Immunotherapy

With all the new research being done on fighting cancer, one of the most promising areas is that of immunotherapy.  Today I read that Science magazine has just named immunotherapy, which unleashes the body’s own disease-fighting cells against cancer, as the "Breakthrough of the Year".  Pioneered by Dana Farber scientists, this approach to fighting cancer has shown remarkable promise.  Here is a link to the DFCI report on this article:  immunotherapy-for-cancer-named-breakthrough-of-the-year. 

I really think this is the best hope for the future of fighting cancer.  Harvesting one's immune system to fight cancer cuts right to the chase and avoids all the side effects of chemotherapy.  I have blogged about this approach in the past.  Here is a link to one of my previous entries on this exciting new research area:  immunotherapy-research.

This immunotherapy is already showing very promising results in melanoma, kidney cancer, and non-small cell lung cancer.  There is a lot of hope that this will prove to be of benefit for MM as well. I'm very hopeful that this approach will be a cure or at least a stop gap against many forms of cancer, especially Multiple Myeloma.

After the unbelievable weather we have experienced here lately, we finally got moved into our new home this week.  It was quite an ordeal, but here we are.  We love it!  We still have some small things left to move over here.  Nancy, the new owner of of Old Wharf Road, has been very accommodating, and she will allow us to put off moving some of the more difficult items such as the back deck furniture until the 4 feet of snow melts.  That could be some time in April or May or June?

As for the weather here, at this point I just say "bring it on!"  We have survived this far, so let's just go for the record books now.  I want to look back and say we made it through the worst winter ever.  So now I'm hoping for another storm or two to cement us in the historical record.

Saturday, I leave for our golf week in Ocean Isle Beach, North Carolina.  The weather forecast there isn't so great, as they have been hammered by the same Arctic weather that we have.  However, golfing down there in the 40's still beats shivering up here in the teens.  It's all relative.  I feel bad leaving Gretchen to pick up the remaining pieces of our move while I'm gone, but there isn't much left to do. 

It's all good.  Fore!


  

Snowmageddon

I don't believe this!  I have never seen more snow in my life.  This has been a real ordeal.  Not only am I having to keep this place shoveled out, but I have to keep digging out the new house with the snow blower almost on a daily basis for the last two weeks.  This is absurd!  We hired a mover, our friend, Chris, to come last Monday for an estimate.  We plan to do the move next Monday, weather permitting.  However, Chris said that our driveway was too narrow for the van, and we had to widen it.  I had our snow plow guy come back last week to make it wider.  He did what he could, but he said he couldn't go any further.  Since then, we've had another couple of feet of snow, so I don't know what we can do now.  We may have to hire a back hoe to clear enough room for the moving van.

Inundated deck

Oh, and that's not all.  I have to shovel out the back deck so they can get to the furniture out there to move it.  This picture was taken last week, so it's even worse now.  I have to clear a way to get all of this accessible by Monday.  Oh yes, and I have all my workshop equipment in the basement, so I have to clear a path from the bulkhead so they can get that stuff out and to the truck.  How am I going to to that?  Help!

But that's only one of the problems.  The oil delivery man came last week and said he couldn't get to the back of our house to fill the tank until I cleared a path.  So I shoveled a path through about 3 feet of snow to the back of our house so he could fill the tank to the apartment.  Since I also wanted him to fill the tank at the new house, I went over there and used the snow blower to clear a path to that fill pipe. Unfortunately, I didn't know where the bushes were located, so I ran over a bush and broke the belt in the snow blower.  It was still snowing, as usual, so I was at a bit of a loss.  I called my normal fix-it guy, and he said it would be a week or more before he could come get it to try to fix it.  Great!  Anyway, my next door neighbor, Jeff, had given me the name of a local guy, Bob, who he said was really good.  What a gift!  Bob came that day to pick up the snow blower, fixed it, and delivered back the next day.  Wow!  I was thrilled.  I was back in business.

Tough to shovel over these snowbanks

Now we have the third major storm underway in as many weeks.  Jeesh!  I shoveled here yesterday and again this morning.  As you can see from this picture, it's getting harder and harder to find a place to put the snow.  These banks are getting pretty high.  I'm getting too old for this shit!

Then I went to the new house and cleared all the paths with the snow blower.  Thank goodness for that snow blower!  Unfortunately, I found that the oil man had gotten there before I could clear his path.  Rats!  I called the company later and apologized for making him wade through all the new snow to get to the fill pipe. It's still snowing, by the way, so I have to repeat all this tomorrow again.  Oh yes, and on Thursday we are supposed to get another snow storm.  How great is that?  When will this all end?

I have to tell you that keeping two houses up and operating through this madness while we are in the midst of packing is a daunting task.  We better get moved by next week, because I'm leaving for Ocean Isle Beach in North Carolina for my yearly golf vacation on February 21.  As much as I'm looking forward to getting out of Dodge right now, I don't want to leave Gretchen with lots of stuff to do while I'm gone.  So the next couple of weeks are going to be pretty intense.  Oh yes, and on March 12, we are leaving for a family vacation in Maui, Hawaii for 9 days.  That beautiful warm beach is looking pretty inviting right now.