3 years and 3 months on IMBRUVICA

I am back from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in Bethesda, Maryland with continued good news on my use of IMBRUVICA (a.k.a. ibrutinib, PCI-32765). I remain in clinical complete remission since January 2015. My blood work is within the normal range and the medical team is happy with the results. Just to remind you, I have now been a participant in the NIH clinical trial for three years and three months with CLL/SLL with del17p and p53 mutation (the poor prognosis). 

I had lunch with two of the other lab rats (George and Betty), and then had vegetable tempura with my cousin Sam, who works for NASA in DC. I strolled by the admissions aquarium to make sure the clown fish couple were still living in the shell, got big hugs from Drs. Adrian Wiestner and Mohammed Farooqui, and got to giggle over a photo of Dr. Mohammed’s 5-month old baby boy, who apparently does not like to sleep at night. Susan, the research nurse got a great new haircut and was laughing about my stand-up comedy routine video. The nurse from India, who took my vitals, had a discussion with me about the pros and cons of arranged versus American marriages. I had a conversation with the shuttle driver about the outlandish costs of housing in Bethesda and how normal folks have such a different perspective of life and money. I sat outside on the patio and smelled the fresh air, chuckled at the people rushing to who-knows-where, and just smiled.