ASCO - My Life is Worth It - Chicago 2014

"My Life is Worth It": patient advocacy booth at the ASCO Conference in Chicago

The massages on the booth tell our story.
You may click on the photos to enlarge.



















Please tell doctors not to stop the war on cancer.
Cancer drugs are not what is threatening the health care system.

We are grateful every day for the drug that has extended Don's life by another 6 years.

Running Walking in Chicago (ASCO Part 2)

ASCO attendees hustled along... 30,000 of them.


Weather was perfect for running/walking in Millenium Park.


As we revisited Millenium Park, we remembered the hot hot Chicago Marathon in Chicago several years ago now.
From the walks in Millenium Park we found our way to the Lake Michigan waterfront.


Everywhere, people were moving on foot... or on bicycles.


Park and trails provided great running/walking along the Chicago River.


An art fair was nearby.. maybe not for running, but some interesting walking.


Navy Pier, also interesting walking on the weekend, was wind-swept clean of blowing snow the last time we were in Chicago.


Sweet Pea loves kitty pictures, and you never know what you'll find just walking on the city streets.

North of the Chicago River, we were reminded of the great community support there for runners in the Chicago Marathon, even though the official support was pretty sparse and dry! Some folks came out with their own personal garden hoses to provide spray, promised and not delivered until the final mile of the race by the marathon organization.

We were delighted to discover both Trader Joes and Whole Foods on the near north side of the river, where we stocked up on organic fruit for the weekend. Walking...

ASCO in Chicago (Part One)

ASCO is the American Society of Clinical Oncology, which held its annual meeting last week at McCormick Place in Chicago, 30,000 strong. Don was there as a guest of the International Myeloma Foundation (IMF), to observe the information presented by the many speakers, and to blog about it from the perspective of an ordinary patient. Yay for the IMF! And thank you.

Don's reports on ASCO:
http://myelomahope.blogspot.com/

At the conference exhibits, Don pointed to the lighted graph which showed Pomalidomide patients in a drug trial.
"This is me, right here," he said.


Now my super little Canon camera is taking blurry pictures like I was storing it in a bucket of water. Sigh. . . .
Non-blurry pictures may have been taken by Sweet Pea, or by Don or even by Don with his phone camera.



McCormick Convention Center is enormous and awesome.
There is a two lane bus route from downtown to the Center, no passing, no exits or entrances, just straight out to where you want to be: expediently.


30,000 folks is a CITY! Twelve bus routes, with 15 buses on each, picking up and dropping people off, back and forth all day and evening.
Below is the list of hotel stops for just one of the routes.



After reading Cancer Girl's blog for some time we appreciated the opportunity to meet Karen and her husband Jay.
We recommend her delightful ASCO reports:

http://adventuresofcancergirl.blogspot.com/