The spectacular weather today is enough to make anyone happy, but sitting at Bahrs Restaurant with an old and trusted friend and seeing how clear the river seems to be getting is an added bonus. Seeing that great new exterior look at Bahrs’ entrance to their riverfront outdoor dining is also pretty terrific and seeing the Inlet Café and Proving Ground, along with Bahrs so crowded with happy and well satisfied customers is kind of like icing on the cake. Watching the young man pump gas for a waiting boater at the Bahrs dock brought back great memories of how and where my own son started his first job, one he loved so much and at which he worked so hard that he snuck out of the house before dawn, just to be sure to be down there at the Chum Box meeting and greeting all the seamen. His popularity among the fishermen coming back from successful fishing trips is also why we had so many bluefish in the freezer and I had to learn 27 different ways to prepare it!
Seeing those two Highlands Police officers come into OLPH Church during mass to bring needed emergency assistance to a churchgoer until the ambulance arrived also gave me a great confidence in the professionalism of the officers, surpassed only by the quick thinking of Fr. Jarlath and his calm and soothing manner of first interrupting the mass to give assistance and prayerful help, then immediately returning to the mass and added prayers for the woman in need. That instills immediate confidence! And how wonderful were the two dozen or so people in church, who didn’t rush over to get in the way, didn’t call out or create any disturbance, simply prayerfully waited for the immediate situation to be resolved, albeit praying silently, I’m sure, then proceeding with daily mass.
Hearing that it will be Tommy Elliott Day on this beloved music instructor’s birthday this week was joyous, knowing just how well Mr. Eliott has been to so many generations of youngsters, both those who have great talent in music that he guided, improved, and honed as well as those with no musical talent but with a desire to please a teacher who dearly loved all his students and wanted them to enjoy the beauty of music of all kinds. Happy Birthday, Tom, may it be as happy as you continue to make so many people with your musical talent.
Seeing those brand new regular mail postage stamps with one of the Twin Light towers depicted on it to represent this gorgeous historic site was pretty exciting this afternoon and seeing the people who came so many other states to add the Twin Lights stamp to their collection of First Day of Cancellation stamps was yet another first for the Twin Lights is full of superlatives.
Hearing the National Anthem so well sung by a NJ postal employee, Daylan Adam, with the US Coast Guard (who just observed a birthday yesterday!) presenting the honor guard is stirring at any time, but particularly now when patriots are simply not as evident as they have been in the past. Enough to make anyone happy.
As good as he was singing, watching the woman who presented sign language throughout the program was nothing short of spectacular! With American Sign Language (ASL) being the primary language for many people in North America, not only the USA, it is still amazing to see how this complete, natural language, with the same linguistic properties as spoken languages
but with grammar that differs and is expressed by movements of the hands and face, can be spoken so perfectly. But it was this woman’s rendition of the National Anthem that literally caught your eye. Not only could she speak in sign a description of the stars and stripes and the fact the “flag was still there” with such a look of pride and huge smile on her face but she could express pain and sorrow at “the bombs bursting in air.”
And the third thing that made me particularly happy today….and appreciative, out of many, I’m sure still to come before sunset, was seeing and appreciating all the work the Museum staff, the Twin Lights Historical Society, state officials, postal officials
Every once in a while it’s good to it back and think about the business people you deal with on a regular basis, and think of the impact they have on you and your daily life. And today was another one of those days where the three things I am most grateful for are because of the great people that I deal with so often and who are all so terrific at their jobs.
First off is Paul Mark Printing in Freehold, where both Paul and Elfriede go out of their way to make everything perfect. Whether you want business cards, posters, invitations, political campaign literature or anything else printed, they do it! Perfectly, quickly, and reasonably.
They’re perfectionists, it’s true, and they’re old-fashioned in their attention to customer satisfaction, but they’re 21st century when it comes to their technical equipment and abilities. They can handle orders virtually, viz zoom, or in person with equal ease.. Check them out at @office@paul-MarkPrinting.com and see for yourself.
Then a quick cup of coffee at the Girls Café in Highlands absolutely points your day in the right direction. Ever want to see a team that works well together, a team that even likes each other and shows it, stop in any days but Monday and Tuesday for lunch or dinner. Cathy and Ver are the “Girls” of the Girls’ Café, but Charley and whichever of all the wonderful family members who work in there certainly add to the joy as well. They don’t come any better than the Girls’ Café…and their friend Michael who keeps the garden like setting for outdoor dining so beautiful and colorful.
