2010 Junior Prom

Saturday was the Junior prom for Morristown High. Before the big party, Vicki had her friends come over for some pictures. All the kids looked great and I thought I'd share some photos! Here's a group shot of all the kids and a shot of Vicki with her boyfriend, Dan. They all had a great time, even though a lot of them (including Vicki) had taken the SATs that morning. Didn't keep them from party-ing on!

Who put the "Ham" in Birmingham?

Last weekend, we had a 50th anniversary party for my in-laws. It was great fun and before the party, we had some pictures taken in the park. This is one of David and Vicki doing their "America's Greatest Teen Models" pose. I love this shot so I thought I'd share it!

Benched

I had my scan last week and went in for the results and therapy yesterday. When I got to the exam room, Dr S came in with his head research nurse, his research assistant and another doctor. I thought to myself - uh oh, I guess my scan didn't come out too well. Dr S told me that I had some more growth, about the same amount as last time (which isn't a lot). Then he told me that it's time for me to take a break from chemo. This struck me as rather curious. Why would I take a break if I'm losing ground?

Dr S said that, although I've had some more growth, my overall tumor volume is still pretty small and I haven't even made it back to where we started 17 months ago after I had the big reduction at the start of therapy. So, he feels it's time for me to take a break. I told him several times that I feel strong and ready to keep going. I'm not asking for a break and I don't want one if it's going to reduce my prospects in the future. Dr S said that I have already been in therapy longer than he likes to have someone on continuosly. Further, if it weren't for the study protocol, he would have already gone with a chemo holiday. Some preliminary results of the study drug are in and it doesn't look as promising as they thought (plus he doesn't even know if I am getting it.) Therefore, he wants me to take a break. I again told him that I am capable of taking a lot more chemo. Ultimately, he just said "I'm your Doctor and I'm advising you that you need to take a break". So I gave in. They flushed my port and scheduled a scan for two months from now. Dr S says I will be benched through the summer and likely into the fall. We will continue to scan every two months so the next time I'll come back is at the end of June.

While I find this a bit curious, I suppose that treatment every two weeks for 17 months is indeed a long time. In the end, I need to rely on the judgment of my onc. After all, he's the expert and I went with him for that expertise. I will go with his judgment. And as we all know, judgment is one part knowledge, one part experience, a teaspoon of bitters, an ounce of simple syrup and the zest of one lemon. Or is that a Tom Collins? In any event, I'm now officially benched for the next few months.

On the good side, we are going to Europe in July so I'll be 10 weeks out of treatment by then. Hopefully this will improve my stamina, decrease my side effects and make it a much more enjoyable time! BTW - Dr S says the side effects of chemo take quite a while to wear off - but I have to imagine they'll be noticeably better.

So, having been turned away on a gorgeous spring day, I decided to walk back to Penn Station rather than ride the E train. I cut through Rock Center and down 6th Ave, stopping at Bryant Park for a little rest (see pic above). I watched a couple of games of bocce which seems to be played there 24/7 in all weather. I swear that the same guy (dresses in black, fashionable goatee and a black beret) holds court every day! Then I hit Jimmy's diner at 36th street for some lunch and hopped the train. In all, a nice day for a walk in the city!

Hope you all are enjoying the great arrival of spring and a (fingers crossed) blossoming of our economy! BB

Rounds 35 & 36 and Boston

Well, I certainly haven't been a consistent blogger this year! But, here's an update for you. Since my last post, I have had Rounds 35 and 36. Both were the usual fare although the side effects have been a little stronger. Nothing too unmanageable, though. I'm thinking that perhaps the spring pollen may be part of it since your body can only take so much before it reacts - and some of my side effects are like allergic reactions.

Tomorrow I will have my bi-monthly CT scan. This will give us a read on whether the cancer growth they picked up in January is continuing. I'm keeping my fingers crossed!

