The Kid is Okay!

I know it gets worrying when I do not post but we are home now in Ashfield, between chemotherapy cycles, and it is a relief to pretend the last four months never happened. Orion is feeling good, looking good. His hair continues to leave him however. He is now nearly eyebrow-less and I suspect his arm hair is gone as well. A naked mole rat with a healthy complexion.

We will return to Boston on Monday for his last cycle of chemicals and the prep work for radiation.

Meanwhile he is enjoying being home and is just finishing up his final paper for his final Swarthmore class, Counter factual History. He also is enjoying his new blog on explaining everyday phenomena through the lens of physics, or Fundamental Forces http://fundamentalforces.blogspot.com/

Sweet and Cheery gesture followed by Depravity.

Sally took this charming scene in the Boston Public Gardens of Mrs. Mallard and the ack kids with their easter bonnets on last night. Today when we went by someone had stolen her bonnet.

Who are these males and where are their parents?

Our Son Also Rises

Orion's twenty-second birthday!

His girlfriend Jen came up from Swarthmore College, he baked himself a cake, Sally put out a Harvey basket for each of them. Last night Orion and Jen had dinner together at Toscana on Charles. Staying out of their way, Sally and I went out to eat at 75 Chestnut. Then we went to see Jane Eyre while they went back to the condo to make the chocolate cake.

But that was all after the four of us walked in the pouring rain to mail off his lease and deposit on the new apartment in Ann Arbor. A new lease on life in a way.

It is home to western Mass for us this afternoon for a week before returning to Boston for the final cycle of chemotherapy and two weeks of recovery.

The Gods Smile Down on Us!

We have returned from another clinic visit with Dr. Ebb (who visibly gasped when he saw the photo of Orion with the Bacardi Girls) and has released us to home once again. Orion's blood counts were great and every body was grinning. There was talk of papers published and champagne flowing.

Not quite yet.

We made the appointment for orion's last chemo cycle, which is inpatient in the pediatric ward on Ellison 18. While he is there, hooked to tubes of poison he will see the neuro-opthomologist for his double vision, diplopia, and he will begin his prep for the rendezvous with the cyclotron. If you checked in on his new physics blog you might have been amazed at the speed of the protons- 60% of the speed of light!

This weekend is Orion's 22nd birthday.

Spring in Boston

On our walk today to the Charles River Basin we found these lovely maple tree flowers

















And coming down Joy Street on Beacon Hill we saw this strange sight.

Fundamental Forces

Orion has started his own blog!

Fundamental Forces

Hold Fast

Another visit to the pediatric oncology clinic at the Yawkey Center at MGH, Massachusetts General Hospital for bloodwork today.

All systems, counts, values remain normalized, right down the line after five cycles of chemotherapy. This includes the cancer tumor markers of AFP and HcG. I find it very interesting to see the effects of the Neulasta injection that I administer to Orion. The clinic does not need me to tell them if I gave it correctly, they see it in the numbers.

I do not believe in magic or jinxing so I feel fine saying that we have come this far without vomit or the need for an infusion of blood. Remarkable!

Back to the clinic on Friday to look once more into the palantir.

A Race, A Contest, A Battle, A Challenge

All won through endurance, strength, and will.

Orion and I walked down to Hereford Street this morning, the small Boston side street that the marathon runners turn on to from Commonwealth Avenue before reaching the finish on Boylston.





Here the first women run past us. That is Caroline Kilel in the green jersey who goes on to win she is about to pass Desiree Davila!










Next come the top men. Again in green, it is Geoffrey Mutai who wins the men's race in record time. In front of him for just another minute is Moses Mosop, also from Kenya.







Finally we have another challenger, Orion. Here he is congratulated by a veritable bevy of babes.

A Quickening Pace of Life

Orion just had a call from the Uinversity of Michigan physics department where they offered him a Ford Fellowship, providing complete support for his first two years of research. Good thing I owned two Ford Tauri.


The Physics Department grants one Ford Fellowship each year. This award is sponsored by the Ford Motor Company. It provides two full years of support, full tuition and fees, stipend, health insurance and money for textbooks.

5/6 of the way to Radiation

In the Frog Pond Room, last of the Yaukey Clinic rooms for kids for us, depicting the ice skating in Boston Common.


Today Orion finished his fifth cycle of chemotherapy. It did not go so well as his blood pressure kept dropping from the etoposide flow rate. So nurse Patty kept slowing it down making for a long afternoon. We were in high spirits though because we had just come from an appointment with neurosurgeon Ziv Williams who did Orion's surgery, The Endoscopic Third Ventricularostomy, a lifetime ago on December 24th 2010. He told us that there were no issues, the tumor was gone, that the cranial spinal fluid was flowing naturally and there would be no more abnormal pressure. There was no longer a need for a surgeon. He was blown away that Orion is going to Michigan for the physics PhD program (he is a Stanford man himself).