And even before the museum itself opened this morning at 11 a.m., there were lots of people up at the Twin Lights admiring the view, walking the perfectly kept grounds, or reading some of the great history notes in the Power House. That’s all because of the super team up there including historian Nick Woods….his walking tours of in and outside the museum are great! Even those of us who have lived here years and think we know everything about the Twin Lights can’t come close to all the facts and stories Nick has in his head and quick to tell on a tour.
Today has been pretty terrific for me….isn’t every day? But I did get a big thrill when my blog was contacted by someone in South Dakota! For me, that meant a great achievement. I’ve only been counting contacts and responses and e-mails Veni Vidi Scripto receives since June, and for the last week or so, the only state I had not heard from of all 50 in the Union was South Dakota. Today I received that contact as well, so I can honestly say I have literally covered the United States with my words.
The number of nations I have heard from is even more astonishing! Veni Vidi Scripto has now been read on five different continents: North and South America, Australia as well as New Zealand, is that part of the Australian continent, Europe and Africa?
Hearing from people from throughout the world has also made me bone up a bit on my geography. I’ve been contacted from Qatar and Pakistan, from Saipan and the Isle of Man, from Guam, Germany and Gibraltar, along with all of the British Isles and Ireland as well. I’ve heard from the Philippines, Puerto Rico and Mexico and Israel, none of which was surprising since I have some friends in each. But Indonesia, India and Slovakia are a real surprise, as are Sweden, Spain and France. In all, I’ve been contacted by readers in no fewer than 50 different nations, and I find that awesome and mind boggling.
From what I’ve gathered, these readers are interested in two or three different articles or subjects they seek out. Obviously aging macula degeneration is a hot topic with folks who are suffering with the disease and happy to be able to learn something about it. I’ve also found many people respond to the recipes I’ve included that are particularly healthy for AMD sufferers, even without having AMD and have agreed with me that the diet for better eye care is also a terrific diet for better health, better skin, and healthier hearts.
People with breast cancer respond to my stories about cryoablation, that incredible procedure I underwent five and a half years ago as part of a highly successful trial. I’ve had requests for how to locate and contact Dr. Tomkovich, the radiologist who worked with the Israeli company (and that’s how I have friends in that nation!) to bring these trials, which have now been deemed successful and can be done on more women than the limit in the trial, to the United States.
I’ve heard from folks who can’t believe some of the stories about Highlands and actually asked if I am a fiction writer. I did explain those stories are all true, but I am trying my hand at fiction in my next book, hopefully on the market before Christmas. It’s a compilation of whimsical stories ideal for reading to children or simply enjoying over the holidays.
Very gratifying have been remarks I’ve gotten from people who like when I write the Three Things that made me Happy that day. Their notes show it has brought a different perspective to some people, and they too have started a booklet citing three things every day that have made them happy. That was particularly great to read since I know that positive thinking sure as heck beats out negativity any day.
I’ve heard from people who like the history stories, many who have visited in Monmouth County and liked reading the stories behind some of the places they’ve been to, others interested in coming here to see some of the history for which this part of the state is so famous.
Folks who love train rides or anything to do with the railroad have told me they like the cross country trips I’ve written about Amtrak, while others say they like the stories that accent the talents of people they may not even know but enjoy reading about.
Surprisingly, while people do not always agree with my opinions, I have had very little feedback on some of the ‘controversial’ stories I have written, and even less criticism. There are the folks who respond on Facebook to different things I’ve written, and some who say an “old lady” like me couldn’t possibly write so much. That’s obviously from someone who doesn’t know me at all, or know about all those years at The Courier when I had to write dozens of stories with lots of research every day for more than 20 years. It was great fun, a great education, and will be forever grateful to both Matt Gill and Joe Azzolina for giving me the opportunity to do it.
So thank you, especially all my followers in Highlands, Atlantic Highlands, Rumson, Middletown, Keansburg and Union Beach, thank you for wanting to see what I read about several times a week, as you tell me. Thanks to the friends I do have in all the New England states, Kentucky, Texas, Arizona, Mississippi, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, Wisconsin, Minnesota, California and more. I miss seeing you on regular basis, but I feel closer to you when you let me know what you think of what I write.
And as for everyone from whom I’ve heard in Spain, Singapore, Portugal, Malta, Malaysia, Indonesia, India, Guam, Denmark,, Cyprus, Greece, Costa Rica, Dominion Republic, Canada, Cameroon, Brazil, Belgium and Albania, I am so happy you like hearing from someone in my perfect little spot in the world.
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!
