Science

This picture of our budding scientist Maya says it all.

Speaking of science, celecoxib (Celebrex^®), a drug in the class known as COX-2 inhibitors, has been in the news this week following a report from a Food and Drug Administration (FDA) panel saying what many of us believed was true based on analyses of available data over ten years ago: celecoxib poses no greater risk for causing heart attacks and strokes than two other widely used pain relievers, ibuprofen (Advil^®) and naproxen (Aleve^®). It is important to note that the reason why this is of such great importance is that the COX-2 inhibitors work quite well for many people with chronic pain.

In September 2004, the FDA withdrew its approval for Merck’s COX-2 inhibitor rofecoxib (Vioxx^®) due to increasing evidence that it caused heart attacks and strokes. This resulted in significant concern over the safety of two other drugs in the same class, celecoxib and valdecoxib (Bextra^®), both developed and marketed by Pfizer. A three-day special panel met in February of 2005 to examine the data on these two Pfizer drugs. Valdecoxib was removed from the market, but in the absence of what they considered to be definitive data, the panel allowed celecoxib to remain on the market with plans to conduct a large, long-term study of celecoxib, ibuprofen, and naproxen. Over ten years later, the results of that study are the subject of these current reports.

FDA Panel Affirms Safety Of Painkiller Celebrex

It was quite a tumultuous six months for me. Joshua had just been born and we were trying to get down to Maryland (where they were then living) as much as possible, but the work load of leading the statistical team for this project was quite intense and clearly very important. Fortunately, I do not believe Joshua was aware that we did not see him as much as we would have liked during that period. Still, he is a big part of my memory of those seemingly endless long days of sorting out the information we had available to us. It has been almost fifteen years now, and at last we have a definitive answer.

I received a Pfizer Global Research and Development Achievement Award for this work, which hangs on the wall near my computer desk at home to this very day. I will always look at that period as a highlight of my career at Pfizer.

Love,

Rebecca

Theory versus practice

Like most people, we receive our fair share of unsolicited phone calls, but with the wonderful invention of Caller ID we are able to spare ourselves the annoyance of speaking with these people or listening to recorded messages. The other day we received one that showed

347-384-6254 SPAM? BROOKLYN

Were they asking me or telling me that this is a SPAM number? Either way, I did not answer, but found this quite amusing. I found on-line that some people have been receiving this call multiple times a day. Fortunately, we saw it just that one time.

We were supposed to go to a lecture last night but our car had a flat tire. This car has what are called “run-flat tires”:

A run-flat tire is a pneumatic vehicle tire that is designed to resist the effects of deflation when punctured, and to enable the vehicle to continue to be driven at reduced speeds - under 56 mph (90 km/h) - and for limited distances - generally between 10 mi (16 km) to 50 mi (80 km), depending on the type of tire.

An advantage of such tires is that, at least in theory, the car does not require a spare tire, which can take up quite a bit of trunk space. The disadvantage is that you have to go someplace where they sell the type of tire you need, and it seems that this car requires a somewhat unusual sized tire.

This is the second time this has occurred. The first time we were half way to Sharon and after stopping at two tire stores that did not have the tire in stock, we went ahead and completed the drive, albeit rather slowly, going to a tire store up near Sharon the next day.

It turns out that the Bronx neighborhood places did not have this tire in stock, either, and we had to wait until this morning to buy the replacement tire and have it installed. We decided it was not worth the risk of real damage or, even worse, of getting stuck somewhere, so we skipped the lecture. The local garage got the tire in last night and we had it put on this morning. The run-flat tires seem like something that is supposed to be an advantage but turn out not to work as well in practice as they do in theory.

Love,

Rebecca

Big Apple Circus

As a Chanukah gift for Julia we had bought tickets for The Big Apple Circus performance yesterday for her and her big sister Ella. It is always fascinating taking Julia to such things because she watches all the goings on with great intensity, really taking in the experience in a way that seems to be beyond what you might expect from a four-year-old. On the way home, we asked her to name the part she liked best, but she simply could not identify a “favorite” part: she loved every minute! I think she really meant it.

It is hard to get good pictures in that lighting but here are a couple we managed to snap.

