Thursday, January 28, 2010

C.U.R.E.

Complete, Unmanaged, Remission, forEver. What a great expression and that is definitely what we are looking for. I learnt of this expression from Ben (a fellow cancer patient who was mentioned a few posts back). What an inspiration.

Carpe Diem.

Monday, January 25, 2010

The MouseSkin update

Here is the latest update on the MouseSkin Family. Yes Bob, even though they are not mentioned, the Texan side of the family are bigger and stronger :) I will be meeting with Dr. Sidransky soon to further discuss the MouseSkin family developments.

Hi Adrian,

There are a total of 12 mice in our Maryland facility. From the initial implantation, there are 9 mice with measurable tumors. In the next generation ( F1) there are two mice with measureable tumor. There are no other changes.

Sara Parkerson, RN, MSN, OCN, CCM
Director Personalized Oncology Services

Champions Biotechnology, Inc.
Science & Technology Park at Johns Hopkins

Carpe Diem.

Chemo 11 (Round 6)

What a smooth session today. Even though I started late Jen was able to get me done and out in under 3 hours. I know it may not seem like much but the less time spent in infusion centers or hospitals the better. Hospitals are for sick people. My blood work was good and my vitals (blood pressure etc.) were all fine. My weight is stable.

We are going to continue with the current 3 week maintenance therapy of Alimta and Avastin and my scans will now be every 3 months. When needed, I will be able to stretch some of the treatments to 4 weeks. Again, this doesn't sound like much but it is.

I don't want to get too carried away but the past number of days have given us some pretty good news. The battle is won but the war continues.

Carpe Diem.

Sunday, January 24, 2010

By the way

In 2002 Robyn celebrated her Batmitzvah here in Baltimore. Her Batmitzvah project was to also donate a good portion of her gift money to Herzog Hospital in Jerusalem, Israel. This hospital does amazing work with psychotrauma victims from terrorist attacks as well as many other medical specialties.

http://www.herzoghospital.org/

To this day, we as a family still support and donate to Herzog Hospital and Schneider's Medical Center. Lest anyone think otherwise, we also give to numerous charities here in Baltimore and nation wide. And no, I'm not looking for any awards or medals. Just a wonderful peace of mind.

Carpe Diem.

Disproportionate, apartheid and racist

Disproportionate, apartheid and racist. What the hell am I talking about you ask?

"Disproportionate" relates to the work that the IDF (Israel Defence Forces) has been doing in Haiti recently. It's so nice to be able to use this word in a positive light as opposed to the bad press Israel always gets in the media. The IDF arrived in Haiti about 6 days after the earthquake happened and set up the most sophisticated amazing field hospital to treat the earthquake victims. They also provided search and rescue teams that have been doing incredible work. That's not to take anything away from the other countries that have provided the same generous outpouring of help, but 2 things come to mind. Firstly, Diana and I just had the most incredible holiday in Israel and saw first hand how progressive and advanced a country Israel has become in the midst of a very hostile part of our world. Secondly, Israel is a country of 7 million people that gives and contributes so much relatively speaking. Is Israel the most perfect country in the world. The simple answer is no but I defy anyone to tell me which country is perfect. There is none.

Apartheid and racist is often how Israel is referred to in the media. I will give you my take on this. In July 2004 Michael celebrated his Barmitzvah in Israel. His project for his Barmitzvah was to donate a sizable sum of the money he received to Schneider Children's Medical center in Tel Aviv, Israel.

http://www.schneider.org.il/Eng/Index.asp?CategoryID=78&ArticleID=31

We were given a tour of the medical center back in 2004 and were simply amazed at the work the center did, and more importantly, who they treated. Back then almost 50% of the patients were Israeli Arab or Arab from one of Israels neighbors. Today things have changed somewhat. I visited Schneider's once again. This time it was to visit with 'Ben' the son of a good childhood girl (female) friend. Ben is currently being treated for a brain tumor. What a strong, brave and resilient young man he is. Ben's fellow patients now are a majority Israeli Arab or Arab from one of Israels neighbors. So I find it particularly galling when I hear people or the media referring to Israel as an apartheid regime or a racist country. Once again, show me a place on earth that does not have some form of racism. We should all look in our own backyards.

I try not to politicize or religoucize (my new word) my blog but I could not resist defending these 2 issues. I'm not an Israel apologist. It's not utopia but it is the nearest thing the Jewish people will ever freely experience.

Carpe Diem.