Now, it is five years, the end of the trial, and I met with the radiologist who did the procedure yesterday. Next week, I meet with the oncologist and will then write the full story on cyroablation and how I fared. It’s 2020, four years since I was diagnosed with breast cancer, and four years since I’ve been free of it. I have never had an iota of radiation or chemo and recognize I’m in a very fortunate woman. I also recognize that cryoablation, the cure for me, is not the cure for everyone. But four years after beginning a trial for it and finding it successful, it’s my opinion that if breast cancer is diagnosed early, cryoablation should be considered an option. You have nothing to lose but cancer. Meet Dr. Kenneth R. Tomkovich, MD of Freehold, a diagnostic radiologist, a physician who studies hard, knows much, and can even explain things at a level anyone can understand. He’s also a physician who believes in learning about new procedures, researching the companies involved with them, and then participating in a nation-wide trial to see if one of them can become the next best cure for cancer. It was 27 days from the day in January, 2016, I had a routine mammography at Centra State Hospital in Freehold and met with physicians, surgeons, specialists, learned I had cancer, made the quick and easy decision and then became one of the first in the trial of cryoablation, freezing cancer cells with a needle insertion. The half hour procedure was done at Centra State, one of only 3 hospitals in New Jersey daring enough to find a cheaper, easier, less painful way to halt breast cancer. I reasoned at the time I had nothing to lose (but the awful cell); if it did not work, I could always resort to surgery. I remember thinking at the time there was a reason why I was participating in a trial. After all, I only decided to have that mammography in the first place because my insurance would cover it and Centra State would give me a coupon for 50% off a massage at Hand and Stone. (they still do that, for every mammography) . I was assured the procedure would not keep me from a scheduled tourist trip to Israel two weeks after and wouldn’t even keep me from driving 25 miles for a final meeting for that trip an hour or so after the procedure. I agreed to come back for mammographies and visits with Dr. Tomkovich once a year and keep in touch for five years so the results could be tabulated accurately. I eagerly signed all the papers because it all just seemed too easy and too good to turn down. It wasn‘t until after the procedure that I also learned that IceCure, the company that created the equipment, was an Israeli company and would love to bring me to their offices while on my trip to Israel. (Not only did they come to my hotel to pick me up, but I toured their office, met the entire staff, had a demonstration of the procedure I had undergone, then was treated to a sumptuous lunch at a magnificent restaurant on the Mediterranean before they brought me back to my hotel two hours from their Caesarea offices.) I DON’T BELIEVE IN COINCIDENCES. I BELIEVE THINGS HAPPEN FOR A REASON. Now, four years later, I’m even more grateful I agreed to the trial. The trial is ongoing, though now it’s just the tabulation of results, the readings of all the mammographies, and the comments of all the 500 women who have opted for cryoablation. The hospital no longer permits the procedure to be done there, since the procedure has not yet received federal sanctions. But Dr. Tomkovich, who naturally continues to monitor and meet every patient, also continues to do the procedure at his own office. He’s doing this with a sense of assurance…to date the success rate of no recurrence of cancer after the procedure is 99 per cent…..and he can also now do cryoablation on women younger than 65, the minimum age during the trial. He’s thorough in explaining to potential patients the equipment and procedure have not yet received federal approval. But he also can explain that if it doesn’t ‘work,” there’s still the option for other approved measures, including surgery. It will still more more than another year until I and others who tried it the first year it was available, can continue to be studied, the federal Food and Drug Administration can compile all the records, the ICE Cure firm in Israel can continue to meet its high standards and other significant and protective steps are taken before the FDA gives its final approval to cryoablation for breast cancer. In the meantime, four years of being free from cancer because of a trial procedure that I could watch but not feel, and knowing I am contributing to what could be a reduction in surgeries, angst, pain, radiation, and chemo for thousands of women, is pretty heady and wonderful stuff.
