In a much better mood!

Wow. All I can say is "wow" when I talk about MD Anderson. Now, THAT, is a real hospital. It is huge, beautiful, professional, and incredibly efficient. They have a thousand cafeterias which serve healthy and bad food (Luis has complained to the cafeteria managers at the hospitals I have been at about the quality of the food offerings), and it is generally a peaceful and tranquil place, considering it is a cancer center.

My doctor told me I was on the right track with the Herceptin treatments, except that he would not start me on Avastin (a drug I was going to start in about 2 weeks time) because it hasn't been proven to be effective. He also confirmed that my diet was fine, it wasn't going to help me, but if it improved my mindset, that was the most important thing. Which it does

When you have cancer, it is like someone placing you in the drivers seat of an automobile that has no steering wheel and the pedals are broken. You just have no control over anything. Now that I am eating much healthier, I at least feel like I have control of the accelerator. Not the break or the wheels, but at least something!

The best part was the Southwest flight. Although I have been in Texas tons, I have never been on a Southwest flight before. As soon as we took off and we were on the steep ascent, the attendant picked up the microphone and said," All of us flight attendants have had a really long day, we are too tired to serve the pretzels and nuts, so make friends with someone on the aisle."

Next thing we know, hundreds of packets of peanuts are flying down the aisle (which is at a 45 degree angle) and everyone is laughing and grabbing at the packets and passing them to their row. It was great, but it got better when we heard, "And here come the drinks!" And all these little bottles of booze come shooting down the aisle rolling past the peanuts. I don't think those got passed around as much. Luis had a nice screwdriver to relax him on the flight.

My phone died, and although it was the final excuse I needed to get an iPhone, I am still disconnected because I have no one's number anymore. So shoot it to me when you get a chance. And if you don't have an iPhone, yes it is just as good as you imagine. Better even.

Okay, so right by the AT&T Store was a Half Price Books. Of course I have 1000s of things to read, but I couldn't walk past it and not go in, and I pulled three books on cancer that I think might be interesting.

This completely revised edition of a 1994 title offers up-to-date information about the human body's own "host defense mechanisms" in the war on cancer, providing a multidisciplinary approach to treatment based on scientific studies and clinical experience. Quillin, a medical professional who has published extensively, has conducted nutrition studies with hundreds of patients in formal clinical settings. He discusses conventional therapies (chemotherapy, surgery), alternative therapies (macrobiotics, herbal and vitamin therapies), and related factors (psychosocial health, drugs, tobacco, immune dysfunctions). Appendixes list treatment referral agencies, mail-order nutrition products, suggested readings, nutritionally oriented doctors in the United States and Canada, and recipes using foods known to slow tumor growth. Written in an easy-to-read style, this work is informative, but some sections seem misplaced or redundant, and charts and graphs occasionally lack an identified source and are difficult to read. Still, this useful guide to authoritative alternatives in cancer treatment would be appreciated in public library or consumer health collections

My friend Jennifer told me about a movie about the making of Herceptin (already at the top of my Netflix list), which is, as I have said before, my best chance at making this tumor go away. There is also a book, which I found at the bookstore.

Her-2: The Making of Herceptin, a Revolutionary Treatment for Breast Cancer reads like a novel at first. Oncologist Dennis Slamon has spent 13 years "obsessed with a molecule called Her-2," which he believed "held the key to nothing less than curing breast cancer." The book chronicles the search to unlock the secrets of Her-2/neu, a protein that makes cancer cells grow quickly; the discovery of the Her-2/neu antibody, which resulted in tumors shrinking and, sometimes, remission of the cancer; and the development of the drug Herceptin. It is also the story of the women with breast cancer who participated in Herceptin's clinical trials, including Anne McNamara, who has been fighting tumor after tumor since 1978. The scientific and research-history sections are heavy and slow going, but Robert Bazell effectively juxtaposes the difficult scientific concepts and long research history of Her-2 with human drama. He keeps bringing the reader back to the threads of the personal stories we are following--especially the women with breast cancer and their determination to recapture their health. This is what makes Her-2 so compelling. -

And this one is a little more out there . . . but I have an open mind. This book discusses the etiology of cancer and it's therapies as it relates to fungi and their mycotoxins.


Okay, gotta go whip up a vegan dinner! Teriyaki tofu, soba noodles, and a veggie stir fry!