More science

So here's the short of it,

I just read about a new advance in cancer treatment.  I'm fascinated.

And here's the long

Today turned into a pretty long day.   I had a couple of things I had to do this morning and after lunch went over to our main office to help work on checking in state test materials that have to be shipped out to Nashville tomorrow.  Lots of my colleagues had been working all day, others worked only the morning.  I worked until about 6:30 and when I left there was still a small crew there doing the finish up work. 


Mom went with Steve and Pat this weekend for a visit with Lauren, Ryan, and Madison.  Steve and Pat came down with a stomach bug that Lauren, Ryan, and Madison had all had. Mom seems at this point to have escaped it, and she seems to have had a good visit. 

I have my Arimidex prescription, and I've had all my baseline tests done, but I haven't gotten myself started on it yet.  It's not something I'm consciously avoiding, but I wonder if I've got some subconscious thing going on.  I keep telling myself it's just because I still want to ask if I should take it in the morning or at night and then get it into my weekly pill dispenser.  I do admit that I'm a bit overwhelmed at the notion of  five to ten years of an anticancer drug. 

I just read an amazing article about some current research and trials by Oncolytics Biotech based in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.  It's an amazing idea.  There is a virus which will attack only the cancer cell.  The patient can be infected with this virus and it will attack and kill the cancer!  The last time I had an appointment with Dr. Schlabach, he was telling me that within his lifetime, we would probably be able to successfully treat most cancers without surgery.  That absolutely amazed me.  Think how that would change to whole landscape of cancer treatment! 

Anyway I thought about how small the world is - there is a branch of VanSant kin who still live in Calgary (or call it home).  And I thought of how beautiful I thought the city was when I had the chance to visit.  Now I'm even more enthralled to know that there is an environment there that nurtures this kind of research.