot of health issues that the kids (and most everyone else) have to deal with. With the medical system in such disarray you can only imagine the kind of help the people of Zim are able to get. One of the kids may have eye cancer (and is HIV+) with no one to help her..........or so we thought.

I remembered an old school mate who was from the USA and came to Zim with his family many years ago. We were at the same schools together and became quite good friends. The thrill of having a "yank" friend was so cool. Well, this old school mate now lives back in the USA in Georgia. He is an ophthalmologist and surgeon by profession and every July he goes back to Zim and does surgery, consulting and teaching for the whole month. I have not spoken to him or seen him in over 30 years but I was able to get in touch with him today in Bulawayo. It was great catching up with him but more importantly, he was able to set up an appointment tomorrow (Wednesday July 22nd) to see this young lady.

Talking about a small and decent world. Just when you think everything is going down the crapper along comes an individual like Doctor Steve. I think you would be hard pressed to find a more decent, caring and generous person. Thank you Steve for all the good you have done and will continue to do. Hopefully there will be something that can be done to help Ms. Siziba.

Carpe Diem.

Monday, July 20, 2009

MouseSkin update

Here is the latest MouseSkin update. There are a total of 12 mice. 8 have measurable tumors and the remaining 4 have palpable tumors. One may soon be ready to reimplant into additional mice. They are all healthy and making good progress. I have to laugh at the previous line as they are "healthy" except for the tumors. That's how I sometimes feel. Go figure.

Carpe Diem.

Sunday, July 19, 2009

Weekend update and Luca's first swim.

On Friday How, Lil, Hannah and Luca (the dog) drove in from New York to visit with us. Phil was away in London. There was a method to their madness. We had to go to PF Chang for dinner and Luca had to have his first swim. Both took minimal arm twisting to arrange or agree to. Friday night we had an amazing dinner at PF Chang and then Saturday morning was the big day. Luca's first swim.

Luca is a 2 year old Golden Doodle. He still acts like a big and gangly puppy. Very sweet though. He did really well on his swim but tired the living hell out of Max (our 12 year old Wheaten terrier). Max enjoys swimming only when we swim. But in the video he looks like a slightly concerned lifeguard watching a floundering git! If you are interested the video is on YouTube. I feature as well.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N4n6ejWyPac

Carpe Diem.