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Coming home
Here I am, sitting at the Newark Liberty airport waiting to board my flight back to Singapore. In these last weeks, not only was I given the rare opportunity to cover a murder trial, I also began a new chapter of my life. From January, Rusty and I will spend 2007 in our very own East Village apartment, in the city that we met and fell in love.
It will take a few weeks for me to put together my exit plan back to New York. During this time, Rusty will begin his new treatment. We should know if he is eligible for the clinical trial in a few days. This new drug, Medarex, is being researched by pharmaceutical company Bristol-Meyers Squibb. The trial, run by Dr Jedd Wolchok at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Hospital, will last 12 weeks.
Every three weeks, Rusty will be given an infusion of the drug through IV. The side effects will not be pleasant. Some have been hospitalised due to severe colitis. We scan again at the end of the trial.
My sadness comes and goes. These past few weeks have been a heady adventure to prepare for living in New York again. Between the $500,000 bond and a deadly cancer, Rusty and I will need the help of giants to stay together.
December 29th, 2006 at 1:45 am
[…] We are at Memorial Sloan Kettering on 53rd and Lexington Ave, and in a few minutes Jesse will receive another dose of the new drug, Medarex. This is the first time I am sitting with him through the treatment, even though it will already be his third infusion. There is one more infusion after this, and then we will take scans. Looking at the modest, palm-sized plastic bag of clear liquid, I wonder if this clinical trial is what will save our future. Instinctively, out of habit, I pray under my breath. […]
January 18th, 2007 at 5:56 am
[…] This is an aspect of our lives we cannot ignore: When living with active disease, every bodily pain, ache and discomfort is judged with heightened sensitivity. At this late stage of our treatment protocol, it is not easy to keep at bay the questions we yet have answers for: Is the drug working? Are the tumors getting bigger? […]