We Can Breathe Now

Adrienne has had a cough that's been getting worse over the past 10 days, making us more than a little anxious about her scans on Friday, but the results were not too bad. Here's the conclusion: SLIGHT INTERVAL ENLARGEMENT OF THE SPLENIC LESION WITH INTERVAL SLIGHT DECREASE OF RIGHT INFRAHILAR MASS FROM PRIOR STUDY/PET CT OF AUGUST 23, 2007. The cough is probably from allergies or a virus, but Adrienne can go ahead and start the study tomorrow. I suppose one good thing came of this: I found out that I can get a last minute ticket on United using my miles. If only I could do as well on a hotel. They are really expensive in New York right now.

September is childhood cancer awareness month so here's a few more facts about childhood cancer.

Childhood cancer is the leading cause of death by disease in the US and it kills more children per year than cystic fibrosis, muscular dystrophy, asthma and AIDS combined.

There are 15 children diagnosed with cancer for every one child diagnosed with pediatric AIDS. Yet, the U.S. invests approximately $595,000 for research per victim of pediatric AIDS and only $20,000 for each victim of childhood cancer.

The National Cancer Institute's (NCI) federal budget was $4.6 billion. Of that, breast cancer received 12%, prostate cancer received 7%, and all 12 major groups of pediatric cancers combined received less than 3%.

The American Cancer Society spends less than 70 cents of each 100 dollars raised on childhood cancer. (This fact was a surprise to me.)