Gia Pronto

Dining, naturally!

Atrium dining

Interesting art

One of the many pleasant aspects of the Perelman Center for Advanced Medicine is the natural dining eatery at the Atrium level of the Abramson Cancer Center. The food is a la carte, wholesome, healthy and utterly delicious. As you enter the spacious facility, you realize that an intelligent design exists not only in the menu which changes daily, but also in the spacial arrangements. A cosy nook of leather chairs, low, medium, and higher rising tables and chairs. You can choose to eat inside of Gia Pronto, or outside of it, but still inside the building in the Atrium. Very inviting options, and you are surrounded by incredibly interesting sculptures.

Choose from 10 homemade soups, design your salad, select your coffees and teas, or gourmet hot chocolates, or fizzy or flat cold beverages. If you love pizza, Gia Pronto will ruin you forever. Nothing exceeds the pizzas they create, or the way they serve it. You can select the size you want and they cut it to suit. If you love a panini, then Gia Pronto is the place. If you can possibly handle dessert, treat yourself to the highest largest thickest piece of pound cake. My choice: cranberry nut. Delicious.

There is something inviting about all aspects of the Perelman Center; the structure has an openness with glass elevators and glass facades. When you consider that most of the people who enter this building have a serious illness, it always amazes and pleases me that the serenity of the site helps those of us who seek help transcend our troubles, if only for a while.

6th Focus on Leukemia, Lymphoma, Myeloma & Bone Marrow/STEM Cell Transplantation at PC4AM

Every piece of research or information that comes my way via my Google Alerts continues to reinforce my selection of the Perelman Center for Advanced Medicine as the perfect choice for my cancer management. The choice you make for your treatment may just be the single most important decision you ever make, so if cancer visits your family, yourself, or a close friend, my recommendation is to do your homework diligently when selecting a cancer treatment center.

Endless Bests!

My selection was based on awards of excellence, the calibre of the faculty, the fact that Penn Medicine is connected to a university that pursues rigorous research, field trials, and purchases the most technically advanced medical diagnostic equipment. I also wanted a provider of professional development in the cancer field. And I found all this and more at the Perelman Center for Advanced Medicine, a facility connected to Penn Medicine.

I am really excited about the upcoming Blood Cancer Conference at Perelman. You still have time to register; October 25 is the deadline. Click this link to join us for an enlightening experience.

Related articles

• Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma - All Information (umm.edu)
• Crisis time in blood cancer battle, says support body (nzherald.co.nz)
• An Overview of Bone Marrow Transplant for Non Hodgkin's Lymphoma (brighthub.com)
• Primary lymphoma of the brain - All Information (umm.edu)
• The International Myeloma Foundation Says ASCO Presentations Point to Longer Remissions, Fewer Transplants and Implications beyond Myeloma (eon.businesswire.com)
• Burkitt lymphoma - All Information (umm.edu)
• AIDS-Related Lymphoma Overview (brighthub.com)
• An Overview of Acute Lymhoblastic Leukemia (brighthub.com)
• Bone marrow transplant - All Information (umm.edu)

Fighting Blood Cancers

Exceptional Excellence

My husband and I are at the Perelman Center for Advanced Medicine, 2nd Floor West Pavilion, and that means I am a cancer patient. And a lucky one at that, because my diagnosis, Non-Hodgkins Follicular Lymphoma, is an indolent cancer. If it weren't for a serendipitous surprise finding, I would still not know I have cancer. Anyway, I'm too busy to have cancer. Fortunately, my blood profile is excellent--normal--love that word, and so are all my other vital signs. Really, I would not know I have cancer if I had not been diagnosed. And that's the wonderful thing about my form of cancer; you live with it but you do not die from it. But you are never cured, either. So, that leaves my status uncertain. I am not a survivor, nor will I be, unless living makes it so. Technically, I'm not a previvor, because I do have cancer. Guess I am just someone fighting blood cancer, however gently, for the moment.

Industrial Brooms

I've been asked how I remain so positive, and the answer is I just am. Either you see the proverbial glass half empty or half full. I live knowing that half right is better than half wrong, so I am Pollyanna Positive. And that works for me. We are sitting in a room full of mixed emotions; some people like me have long hair--their own. Others have visible signs of post-treatment chemotherapy. Others barely contain tears, while I sit blogging. I know I am VERY lucky. Some day the shoe will fall, but I hope that if/when it does, I will still be the person taking photographs of the unusual sculptures that dot this magnificent open-airy building for people with serious illnesses. I hope I am the one who will still take joy in finding the half-right approach to life, as long as it lasts.

I think I will.

I'm Too Busy To Have Cancer!

Really. Truly.

So busy I forgot I even had it--for months.

When teachers at school kept asking me how I was, I didn't make the cancer connection. Even when they asked, "Really" to my "Wonderful-- never been better," I didn't tumble.

Sounds unbelievable, but it's true. I just don't see myself as someone with cancer. This is not escapism, denial, or any other ditzy thing. I just plain forgot about it.

School is busier and better than ever; I absolutely love my classes--I have the best students and cannot remember when I have enjoyed a year more, without exception. Even with the building construction, I have been so fortunate. I'm back in my favorite room, but leaving it for a mid-year relocation to my new permanent room, and it's a beauty. Large enough for my classes to do Project and Challenge-Based Learning in comfort. We are moving to a block schedule, reminding me of my days as the Lucy B. Moses Teaching Fellow, tutoring college juniors in Middle English and Chaucer on the block. With a robust school website, Moodle to organize my students' lessons, and Sapphire, a new student management system, and a great Professional Learning Community for PD, well, I am truly blessed and definitely very happy.

Gold Is Where You Find It

Life on the farm seems almost a blur; a new dog, a new cria, a new automatic Jug Waterer system and a frost-free pump. Can life even possibly get any better. Think not. The GALA Conference ~ The Magic of Llamas is approaching, with a committee luncheon meeting tomorrow followed by a gala dinner for my best friend whose birthday I forgot (gulp...guilty). Tonight dinner from scratch for friends I haven't seen in months of being busy.

At the heart of cancer is a mindset, I suspect. And much luck. Since my last cancer visit early this summer to the Perelman Center for Advanced Medicine, I have, quite honestly, forgotten I have cancer. Not that I was trying; just that I did.

And perhaps that's a good thing. I have been to busy living even to contemplate life's slowing down. I still lift heavy hay bales, still clean 4.5 acres of pastures, still get up at 4:30 AM to do my keeper of the farm thing, then drive 45 minutes to school, where I cannot wait to meet and learn and teach with my students.

When I arrive home, I repeat the feeding/cleaning process, take Allie for a long hour's walk/run, do the dinner thing, grade online...and try to get 8 hours sleep.

See, I told you I was too busy to have cancer.