Then Orion's oncologist Dr. David Ebb popped in to tell us that the entire MGH team of oncologists and neurologists had a meeting to go over Orion's progress and unanimously agreed that the cancer was gone and that the final leg of treatment was on track for a complete cure by mid July.

That now means he can get an apartment in Ann Arbor for his new life as a physicist. A year to remember for all of us.

Fenway Finally

Sally has written it before, no news is good news. Today Orion started Chemo cycle FIVE out of six. If you are counting, that is one more than Lance Armstrong. He feels good. We spoke with Dr. Ebb today who is encouraged by Orion's response to chemo and the tumor's response to the terrible chemicals as well. Orion has done well, the cancer not. Tomorrow Orion's response is the subject of Grand Rounds at the hospital where the best and brightest will discuss his results and tweak the final leg of his war with the cancer. Dr. Ebb and DR. Macdonald think we are on track for a cure and a timetable that will put Orion at Swarthmore Commencement at the end of May and at Orientation at Michigan in late August for the Physics PhD program.

So more on Thursday when he finishes the last Carboplatin/Etoposide duet and recovers for the next two weeks before the final round.

At the clinic today we were offered two wonderful seats to the Red Sox match against Tampa Bay. We sat right on the third base foul line and sure enough a ball came screaming right us, caught by four lovely young women in the seats to our right. We also had fun with a drunk from North Providence who brought a 12 ounce bottle of vodka and then added on a few beers. A cheery lad. A crazed ride home on the T and to bed.

The Blues

I was just sitting with Orion in the Founder's MRI waiting room for his post fourth cycle scan. The waiting room was hot and airless. We were told to arrive at 12:10 but found a sign that the receptionist would not return until 12:30. She showed up with an immense slice of cake and proceeded to eat it and sing the blues between mouthfuls. A pretty fetching voice and soulful sentiments. The phone rang and she gruffly answered with a rude "what?". After chatting with an adult aged child for ten minutes she decided to tell the radiologist that Orion was ready. They came by and got him ten minutes later. As soon as he left I ran outside to sit in the sun by the 1811 original MGH building to wait.

We have been cleared to head home for the weekend and so we will amble down to South Station to catch one of those buses named after clocks, crocs, and smocks.

Next Tuesday he starts chemo number five. He is feeling good.

Heading back Up

Once again Orion's body, with a little help from his new friend Neulasta, has responded and turned his blood counts back. His white blood cells jumped to 32,000 over the weekend, raising eyebrows at the clinic.

I asked the good Doctor Ebb for a simple status report and he said what I wanted to hear - Orion is doing great and there are no concerns. He does not expect much change on Thursdays MRI and does not need more blood until next week at cycle five.

Then we headed down to the basement to the Proton Center to see Dr. Shannon MacDonald, the radiation oncologist. She too called the last MRI a complete response and saw no reason why the planned proton beam therapy would be delayed and that he is on schedule for having daily radiation for six weeks starting June 6 through July 16. this gives him six weeks of rest before classes start.

Grandma and Auntie come for a visit!

Today Orion's Grandma and Aunt Linda came for a visit from New York State. We took them up to Ellison 18 were Orion spends so much time. Behind them in the photo you can see the Hancock building. We saw rain showers and a partial rainbow. Also visiting us was our long time friend Marsha from Maine.

Almost down for the Count

We were in the clinic today for bloodwork and when the numbers came back they were terrible lowest counts yet, just shy of forcing a transfusion. Yuck. We were warned to be extra vigilant for any signs of sickness this weekend and were told to come back on Monday morning for more testing.

What are they looking at? All very low were his white blood cells, hematocrits, hemoglobin and red blood cells. Platelets were just above bottom limits. More too, of course, but why list the whole butcher's bill?

On his Swarthmore studies he had a little squirmish (thanks S.P!) with the college registrar who sent him an email saying," are you graduating in May?" Orion immediately replied, uh, yes, is there a problem? No, there is no problem. He is on the list for Commencement as long as he completes the history tutorial with Prof. Burke.

Tonight's dinner capping off wild meat week? Boar's Balls.

Orion begged me not to go into the belief that you are what you eat. You know, if you eat lion you have the heart or courage of a lion. If you eat llama you have that indescribable disdainment for the rest of the universe, if you eat rabbit you are clever beyond the capacity of your average fox, if you eat boar you are unrelentingly dangerous. Likewise if you eat tofu you are mild, weak and wet, if you eat vegetables you are without movement, without passion. Right?