And now it’s official!

I knew it for positive ten days ago. I saw the mammogram that proved I was positive in knowing I was right ten days ago, when my radiologist, Dr. Tomkovich confirmed it for me at Centra State Hospital in Freehold ten days ago. But today, it became official. Because today, Dr. Belar, my oncologist, told me that yes it is true, I have not had any breast cancer in five years ten days. What a great feeling! But I think Dr. Belar felt even better. “You’re our first one!” he said gleefully, “shouldn’t we be having a party or something?” Dr. Belar, a wonderful oncologist by the way, feels terrific about every cancer patient he can tell is cancer free or in remission. But for my case, it was different. I was a trial patient and I was his very first, Dr. Tomkovich’s first, Centra State Hospital’s first, and I believe the third in the nation to undergo the trial that killed my cancer without surgery, chemo, radiation, hospitalization, or much more than a needle inserted twice, for seven or eight minutes each, all within a half hour. Today was final proof that Ice Cure has created something many would call magical! As I left Dr. Belar’s office this morning, I felt a little giddy, admittedly. That’s because I felt so good about being able to be involved in a trial that certainly appears to prove it is able to kill cancer if caught early enough. I relived the moments five years and 57 days ago when I learned I had cancer, and shortly after, learned I could be part of a trial. I remember now thinking “aha, that’s why I had that mammogram, so I can be a help to others.” I laughed out loud in the parking lot this morning when I recalled the only reason I had gotten that mammogram in the first place was because Centra State was giving every woman who got a mammo a big discount ticket for a massage in one of the local spas. They still do that, by the way, and I got mine for this year as well. Then I remembered well that ten days later, I had the procedure, and here I am today. Cancer free and feeling terrific about it all. Then as I thought about that frozen needle that was inserted to freeze my tumor to death and let it shrivel up and slough away, painless all the way five years ago, I also thought of the other needle I got eight days ago, the first of two Moderna shots against the Covid virus. I didn’t want to get that needle at first; I don’t get flu shots, I am healthy, I didn’t think I needed it. But minds wiser than mine convinced me I have to think of others as well and should get the shot if I want safety and security in restaurants, department stores, cruises, and railroad trips. So I got it and look forward to the second shot. Ironic, I thought, that I so eagerly looked forward to a needle five years ago because I felt confident it would be successful but challenged another needle this year for reasons I really haven’t figured out. Am I glad I got both? Of course! And I applaud today’s scientists in all pharmaceutical companies who came up with the varieties of vaccine offered for Covid. But I have a very special feeling for Ice-Cure, the wonderful ladies and gentlemen in Caesarea, Israel who came up with this cure, people I was so fortunate to be able to meet two weeks after my procedure when I just happened to be making a pre-arranged trip to Israel. I felt proud, then, proud to be able to display to my medical team in Israel that their wonderful invention was quick, simple, easy, and did not interrupt my life anymore than the 28 minutes it took to accomplish the entire procedure. And now, five years later, I still correspond and talk with the new friends in Israel I have made; I have so much respect for doctors and a hospital that dare to take on the challenge of a trial, and I’m happy to shout my praises to the sky for the great medical advances in two different and open-minded nations that will help women all over the world. Of course I will continue to return to Dr. Belar for mammograms every six months. He asked me to, and it’s the very least I can do to thank him, to show my appreciation, and to prove, even though the trial is over, that Ice-Cure really can create magic!