MSKCC in the news

The following letter was widely distributed to patients at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center last week:

September 20, 2018

Dear MSK Patients,

It is an honor to introduce myself to you as Memorial Sloan Kettering’s acting Physician-in- Chief and Chief Medical Officer. In this role, I have the privilege of leading the thousands of doctors, nurses, advanced practice providers, and clinical staff that work tirelessly to provide you and your family members with the best possible care.

MSK has been my home for the past 33 years, when I began my career focused on patients with brain tumors and other neurological conditions related to cancer, and I have served as the Chair of the Department of Neurology since 1997. In that time, we have seen changes to our leadership, our facilities, and, most importantly, our cancer treatments. But one thing has never changed: our commitment to our patients.

On behalf of MSK’s staff, I am writing to reaffirm our mission for the past 130 years. We have a singular focus on ensuring each and every patient at MSK receives outstanding care, with compassion, respect, and integrity. Thank you for letting us be your partner in your health and well-being.

As always, we encourage you to connect with your clinical team regarding questions about your care. For questions that go beyond your personalized treatment, our Patient Representatives Department (212-639-7202) is available to assist with your concerns. Everyone at MSK is here to support you, and we remain devoted to serving you and your family.

Sincerely,

Lisa M. DeAngelis, MD
Acting Physician-in-Chief &
Chief Medical Officer
Memorial Hospital

Those of you who have been faithfully reading my blog these past six years will certainly recognize this name, as she is the oncologist who treated my Primary Central Nervous System Lymphoma in 2012 and whom I continue to see in follow-up (next visit Tuesday, September 10^th 2019). You know me, I cannot pass up an opportunity to put in my own two cents, so I sent her the following note:

Dear Dr. DeAngelis,

Congratulations on your appointment as acting Physician-in- Chief and Chief Medical Officer. Barry and I could not have imagined a more qualified or compassionate physician to serve in this role.

From a purely selfish perspective, I only hope I will still be able to see you at my follow-up visits! 

Best regards,

Rebecca

Much to my surprise, within minutes after I sent that note I received the following response:

Thank you for reaching out and your kind words. I am absolutely going to keep practicing so I look forward to our future visits. 

Warmly, Lisa

So do I!!!

Love,

Rebecca

Moore (Michael)

If I’ve got them all, Michael Moore’s newest documentary is his tenth:

 2018       Fahrenheit 11/9 

 2016       Michael Moore in TrumpLand 

 2015       Where to Invade Next 

 2009       Capitalism: A Love Story 

 2007       Slacker Uprising 

 2007       Sicko 

 2004       Fahrenheit 9/11 

 2002       Bowling for Columbine 

 1997       The Big One 

 1989       Roger & Me 

I have listed all of these here because if you have seen any of them then you are familiar with both his style and his politics. His newest film is about the 2016 presidential election, for which President Donald Trump was declared the winner in the early morning hours of Wednesday, November 9^th (hence the film’s title). There is nothing here that we have not seen or read before. Much as I enjoy Michael Moore’s films, it is clear that he comes at his topics with a very definite point of view, and for this reason you are sometimes left wondering just how factually correct they are. But even if some of the facts are exaggerated or taken out of context, which they undoubtedly are, seeing his films still makes for fascinating and thought-provoking experiences, and this one is no exception. Putting politics aside, it is high time that the water supply in Flint, Michigan, should be cleaned up and the myriad of health problems, particularly among the children of Flint, be aggressively addressed.

Love,

Rebecca

 

Campbell Brittan Read

We lived in Dallas, Texas for six years, during which time I was a graduate student in Statistics at Southern Methodist University (SMU), earning my Ph.D. in 1986. Although I have to admit I have never supported the school financially, they still send me quite a bit of mail, including the quarterly magazine which arrived the other day. I do not usually read these things but sometimes I glance through just to see if there is anything about anyone I might remember, and I can always enjoy looking at all the pictures of the couples who have married or welcomed new babies.