In the off week between rounds, we decided to go to Boston to look at some colleges for Vicki. We looked at BU (my alma mater), BC, Northeastern and Tufts. Vicki liked BC and Tufts the best (BU was last on her list!). We also got a chance to see a little of the city with the kids - a visit to Fanieul Hall, dinner in the North End, some bowling and pool playing at a new (huge) place near Fenway Park and even some Candle Pin bowling (a unique New England version).

We also booked our tickets for a family vacation this summer - England and France for 2 weeks! Now we need to lock down hotels, etc. It'll be fun to do something exciting with the kids before they get too old!

So that's what we've been up to these last few weeks. Hope you all had a great Easter/Passover holiday! BB

The Daily Show

Last Thursday, Rob and I met some friends in the city to see the taping of John Stewart's The Daily Show. It was interesting to see how they put the show together and it was great fun to be in the audience. The studio was actually much smaller than I thought it would be - holding 239 people max. We came home and watched the show that night and it was pretty much straight through as it was live. John Stewart did a long bit at the beginning imitating Glenn Beck which they did trim a little - I think for length.

We then went for a bite on 9th Avenue right around the corner from where I lived when I started at AXA (50th and 9th). It was nice to get into the city for something other than treatment. Hope you all are having a great weekend and enjoying this terrific weather! You can see the Glenn Beck piece online at thedailyshow.com - it's titled "Conservative Libertarian".

Round 34 - Your Mileage May Vary

I had my appointment with Dr S yesterday. After looking at the scan again and my other tests, he recommended that I stay on my current treatment. Although the scan shows some growth, all of my other tests and levels look good. Accordingly, he felt we could "get a little more mileage" out of my current protocol. So, we will continue the current regiment and then see what my next scan shows. That scan will be in about 6 weeks. So, I had treatment yesterday and a chocolate cupcake from Crumbs.

For you car buffs, this a 1962 Thunderbird convertible. Like me, someone is getting a little more mileage out of her!

February - Rounds 32 and 33

OK, I have been pretty silent this February when it comes to blogging So, as the month expires, I thought I would post an update I had two rounds of treatment this month plus my regular bi-monthly CT scan. The treatments themselves were pretty routine.

I’ve also been trying to focus on a number of things I either need to or would like to get done sooner rather than later. But somehow in all of this I lost my voice for blogging. I did spend a fair bit of time reading the transcripts from the World Economic Forum, which were great. Perhaps I will blog later on that. I was also probably one of the 14 people in America who watched the entire 7 hours of the President’s Healthcare summit. I thought there was a lot of interesting (although admittedly wonkish) discussion but the media seemed to be looking for fireworks I wish some responsible media outlet would actually review the points and reasoning rather than just looking for the “killer” sound bite.

But back to reality. On my health front, I have had some bad news. My recent scan has shown “significant” growth in my cancer. Significant is a proportional designation – meaning the percentage of tumor size. Since my tumors are all very small, the overall amount of cancer isn’t problematic yet. In fact, I believe that they have not yet attained the size they started at before the 50% reduction from my early chemo days. But, most importantly, the results mean that my current drugs (5FU and AMG655) aren’t working anymore. This is the way it works with colon cancer (and perhaps other cancers as well) – a drug works for a while and kills everything that it can. But if it doesn’t kill it all, the remainder is immune to that drug. So it does no good to keep taking it.

I will need to move to a new line of defense. I don’t know what that is yet. My onc wanted to consult with the radiologist before making a recommendation on next steps. So, I will see him on Tuesday the 8th to come up with a new gameplan. I am disappointed that my first line, which seemed to be going so well, has now failed after just 15 months. Dr S said that’s about the median for its usefulness. But I knew from the beginning that this is a defensive war where each treatment protocol will work for only so long and then you need to fallback to something else to buy more time and so on. I’m also a bit disappointed because I have been feeling pretty good and my weight is up. I have been weight training nearly everyday this year to try to improve my strength and muscle mass for the fight ahead. Hopefully the workouts will help shore up my second line, whatever that turns out to be. I’ll let you know when I know.

Thanks again to you all for your continued support. It means a lot to me and my family. BB