Hi --

Barry is overjoyed that he is no longer having to go up to Baltimore every day and wants to concentrate on getting better. His energy level is pretty good, he cooked his and my dinner tonight (he had to eat soup, I had a chop -- and yes, I felt guilty!) but maybe with not having to be out of the house 1/2 the day he can eat more regularly as he needs to put some weight back on (he's about 5-6 pounds down from his regular weight). He is pretty tired of soup and shakes, however <gr> though he realizes it will be a while before he can handle other foods. As you may know, he never used the tube. He is far from depressed, but rather pretty happy about getting through the ordeal and being relatively, although not completely by any means, unscathed.

We went up to Hopkins (again!) today to meet with HPV oncologist to find out about a new trial with a HPV-16 vaccine (this is not the vaccine about to be released as a prophylactic inoculation, but one which has been shown in animal trials to eliminate HPV-induced cancer.) She had some interesting things to say about rate of recurrence in HPV+ SCC (quite low) and also, how long it can be between initial HPV infection and the cancer showing up (up to 20 years).

I tell you I am also happy about not going up to the hospital every day, I can assure you! However, we still have appointments....

Gail