Afterwards the whole family gathered at Dina and Aaron’s house for a barbeque, but I guess we were all too busy eating to take any pictures! At the same time, once the children ran off to play the adults spent much of the time discussing the terrible tragedy that had befallen Aaron’s extended family during the past week: the death of one of Aaron’s cousins from a drug overdose. Apparently, this has become a far too frequent event among young people throughout the country, particularly in Baltimore where his cousin lived. The sketchy details of the events surrounding his death are just so terribly distressing that I cannot write about it. While we have certainly heard many reports about the increasing number of young people losing their lives to drug overdoses, you never expect this will happen to someone you know, someone who had actually celebrated with the extended family at Joshua’s Bar Mitzvah last year. It is all just too sad for any words.

The weather has been lovely the last few days. Even the two trees about which we had worried at the end of last season look like they are doing just fine. I just hope I will have enough energy to appreciate the yard this summer.

Love,

Rebecca

Final days of orchids

Although I am still struggling with my very low energy level, I am glad that Barry convinced me to make it over to the New York Botanical Garden during this final week of the annual Orchid Show. The couple of days of relatively warm weather last week were clearly a call to everyone who wanted to see this: it was quite crowded but worth the visit.

We also managed to see two movies during the past week. The first was “Chappaquidick,” which tells the story of the drowning death of Mary Jo Kopechne, a young political campaign specialist who was in a car driven by Ted Kennedy that drove off a bridge. This was not an especially positive portrayal of the man who later served as a prominent United States Senator from Massachusetts for forty years. But we will never be certain about what happened that night: the truth of the incident went with Senator Kennedy to his grave. 

During a rather lengthy break between two medical appointments in The City, we saw “The Rider,” a film is based on the true story of a promising young rodeo performer, Brady Jandreau, who was badly injured in a riding accident. Being warned of the dangers of trying to return to the life he loves, he works to carve out a new life. The main roles, of Brady, his father Wayne, and sister Lilly are Jandreau family members who are not professional actors playing somewhat fictionalized versions of themselves. This film has been widely acclaimed, and is a visually and emotionally beautiful effort.

Love,

Rebecca

Quick update

My apologies to all of you who have been wondering what happened to me. Between the side effects of the therapy and a pretty bad respiratory infection I have just been unable to keep up with the blog.

But I do want to share the results of my most recent scans:

“Previously seen enlarged hypermetabolic left pelvic adenopathy is no longer visualized, probably resolved. Decreased retroperitoneal adenopathy with residual left periaortic node measuring 1.6x0.8 cm, previously 2.2x1.4 cm on January 16, 2017.” 

So, it appears that the pembrolizumab is being effective against the cancer present in my lymph nodes. Now I just have to figure out how to get some energy back. The fatigue is not surprising: here is what I read on the Keytruda® web page

Common side effects of KEYTRUDA when used alone include: feeling tired, pain in muscles, bones or joints, decreased appetite, itching, diarrhea, nausea, rash, fever, cough, shortness of breath, and constipation.

Any positive energy you can send my way will be much appreciated.

Love,

Rebecca

Apologies

For those of you who seem to enjoy my ramblings, I want to apologize for taking such a long break in keeping up the blog over these past two weeks.

Pesach (Passover) is always an exhausting holiday. It starts with two very late nights, a struggle for those of us who are usually believers in “early to bed, early to rise.” Despite this challenge, we did enjoy the first two nights of the holiday. We were two of ten people who shared the first Seder at the home of our friends Judy and Lanny. We cannot remember the last time we had a Seder without any of our family, and at this Seder were three other couples who have grown children who spent the holiday with their in-laws.

I started feeling under the weather on the second day, and I am still struggling with a nagging cough and extreme fatigue. I spoke with my pulmonologist and after confirming that the antibiotic would not interfere with the third round of the pembrolizumab I was due to receive, she decided to start me on an antibiotic, just in case. I still have a few days of that. I think this has left me especially weakened by this cycle, and I spent much of the remainder of the holiday in bed.

Meanwhile, we had purchased tickets to see David Sedaris at the Tarrytown Music Hall (about a half hour drive from our house) last night. We are long time fans of his humorous writings, and we have seen him before but cannot remember just how long ago that may have been. So even though I was not entirely feeling up to it we did go, and I am glad we did. I needed some time out of the house. I do not think I am any worse for the wear but it would be nice to be able to say I am feeling better.

Tomorrow I have my monthly Sandostatin injection and then we will head over to MSKCC for a CT scan of my bladder, to see if this therapy is having any effect. Keep the good thoughts coming!

I came across this video the other day and thought of so many of you who have shared your fascination with the use of language and grammar. Enjoy!

Love,

Rebecca