I have no idea why in the world this small item caught my glance. It was in a section titled “In Memoriam,” which lists SMU graduates who have passed on in order of their years of graduation; the most recent was a 2016 graduate. At the end of this section, my eye caught a subsection called “SMU Community” which included various faculty and administrators who had passed, and for reasons I will never understand I immediately noticed a name toward the bottom of that list:

Campbell Brittan Read, professor emeritus of statistical science, 4/25/18

In the early 1980s when I was a student at SMU, Dr. Read taught the first-year graduate course in probability theory. I cannot say I remember much of what I learned from him, but I do have one particularly amusing memory of an interaction we had. The final exam for his class during my first semester was scheduled for a Saturday. When that schedule appeared, I went to see him. I am not sure that Dr. Read had ever actually met anyone Jewish, let alone a traditionally observant Jew. He was a bit skeptical about my request to sit for the exam on Friday afternoon before Sabbath, as if he thought I was somehow going to use this as an opportunity to put myself at some sort of unfair advantage, or worse, to share information about the exam with the other students. I pointed out to him that it would not be in my interest to do so, because they would all have an extra day to bone up on the relevant information, putting me at a distinct disadvantage. He bought that argument and I remember taking the exam in some other professor’s office a few hours before Sabbath.

 

I guess I learned enough probability theory to get me through that graduate program and a career as a statistician. Rest in peace, Campbell Read.

Love,

Rebecca

Hitting 60,000 with good news

The pageview count is at 59,986 this morning, so I am glad to bring it over the 60K mark with good news:

There were no significant changes from the previous scan.

It was quite reassuring to see that there is no new or recurrent disease. Now we just need to figure out how to better deal with what are undoubtedly side effects from the radiation therapy.

Love,

Rebecca

p.s.

Closing in on the next milestone - just 50 to go:

Pageviews today

45

Pageviews yesterday

20

Pageviews last month

566

Pageviews all time history

59,950

Hard to be patient

I am still waiting for the results of the CT scan from last Thursday. I know there was a weekend in there, but neither cancer nor anxiety seem to take the weekends off. I called MSKCC a little while ago and it sounds like the results are there but have not yet been “reviewed” or “released” by my team. I tried to sound as nice and friendly as I could as I begged a young fellow named Conner, who likely spends his days listening to patients like me complaining about how long this takes, to see if he could get through to my team. I also sent an e-mail message to Dr. Iyer, the medical oncologist who seems to be the most communicative. Otherwise, I just wait.

I certainly hope the news is better than what has been on my mind for the past day: the tragic stabbing death in Jerusalem of a 45-year-old fellow named Ari Fuld ע״ה (May he rest in peace). We are familiar with this family in two ways: first, because his father was the Principal of the Jewish Day School in Riverdale that Dina attended in 7^th and 8^th grades, and second, because his mother is a cousin of our son-in-law’s mother. There are simply no words.

Meanwhile, in an effort to pass some time, and actually before we had heard about the terrorist attack, we did manage to go see a movie yesterday, a documentary called “Science Fair.” The movie, which scored 100% on Rotten Tomatoes, tracks nine students among the nearly 1700 finalists from around the world who gathered for the 2017 fair, one of whom, Ivo Zell from Germany, won the top award. The students profiled are a bright and sometimes quirky bunch of high school students, making for a very enjoyable film.

Of course, I still had to miss some amount due to bathroom trips. We have to situate ourselves as near as possible to the exit so that I can come and go as needed without being too disruptive. It was the first time we had tried going to see a movie in a while, and all in all it did not go too badly.

I will pass along my medical update once I have it.

Love,

Rebecca

With much gratitude

I write with heartfelt gratitude to all of you who have responded so movingly to my post yesterday. Your words of encouragement mean the world to me. I will do my best to keep you posted on my progress over the coming days.

Love,

Rebecca

Bumps in the road

I have not posted for two weeks. I wish I could say it was because I was just too busy preparing for the holidays and enjoying the company of family and friends. Unfortunately, this was not the case. About a week and a half ago I had a very difficult few days from which I have still not completely recovered. For reasons I cannot fully understand, I was unable to urinate, which landed me in the emergency room in quite a bit of pain. I was catheterized for a few days and then finally managed to have the cystoscopy that I had mentioned in my last posting. I am now scheduled for a CT scan tomorrow, hopefully to help better understand what is going on and plan the next steps.

Unfortunately, this incident left me completely drained both physically and emotionally. I am only trying little by little to regain some strength. It was not the best start of the New Year.

I hope you have all been well, and wish only the best of health and happiness to each and everyone one of you.

Love,

Rebecca