Fading Off for the Night
One of my friends pondered if she could run around hitting people with a stick and yelling "It doesn't matter, it happened in the past." I responded, in kind, with "If you wanna end up in the nuthouse pokey, sure." Well, I'm not intending to run around with sticks, but the events of today are slipping into the past. A crazy start, and a nice ending.
The day started with a 25 mile commute turning into two hours. Fun. Two exits of the LIE were shut down, from an accident, and an investigation had to ensue. Yup, someone died on the roadway. I sent emails to a couple of students, while I sat in idle traffic, and got the class to start the quiz before I got there. Slightly odd, but nerve wracking as I was supposed to be evaluated this morning. My department chair was also trapped in said traffic, so we met for lunch and then he came to my last class of the day. None-the-less, I was still nervous about the whole eval. Turns out I didn't need to be, as he sent me an email saying I'm terrific and teach the Environmental History course better then he. Score one for me.
I probably shouldn't tell you that a student said the course is interesting, but he doesn't like hearing about all this stuff in the past. My response, "Dude, it is a history course." This conversation occurred before class, thankfully.
Then, I headed home and scored easy parking dead in front of my building. In all fairness, when I have to park "far" away it is never more than a two minute walk. Though, parking in front is super nice tonight.
And . . . then I checked my news headlines and was delighted to see that the FDA advisory panel had approved Benlysta for Lupus treatment. This is the first time in FIFTY years a Lupus-specific drug has made progress for us Lupus folks. The FDA is expected to make its final ruling by 9 December, and the FDA rarely votes against its own panels. Benlysta isn't a wonder drug, but it is one of the first to spawn from genome research. I'm not going to sugar coat that the drug is a wonder one, many patients (i.e. Caucasians) have little response to it and not enough African-Americans have been included in trails. They tend to have more aggressive strains of the beast. But, when you live with a disease that sees so little progress in research and press coverage a breakthrough like this is almost a fantasy. Benlysta would be the first drug created solely for Lupus. As of right now, standard Lupus treatment is plaquenil and prednisone. The first is an anti-malarial and the second . . . a steroid (not the juicer kind of athletes). Perhaps, perhaps, Lupus folks with have a new drug for the first time since Eisenhower graced the Oval Office.
On that note, as Tuesday fades into the past and I try to drift back to sleep as the raindrops fall, not a bad day after all.
The day started with a 25 mile commute turning into two hours. Fun. Two exits of the LIE were shut down, from an accident, and an investigation had to ensue. Yup, someone died on the roadway. I sent emails to a couple of students, while I sat in idle traffic, and got the class to start the quiz before I got there. Slightly odd, but nerve wracking as I was supposed to be evaluated this morning. My department chair was also trapped in said traffic, so we met for lunch and then he came to my last class of the day. None-the-less, I was still nervous about the whole eval. Turns out I didn't need to be, as he sent me an email saying I'm terrific and teach the Environmental History course better then he. Score one for me.
I probably shouldn't tell you that a student said the course is interesting, but he doesn't like hearing about all this stuff in the past. My response, "Dude, it is a history course." This conversation occurred before class, thankfully.
Then, I headed home and scored easy parking dead in front of my building. In all fairness, when I have to park "far" away it is never more than a two minute walk. Though, parking in front is super nice tonight.
And . . . then I checked my news headlines and was delighted to see that the FDA advisory panel had approved Benlysta for Lupus treatment. This is the first time in FIFTY years a Lupus-specific drug has made progress for us Lupus folks. The FDA is expected to make its final ruling by 9 December, and the FDA rarely votes against its own panels. Benlysta isn't a wonder drug, but it is one of the first to spawn from genome research. I'm not going to sugar coat that the drug is a wonder one, many patients (i.e. Caucasians) have little response to it and not enough African-Americans have been included in trails. They tend to have more aggressive strains of the beast. But, when you live with a disease that sees so little progress in research and press coverage a breakthrough like this is almost a fantasy. Benlysta would be the first drug created solely for Lupus. As of right now, standard Lupus treatment is plaquenil and prednisone. The first is an anti-malarial and the second . . . a steroid (not the juicer kind of athletes). Perhaps, perhaps, Lupus folks with have a new drug for the first time since Eisenhower graced the Oval Office.
On that note, as Tuesday fades into the past and I try to drift back to sleep as the raindrops fall, not a bad day after all.
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