CR 234: 25th infusion and more

It took a week for my flu symptoms to clear up. Had I not taken Tamiflu and Augmentin, I'm sure it would have taken at least seven days. After three weeks of coughing up my lungs, it's nice to be back to normal.

Two days ago I was eating a cheesesteak with Garrett, and I bit into something very had. I spit it out and was amazed to discover part of a tooth in my sandwich. I took it to the proprietor and said look what I found in my sandwich. He was befuddled, then said is it yours? I should have checked first - sure enough, a 30 year old crown had decided to escape. So on my way to Hopkins I stopped by my dentist in Silver Spring who slapped it back into place in about 5 minutes.

I spent the rest of the day at Hopkins. I had my labs drawn, then had to wait for nearly two hours while my bloodwork was done. Dr. Hahn was pleased to see that I was over the flu. We spoke about the lack of published data of nivolumab and bladder cancer. He said that he was the chair of an ASCO immunotherapy review panel and that in the next month or two he expected that he would see a lot of data about nivolumab, hopefully including some that was specific to bladder cancer, as well as overall durability data for patients who have had a complete response. I look forward to seeing those data.

Meanwhile, as I approached the one year mark for participation in this trial, I was asked to sign an updated clinical trial protocol. Bristol-Myers Squibb had amended it to include ovarian cancers, but otherwise it was unchanged from the previous protocols: up to two years of drug dosing, then ongoing monitoring. My plan is to continue to ride this horse as long as it will carry me.

The Hopkins pharmacy was backed up, and it took another couple of hours for the compounded Opdivo to be released. I passed the time by reading Jo Marchant's “Cure: A Journey Into the Science of Mind Over Body.” It's a well-researched exploration of the sometimes unexpected relationship between the brain and healing. Marchant's book is in some ways a counterpoint to Paul Offit's "Do You Believe In Magic?  The Sense and Nonsense of Alternative Medicine"which I blogged about in January 2014. I'm still mulling over some of Marchant's assertions, and likely will blog about it in the future.

The last drops of my infusion dribbled through the pump just before 4 pm. I was famished and jonesing for Popeye's, which fortunately is just across the street from the Weinberg Cancer Center. Two pieces of chicken and a large serving of red beans and rice kept me fortified for the two hour slog home in wreck hour traffic. I do not miss commuting.

This evening I saw that the more than 100 lawyers from my former law firm had been acquired by another firm in an asset acquisition. An announcement on my old firm's web site said that it "was no longer engaged in the practice of law." Although I had already retired, I nonetheless felt a moment of sadness upon learning of the death of a once-venerated 63 year old firm. The ending came not with a bang, but with a whimper. The firm died before it paid back all of the equity partnership capital that I had contributed. I hope I'll get it back, but I'm not holding my breath. C'est la vie.