hazel's blog

Getting back in shape

It’s been a while since I’ve done my normal exercise routine. I’ve had a few injuries that have kept me from working out the way I used to, and the last few weeks have included much time away – perhaps not a bad thing, considering the latest injury. But I’m ready to go back now ... here’s hoping I can shed the pounds I’ve been gaining lately!

A post-vacation high

Amazing, what a real vacation can do for the spirit! Despite two weeks of travel out west and now a short trip to Asheville via GSP (where there are nonstops and affordable fares, even considering the rental car) I am relaxed, resting and writing at the Comfort Inn while waiting for Gabriel to nap before I pick him up from school. I feel as though I've taken a turn in the road, and I'm ready to get on with things.

A brief update on the GVAX trial – and what’s next?

Dr. Lipson told us today that the final subject in the Phase 1 GVAX melanoma vaccine trial that Robert went through at Johns Hopkins was enrolled two weeks ago. Around the end of the year or early in 2014, the researchers will have all the data from the study and will begin to write a report that they hope will be published in the middle of next year.

Don’t worry! Be happy!

But that’s hard to do, coming up on scans and a visit with Robert’s oncologist in two weeks. I’ve written before about scanxiety, so I won’t repeat that here – nothing has changed, and from reading posts by others on the Melanoma Patients Information Page sponsored by the Melanoma Research Foundation, we are far from alone in this.

This month, though, we had another reason to be anxious. Robert’s dermatologist last week removed a “freckle” from the back of his leg that I’ve been eyeing for more than six months. He did a shave biopsy of it, and today the results came back: it was a benign keratosis. Whew!

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