If you know me at all, or ever heard me talk over the past almost five years, then you already know I had breast cancer. And you already know I opted against surgery, but rather decided to take a chance on the excellence of a radiologist in Freehold, Centra State Hospital, both of whom were willing to try cryoablation as a means of curing breast cancer without surgery. At the time, my oncologist and the radiologist both told me it was a gamble. They felt assured the procedure would work just fine, but they explained it was on trial, a woman had to meet certain specifications in order to be in the trial, and I met the specifications. Did I want to try it? The radiologist explained everything to me; actually, he had me sold when he said it was ‘minimally invasive.” What he meant, and what happened, was they simply numbed my skin, and guided by an ultrasound, he inserted a little probe directly into the tumor. The liquid nitrogen in the probe created sub-zero temperatures which turned the tumor into an ice ball, freezing the cancer to death and not bothering anything else. After the half hour procedure, the doctor put a band-aid over the little hole the needle had made, and I simply got up off the table, got dressed, thanked my new friends, and met some friends for lunch an hour later. For the medical team, it was science being proven. For me, it was an entire new appreciation for medical people and trials to create new and better treatments for cancer. So then I needed to know who made this new kind of magic and learned it was a small very young company in Caesarea, Israel, and they had offered their invention to the United States and many other countries for trial and ultimate approval. They have an office in New Jersey and Centra State Hospital was only one of 17 hospitals across the country involved in the trial, which would ultimately be five years long. I was the third person to undergo it. Next month, it will be five years since that Feb.2 morning that I watched on his computer screen as Dr. Tomkovich calmly conducted this very simple, painless and non-invasive (I don’t consider a needle in my skin a real invasion) procedure that left me free of cancer in less than half an hour, just 47 days after I first learned I had cancer. So it’s been five years since I have been high on praise of this very young but very vibrant and intellectual company on the Mediterranean Sea in Israel. Follow this blog in future weeks. I want to talk more about the procedure itself; I’ve already spread the story in many newspapers, but want to share it again, just in case you missed the magic of Ice Cure. I want to tell you more about how I discovered the tumor in the first place, why I opted to do a trial, how I learned more about the procedure and the company that made it, and how my life has definitely been enriched, blessed, and more exciting because of two doctors, a hospital and a company in Israel.
It’s quite a story. Full of coincidences, a new invention, a forward thinking radiologist, a medical center that has the integrity and strength to offer its patients an economical and painless alternative to surgery, a private physician who suggests, explains, and urges a woman to review all options, a surgical oncologist who explains everything in simple detail then encourages a patient to make her own decisions, an international meeting, a team of young, bright, intelligent Israelis who are on the cutting edge of tomorrow’s cancer cures. And me. I’m part of that story!
And it all started with a special sales offer for a body massage at Hand and Stone on Route 33 in Howell. That’s the embarrassing part.
At 79 years of age, a widow of nearly ten years, mother of four, grandmother of nine scattered around the country and great grandmother of six, I had not had a mammography in four years. It was my decision that I did not need them anymore. After all, I had survived the death of my husband ten years previous after a wonderful 51 year marriage, the death of my oldest daughter three years ago, and a serious stroke two years ago. I had been fortunate enough then to get swift medical resolution for the stroke, was diligent in all the physical therapy required, and followed it up with a new physical health regimen at Centra State Medical Center’s Health and Fitness Center. My three times a week regimen there with trainer Jeanine Palmieri made me fit and healthy enough to continue living a wonderful, active life. Life is pretty terrific.
And that was my feeling in early December, 2015, when I read one of numerous flyers Centra State routinely sends out to the folks involved in any of their programs. Coincidence number one. I rarely read their ads, but this one was different. I was attracted by the big print for $50 off a massage or facial at a leading spa if I had a mammography at Centra State. What a deal, I decided! A cheap luxury hour or so just for letting my insurance pick up the tab for a test I really should have been having more regularly.
The swiftness and ease of making an appointment, the luxury of heated terry cloth robes and caring hospital staff for the procedure, the skill and care of the technologist who did the mammography all made the squeeze worthwhile, a very small part taken out of one of my busy days. I wasn’t even concerned when I got the call the next day to please stop back at the hospital for another look; the radiologist may have seen something he wanted to investigate further. A follow-up ultra sound showed that little thing they thought they saw really was there.
Next step. A biopsy to see if it was cancer.
My primary care doctor is the one who strongly suggested I meet with Dr. Mary Martucci, breast surgical oncologist and medical director of the Star and Barry Tobias Women’s Health Center.….have I said what a wonderful place that is? Meeting Dr. Martucci explains why. Tall, elegant, loaded with both experience and a strong medical and surgical background, Dr. Martucci is also soft, gentle, warm and caring. She actually likes her patients and shows it in every word and action.
So gentle and caring she is, in spite of her efficiency and obvious professionalism, I was beginning to feel sorry for her. Don’t worry, I advised; things are happening pretty strangely; there are too many coincidences, so there must be a reason. I ticked off the coincidences….I have only lived in Freehold for nine years and had never been a patient at Centra State; I recovered beautifully from a stroke because of fast action in another hospital and follow up physical therapy at Centra State’s Health and Fitness Center; without that, I would never have gotten the ad which changed by mind from never having another mammogram to scheduling one, admittedly only to get the discount on a massage. I’m a writer by profession and a strong believer in the fact that nothing happens by coincidence. Ergo! The only news I would get from a biopsy is that I had breast cancer and there was a very definite reason for it. Don’t fret over having me come in for an appointment to give me the news, I assured Dr Martucci; just give me a call on the phone when the results of the biopsy come in.
