Information gathering morning- successful!

This morning I braved the building of Bituach Leumi. This is no small feat, for it often houses Be'er Sheva's....ummm .... finest, shall we say. Sometimes even a donkey or two are tethered outside for the Beduin's transportation. This morning one was breying rather raucously, tethered right there next to the handicapped parking lot.

Anyway, I was in, and sitting face-to-face with a real person within 10 minutes!! An unprecedented miracle. (My wallet-sized disability certificate/card helps move things along. Most people are a bit surprised when I show them- I look so normal. But with the card, I don't have to stand on long lines. There are advantages.)

I learned a few things. Firstly and most importantly, I *do* have the 100% disability continued. The document they sent me the other day was unclear about which percentage is what, and the bottom line is that what they set as my permanent disability, with no more re-evaluations ever, ends up being the same monthly stipend I have been receiving for two years. It won't change. Even without applying for a new doctor's committee re-evaluation. Now *if* I do apply for another re-evaluation because of the PVNS, there is a possibility of receiving a few hundred shekels more a month, but temporarily. Then, if (& when?) the issue of PVNS gets resolved, they will again re-evaluate my disability, and the permanent status is then subject to change, possibly for the less. It is a question mark as to weather my PVNS will be permanent or not (please Gd, it won't be). So for the time being, we decided not to reapply for an evaluation of the PVNS for disability until after we see how things develop, maybe in another year or so. For now, everything will stay as it is.

My other question was about the possibility if I may be eligible for a budget to get another car, with an automatic transmission. I have more paperwork and another committee evaluation for that. There are many categories of allowances for people who are able to drive, but need modifications. I will be checking into that. Drowning in paperwork and going to get signatures and diagnosis summaries. Hopefully it will be fruitful. It may take a long time, though. It always does. In the meantime, hopefully our Nanny will get her Israeli license soon. She is also in bureaucratic overload switching it over from her New Zealand license.

One more thing that should probably be another post, but in short, check out this article sent to us by my brother-in-law in Maryland. He sent a letter to us last night:

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Here, a letter to an oncology journal describes a single case where a
cancer drug called imatinib showed effectiveness in reversing an
aggressive case of PVNS, and keeping it in remission while
administered. According to an article on Wikipedia:

"It is currently marketed by Novartis as Gleevec (USA) or Glivec
(Europe/Australia) as its mesylate salt, imatinib mesilate (INN)."

"It is the first member of a new class of agents that act by
inhibiting particular tyrosine kinase enzymes, instead of
non-specifically inhibiting rapidly dividing cells."

"Gleevec received FDA approval in May 2001. On the same month it made
the cover of TIME magazine as the "magic bullet" to cure cancer."

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Robert immediately called Bikels to discuss it. Bikels said he'd like to see the study, so Robert will send it to him by email. They also talked about the radiation possibility after surgery, or instead of surgery, and Bikels said basically that everything with me will be weighed very carefully, but we really need the arthroscopic consult in Soroka first. So that is the next step. Hopefully Bikels can make that happen ASAP.