Revlimid/Dex 8/1/07

Well, I start taking the big Revlimid/Dex plunge today under the sponsorship of my insurance drug benefit to the tune of $6,781.65 a month for four to eight months in case you might have been interested in how expensive cancer drugs can be. This is a new drug which is offered to patients who have undergone at least one course of treatment in the past. It is the most effective drug available at this time. Some are saying it might be a replacement for a stem cell transplant in a certain percentage of cases.

Taking this drug is a bit like playing no-limit Texas Hold 'em. Whether you know the game or not, I'm sure you have at least seen it while flipping through the channels. It is one of those games where you put up or shut up. Well, actually, some of the players never shut up even if they fold.

Anyway, as I was saying, you put up a huge amount of money just to see the cards. You are holding suited connectors so chances are good you will maybe flop a straight or flush draw which carries odds of about 33% that you will complete the flush or straight by the river. If you don't at least watch Texas Hold 'em on TV, I lost you already.

Suffice it to say, just 'cause you put up a huge wager and you are holding fairly good cards, you still have a better chance of loosing all of it than winning. That's why it takes an optimist to play poker, always looking on the sunny side, even if he just took a bad beat, he gets over it in a hurry to play another hand which might be even more promising than the last.

So, that is the way we are approaching this new hand we have been dealt which carries about a 33% chance of success. We are hopeful the drug will do some major damage to as many bad old cancer cells as possible, delivering them a bad beat and allowing us to come out a winner in the long, long, long run.