A new beginning

A month has gone bye. Time flies.

As always, let's get the medical update first, then to my adventures.

A month ago I reported that I will probably need to switch to another clinical trial.

The present medications worked OK but the doctors were expecting better pace of recovery.

This week I am going again through the gauntlet of a long day of tests and next week is a new beginning with a great hope to do better. I am really not worried because I am in the best place with the best team.

Amazingly, in spite of over 9 months of weekly chemotherapy, the special treatment was able to get me back to the scale, substantially improve my immune system and protect my kidneys. My starting point was very bad and I had the dubious honor of breaking the Dana Farber record for how bad I was when it all started. Dana Farber takes care of patients whom the regular treatment does not work, so my record is interesting to say the least.

Starting next week, I'll be going twice a week and as usual will do what I have to do with optimism.

I just came back from 2 weeks in Israel. It was a combined business and pleasure trip. Before it was certain that I will switch to another clinical trial, I had to negotiate a pause in my treatments. After all, what are 2 weeks compared to many months of treatments.

In the end, I was ordered to take a pause because this is the rule when switching medications.

And so, on Tuesday July 1st, I did what I always do when traveling -maximize the vacation time by taking off on the same day right after the treatment. This time it was a lot tougher than in the past. I wasn't in my best condition and with the 5 hours delays in Boston, the adventure was ... challenging.

Nevertheless, knowing that soon I'll meet all the family, friends and colleagues, gave me a lot of energy.
The weather in Israel in July isn't my cup of coffee. I like it when it's maximum 20 C.
I knew that I had to drink well all the time, eat well and be well and that there was no room for anything to go bad.

As you may recall from my writing about the previous visit, this time I took it a lot easier with less running around. Orbotech was very kind to give me a company car and a cell phone.

Thank you to the many relatives and friends who came to see me in Zahala.
Spending time with my father was important for both of us. We had good time at home and and in the many visits to the Cafe Matilda in Zahala. As you may recall he doesn't know about my condition. It was a hard decision for me not to reveal him my condition. Due to his short term memory loss, why make him sad every time we talk about it?

I also spent a few evenings with the family: lunch here, dinner there. They all made an effort to get many family member to join and meet me.

During last week I spent 5 days in Yavne at work. Since I became ill in late Oct. 07, I couldn't work a few consecutive days. Therefore my goal this time was to have a productive week, share and learn and at the end still stand on my feet. It wasn't easy but I made it.

It was important for me to meet my colleagues, get all the updates, participate as a team member and go through the full schedule. The people I work with are truly wonderful individuals which make a good, professional and a friendly team.

I found a good explanation to my overall feeling. I feel well most of the time. However, it's like driving a used car with 200,000 Km (or miles). It will get you from point A to B and at the same time certain systems don't work well, squeak or take more time to activate.

Two weeks before going to Israel my friend Danny asked me what do I want to do. I replied "I would like to meet a few friends and have a nice get together. I refer to friends as to the boys and girls from our elementary school in Zahala, whom we keep in touch with some of them.

I had no clue that Danny and Tali were planning a grand class reunion for me.

With all their heart and tenacity and the short time to organize everything, Tali and Danny devoted a lot of time and energy to create a very unique event.

And so last week on Thursday afternoon, some 30 "kids" gather in the Matilda cafe in Zahala to what turned out to be an emotional, inspiring, unique and a happy class reunion.

Words and pictures can't describe the feeling. Many didn't see each other since the 2004 reunion. Everyone was so happy to be part of this event and you could see it on their faces.

It was very emotional for me and a very happy moment. We didn't have many speeches, just mingling, talking, changing groups, having good food and drinks and having the best time of our life. It lasted almost till 2 am long after the closed the cafe.

Danny has done a nice presentation of the photos he took at the event. Please look at http://www.kitrifoto.com/

- under presentations, 2nd presentation.

Thanks to Ori my uncle, I had the opportunity to finally get acquainted with Sabich. I heard a lot about this food. Ori took me to what is know as he best Sabich on this planet. Now I can testify: it is really great!

Food in Israel is exceptionally good and I love to eat - all the time.

However the best food was at my aunt Nava. She threw a feast that will get top rating with Kleber or Zagat.

So as the Gashash skit says: so what did we have? good food, good company, loyal colleagues, supporting family and relatives and a surprise class reunion. Not bad for a short visit.

The last day in Israel I spent with my mom in Jerusalem. It was great to wind down without trying to do something at the last minute (Lehaspik).

I love coincidences and I had a few during this stay. Especially in Israel, eventually you'll find a connection to anyone. It's a very happy feeling to find out the connection, meet a long time navy pal and meet on a plane back to Boston someone new whom you have met only a few days before.

I won't start with the details because these stories are too complicated to write about.

A little story about the flight back to the US. The plane was packed (I fly economy). Next to me there is a big Indian guy who works for a large construction firm.

I had a challenging flight because of my stomach and other issues. What made it harder was the fact that my 'neighbor' was farting and burping all the time. This audio-smelling show was initially shocked, but like everything in life, I got used to it and was able to sleep for a while. Lucky for me I fly with a face mask all the time (just in case) and the mask filtered the clouds of odors around us... When the flight attendant served us drink and food, he was rude: "give me red wine" or "give me more". Every time he was impolite, the flight attendant added "please" to his sentence. he didn't get it. It was like a lesson in the kindergarten. At the end, everyone around us laughed every time he was talking. Mercy on him.

This is it for now. As mentioned before, next week is a new beginning and hopefully a good one.

Until the next update,

Yours, always optimistic,

Guy