Of Beethoven's 9th, student "nachas" and Infusion Room Drama

Week of 9/8-16th
Sept 11th(yes, THAT date) picked up my brother at the Oakland airport and hot-footed it over to a dim sum restaurant in Oakland for lunch with my friend Karl Goldstein. Since we didn't get there till after 2, and they were clearly winding down and stopped circulating those cute little carts on wheels at 2:30-we did not really get to give Restaurant Peony a fair test, but we managed to get enough of a taste to know that it was good and certainly deserved a return visit at an earlier time. After the carts disappeared (as we looked on with horror) I never saw my brother so aggressive in flagging down the waitress to place orders for more food (duck and bok choy), so please don't think we left hungry.

That evening we attended the Berkeley Rep's performance of the new Itamar Moses play"Yellow Jackets". As you'll remember from an earlier blog entry, Itamar is a former piano student of mine whose's making quite a name for himself in the theater world with new plays opening in San Diego, Chicago, N.Y.C. as well as this new Berkeley offering. Though not quite as polished and brilliant as "Bach in Liepzig," (in my opinion), "Yellow Jackets" was still engaging, emotional as well as funny and worthy of seeing. As Itamar (and some of the critics)say: it's need's some pruning and focussing but nonetheless incisively dissects those akward coming of age high-school years at a school filled with racial and class conflicts. Of course, it gives me great "nachas" to view Itamar's success and I look forward to more success and "nachas."

Oh yes, we were up in the Bay area because I had an ultra -sound exam at UCSF with my surgeon on Fri. morning. The exam showed that the tumor had shrunk approximately 25% after chemoradiation and that the previous lymph node involvement that was noted previously was no longer evident to Dr. Varma. Being Ivan, I had hoped for the even better news, i.e., that the tumor was totally gone and that they had actually made a great error in the first test because they now could see that the tumor was really a half-digested hamentasch that somehow had lodged itself in my behind-- but that was not to be! After getting over my disappointment, I certainly understood that 25% was not so bad - the tumor could have increased or there could have been no reduction in size,so I ended up somewhat pleased with the results and was told that I could continue with the study with surgery slated for late Oct.

So off to Davies Hall, for Michael's and my first live performance of Beethoven's 9th - and what a performance it was-- Michael Tilson Thomas making Lenny-like mvts on the podium and eliciting incisive rhythmic thrusts and exquisite solo playing from the orchestra. Though I alway knew intellectually what an important and revolutionary work it was, this live performance confirmed it for me in a very visceral and moving way.

Tues, the 16th, we arrived at the oncologists for the beginning of the first of two FOLFOX chemo treatments that was mandated by the study before surgery. I was all hooked up, waiting for the blood work reports to come back and being given pre-chemo anti-nausea drug, when Dr Wu(my oncologist) and his nurse came rushing into the room saying"Stop the infusion" My first thought was "YES!" that I had been right all along- I did not have cancer at all-the hamentachen thesis was indeed correct and that finally someone had taken the time to uncover this awful hoax- but wrong again! The new research asst. up at UCSF had mis calculated the percentage of shrinkage and thought it was 30% which was the required minimum for continuing with the study-consequently my 25% shrinkage rendered me no longer eligible for the study.Thanks to a last-minute save by the previous research asst(who has been my guardian angel)who caught the error and frantically called the S.C. Infusion Room from San Diego(where she now works) I had not yet started the heavy-duty chemo mandated by the study. A bit jarring at first, but actually neither good or bad news- just that I was no longer within the parameter of the study. I now will be having the surgery within the next 2-3 weeks at the latest, and then will have post-surgery recovery and chemo. This turn of events will cut down on the total recovery time so that i am able to get back to my old routine sooner. I like that! Cheers, IR