2:02 AM 7/9/2007

So, it is 2:00 AM and I just arrived at my hotel room in New York. Talk about a whirlwind tour. With a delayed flight and a switch in airports I have finally made it to my bed. I can't tell you a whole lot because I must get to bed before the start of a full day of meetings tomorrow. But, what I can tell you is that the Dungan Five had a spectacular weekend together. We swam in the pool and played most of the time but, as usual, Lynley had enough chores laid out for us snotty nosed little brats to remind us where we ranked in the household. I was hoping when she would slow down in her old age but, apparently, I was quite clearly wrong.

Tomorrow will be a very interesting day. I have several meetings on a myriad of subjects. The day will begin with some impromptu meetings with a few families up at Sloan. Then, of course, I will have to deliver pictures and presents to some of Sydney's favorite nurses. Then, at 11:00 AM, I have a meeting with Nai-Kong Cheung himself. I have really prepared myself well for this meeting and I am really looking forward to it. Hopefully this will give me a keener insight into his vision of a humanized 3F8 and, quite frankly, I am also interested in pushing the envelope a bit on the 8H9. I know, I know I am throwing a lot of acronyms at you but bear with me. You know that when I have enough time I will go through all of the grueling details and you will wish I had never opened my mouth. Let's just say that the first is a helpful utility, a modernized weapon against neuroblastoma. The latter has the potential, for many reasons, to be something very, very special. If it proves itself as well with systemic disease as well as it did in central nervous system relapses in sustaining remissions then we may very well be preventing relapses for longer than ever before. Some have even used the "c" word (cure), although, I think everyone is still very gun shy about saying it out loud. For good reason. There is a long way to go but it is certainly one of the more promising revelations that I have heard this year.

Anyway, after that I will be having lunch with another NB parent who is one of the key players of the Parent's NB Handbook and we are going to see what we can to keep that moving along and into parents hands everywhere. The remainder of the afternoon will be spent talking to another family who is making some tough decisions, a group interested in Lunch for Life, and finally a large parents meeting to discuss the possibility of funding the humanized antibody. After that I am sure there will be discussions into the wee hours and then it will be back to my hotel for a few hours of sleep before I am up at 4:00 AM to catch a flight home. Yes, it is a whirl wind.

Now, leave me alone. I have got to get some sleep.

Much purpose awaits.