What a great trip.

Carpe Diem.

Before and after

Lions 1 Wildebeast 0

Carpe Diem.

And the winner was...

Me! A 14lb tiger fish caught on the Zambezi river near Mongwe, Zimbabwe.

Carpe Diem.

I've gone fishing

I'm here in Zimbabwe after the usual grueling 17 hour flight(s).

I'm gonna do lots of touristy stuff like fishing on the Zambezi river etc etc.

So, Carpe Diem.

Six years and counting...

Then...

And now.

So, f*ck cancer and damn those statistics. Carpe Diem.

Pain? What pain?

In 2007 I had my right hip resurfaced (similar to replaced) due to osteoarthritis. After some initial "complications" it has since worked as advertised thank you. Now my left hip seems to want to join the party. I have been having left hip pain for sometime now but have vowed (sort of) to not have another operation. I have tried different meds but none have been the proverbial Silver Bullet.

So today after having a consult with the interventional radiologist who did my needle biopsy I asked her if she also did pain management injections guided by CT. She said yes as she had just watched the latest video on YouTube. I'm kidding! Seriously, she was able to get me in for the procedure this morning and now here I sit relatively pain free. Even though I realize that this is something that may have to be repeated every two or three months it's better than having the op. I may one day regret having said this. But for now...

Carpe Diem.

And now for something completely different...

I will not be moving to New York. I am staying in Baltimore for now. Rob will continue her studies (Masters in Occupational Therapy)  in New York and will stay in the apartment on her own. She is fortunate enough to be staying in the same building as Phil and Howard.  

Mike stays with me most of the week but has the luxury of moving between my apartment and Diana's town house. He continues to enjoy his job. 

In the meantime I'm going to enjoy my chemo break and do a bit of traveling. 

Carpe Diem.

Chemo 23 (Round 8)

The chemo session went well. I got the Alimta and the Avastin. My weight is stable and the blood work was ok. The urine protein went up very slightly but no changes were made to my regimen for this day.

Now for the great news...I am going to be taking a chemo break until April 2nd, 2014. After discussions with my current oncologist, my 2 consultant oncologists and my radiologist consultant they have all agreed that a break would be ok. I will get rescanned on April 1st and that will determine if I can continue my break or get chemo on April 2nd.

What precipitated this request was the report about my needle biopsy that was done on December 11th, 2013. All 5 samples taken from the active area showing up on my PET scan came back cancer free. While this doesn't mean that I am totally cancer free at this time it is overall good news. So...

Definately Carpe Diem.

P.S. Can you say travel time?

This is what the needle biopsy yielded

"January 20, 2014

Dear Mr. Suskin,

The purpose of this letter is to confirm our conversation that took place over the phone last week in reference to the genetic sequencing of recently acquired lung tissue. Upon conclusion of your biopsy on 12/11/13, five (5) core biopsy samples were transported to Champions Oncology’s laboratory. Two (2) of the samples were immediately prepared for shipment to Personal Genome Diagnostics (PGD) for the purpose of whole exome sequencing while the remaining three (3) samples were frozen.

On 12/30/13 I received an email from P60 informing me that the pathologist did not find any tumor in the two initial samples provided. When I informed my scientist of the situation, she had the remaining three core biopsy samples sent to an outside pathologist for review. The plan was to submit whatever sample(s) came back as positive for tumor. We received word last week that the remaining three samples also did not contain tumor. For this reason we are unable to complete whole exome sequencing on your tissue samples.

As you are aware, I have requested that your payment of $”Non of your Business” be returned to your bank account. Of course, should another opportunity arise during which it is appropriate for Champions Oncology to obtain an additional tissue sample, I’d be happy to facilitate such testing again at that time.

Please don’t hesitate to contact me with any questions surrounding the information provided above."

I will explain more soon...

Carpe Diem.

This is what the needle biopsy is supposed to yield...

Champions Oncology, Inc. will perform, as a research project, massive genome-wide sequencing. During this process your tumor sample will be compared to your normal tissue (blood) to identify tumor-specific mutations that may be present. Following the sequencing effort, comprehensive bioinformatic analyses will evaluate known cancer genes as well as alterations in the remaining genes.

The whole exome mutational analysis report for deep sequencing will provide comprehensive data on a variety of different genetic alterations in genes. It will include a summary of analyzed sequence data for all exomes sequenced and identify somatic mutations in the tumor tissue provided. In addition, key germline changes will be provided.

The turnaround time for a completed report is approximately 60-90 days from receipt of all samples. A member of the Champions Oncology team will discuss the final report with your physician. The project will be initiated at the time full payment is received. 

The fee for this sequencing research project is.....$Non Of Your Business :-)

Carpe Diem.