Three Acts of Kindness

In our daily lives we read and hear about all sort of fundraising, all for good causes.
It feels a lot different when the event or activity is sponsored by your employer or loved ones.
In a span of 3 weeks (from last week to the next 2 weeks) I have encountered and will encounter 3 wonderful and heart warming acts of kindness and support.

First event was a week ago. Inbal's high school friend from Needham, Lindsey, ran the Boston marathon for the first time (26.2 miles !!!) as a charity for Dana Farber. She never ran anything like a marathon. Nevertheless, she trained, raised a lot of money and made it through. We both told each other "you are my hero", each for his/her own marathon. It was moving and touching to watch her running by as we cheered her at mile 18.

The second event will be the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation 5K walk/run event in Boston on May 10th.
I was overwhelmed by Orbotech's decision to sponsor this event in my honor.
In the course of our lives we are asked to take part in all sort activities, as well as contribute money and time.
This is the first time that I find myself asking others to do something that is directly related to my life, which is to support the research for Multiple Myeloma (MM).
Interestingly enough, the team of doctors who are taking care of me at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, co-invented the only known medication for MM.
The results are promising and at the same time there is a lot more to do.
I invite everyone in the Boston area to come and join my family and me in this event.
As many other have already generously done, you can donate through the link:
www.active.com/donate/bos08/teamorbotech

The third event will be the Boston Walk for Hunger on May 4th. In the past few years I have participated twice with my daughters in this 22 miles walk around Boston.
This year I will be cheering Lior and Neta from the sidewalk, as they walk for this worthy cause.
The act of giving is very powerful for both sides.

Spring in Boston is absolutely amazing, even after watching it for so many years. It is a miracle how in the span of 3 weeks the landscape changes from bare trees and land to a colorful party of everything that grows. I have attached below a few pictures.

On the medical front, no real news. The process is slow: I go every Tuesday for my chemotherapy session and every 2.5 months tests are run to determine progress. I have programmed myself to be patient and adapt to these very long time constants.

This week I was lucky to have two dear guests.

First, my sister Iris came from England for 10 days. We are very close in spite of the big ocean between us. It is a wonderful opportunity to talk about everything, get a good advice and keep up with the latest family news. The one thing I am not getting used to when Iris is here, is having more than 10 cups of tea per day...

My second guest was Tod whom I know from our kindergarten days.

Guests are a good thing. They force me to take it easy, go and see things, sit and talk and drink a lot of tea and coffee.

And so, as I look outside and see the Spring colors all around - I am optimistic.

Yours

Guy

About test results and waiting for them

I can't believe that more than 5 months of treatments have gone by.
This week was an important one. As I completed two cycles of clinical trials (the last 10 weeks), I had a series of tests to determine progress.
One of the tests was a bone marrow biopsy. It's a short procedure, but very painful, where the doctor uses "Home Depot" tools to drill a small piece of the heap bone for analysis. This is my 3rd test of this kind. Luckily it is a short procedure. As part of the clinical trials, the medical team asks the patients to do a bone marrow biopsy after every 2 cycles. It is not mandatory. I agreed and It is in a way my contribution to the research for a cure.

As the anxiety for the test and its results was building up, the suspension, the unknown, the what-if questions, got me like any other person in a similar situation.
I recalled my early university days, running to the bulletin board to look at my exam results.
When you think about it, life is about many tests and confronting the results.

Needless to say, in the case of my present illness, test results have some very serious implications.

To cut the story short, I got the results and they show progress!

I already know and witnessed that progress is neither predictable nor linear.
And so I take it with satisfaction that the direction is positive and at the same time I know that the road to recovery is a long one and prepare myself for the ups and downs to come.
Many friends ask me "how much more time with treatments?". Nobody knows. It is a closed loop process in which periodic tests determine the course of action.
I feel that my body is strong, my spirit is positive and I am optimistic.
Therefore, it will take a few more months or a bit more and at the end, as planned, we'll have a nice party.

Summer is around the corner and along with it the travel season.
Since the treatment's results are good, I will continue to have my weekly appointment (every Tuesday) at Dana Farber in Boston. If the results were not good, they would have given me a 2-3 weeks vacation and start with another clinical trial. This would have allowed me to sneak a visit to Israel.
So the good medical news are bad news for my travel plans.
Since the priority is to get me healthy again, I accept the curfew.
Shoshy and the girls will start their pilgrimage to the holy land in May.
Yours
Always optimistic!
Guy