Alex,
The stories you tell about your personal experiences with cancer are heart breaking and, sorry to say, all too common. As I have said before I am one of the lucky ones. I was diagnosed in 1988 with mixed cell nodular lymphoma. I didn't respond to the traditional West Coast therapies so I was placed on a very aggressive regimine as practiced on the East Coast. This type of lymphoma is considered 100% non-cureable. I've lived until now without any evidence of a return only to get this shit.
This last Wednesday we met with my oncologist to establish a course of treatment. I had decided that no further treatment was the best course of action since I had reacted so severely to the first round of chemo. There is another drug that's usually reserved for people with a fighting chance for cure. It requires you to be hooked up to a pump for 21 days and then one week off. The side effects are minimal and the drug is a good one for slowing the progression of the disease. The pharmaceutical company that had developed this drug has now developed an oral dosage of the same compounds. That was offered to me on Wednesday. It was an exciting prospect since it would only require me to take 8 pills, 4 twice a day. So, here's the problem. The iv drugs are covered almost 100% by my insurance but the oral meds are covered under our standard prescription plan. Since there is no generic equivalent we pay 80% out of pocket meaning that the per dose cost would be close to $50 per pill. For the mathematically challenged, that's $400 per day for 14 days and then one week off or $5600 every three weeks. That's not an option for us and I wish I didn't even know about it.
I continue to work on my system and can say in no uncertain terms that the Audio Points made a substantial difference when used with my speakers. Imaging has become more stable and the stage is layered more than before. Interestingly, it seems to get better each time I listen and I guess that this is a function of breaking them in. I'm using Audio Points under my two amplifiers and am also using the Ridge Street interconnects from the preamp to each amp. The interconnects have made the biggest difference in my system with an increase in detail, transparency and smoothness in presentation. I'm now using the Ridge Street speaker cables to the tweeters on my speakers and a pair of basic transparent wires on the mid/bass drivers. I think I need some break-in time with these but will say more detail than ever is getting through. I'll let you know what I think after a week or so of burn in. I'm sure I'm approaching the maximum potential of my system.
Steve (Vetterone) has found a piece of vinyl that is really special. So special that I consider it to be the finest recording I've ever heard. When I listened to it on his system last week I was simply blown away. Finally, a piece of software that set his wonderful system free. I've urged him to write a review of it now that I've got my own copy coming my way. I'm guessing that it will be one of those records that will demand big money on the used market as I think it will be a limited production piece. I can't speak intelligently of the recording techniques used since it was in a language other than English but I believe it is a direct to disk recording. If only all software was this good.
Sad to report that the Syrah did not get fixed. But get this, Steve has purchased another one for me to use. It should be here soon. What a guy!! You gotta love him.
The stories you tell about your personal experiences with cancer are heart breaking and, sorry to say, all too common. As I have said before I am one of the lucky ones. I was diagnosed in 1988 with mixed cell nodular lymphoma. I didn't respond to the traditional West Coast therapies so I was placed on a very aggressive regimine as practiced on the East Coast. This type of lymphoma is considered 100% non-cureable. I've lived until now without any evidence of a return only to get this shit.
This last Wednesday we met with my oncologist to establish a course of treatment. I had decided that no further treatment was the best course of action since I had reacted so severely to the first round of chemo. There is another drug that's usually reserved for people with a fighting chance for cure. It requires you to be hooked up to a pump for 21 days and then one week off. The side effects are minimal and the drug is a good one for slowing the progression of the disease. The pharmaceutical company that had developed this drug has now developed an oral dosage of the same compounds. That was offered to me on Wednesday. It was an exciting prospect since it would only require me to take 8 pills, 4 twice a day. So, here's the problem. The iv drugs are covered almost 100% by my insurance but the oral meds are covered under our standard prescription plan. Since there is no generic equivalent we pay 80% out of pocket meaning that the per dose cost would be close to $50 per pill. For the mathematically challenged, that's $400 per day for 14 days and then one week off or $5600 every three weeks. That's not an option for us and I wish I didn't even know about it.
I continue to work on my system and can say in no uncertain terms that the Audio Points made a substantial difference when used with my speakers. Imaging has become more stable and the stage is layered more than before. Interestingly, it seems to get better each time I listen and I guess that this is a function of breaking them in. I'm using Audio Points under my two amplifiers and am also using the Ridge Street interconnects from the preamp to each amp. The interconnects have made the biggest difference in my system with an increase in detail, transparency and smoothness in presentation. I'm now using the Ridge Street speaker cables to the tweeters on my speakers and a pair of basic transparent wires on the mid/bass drivers. I think I need some break-in time with these but will say more detail than ever is getting through. I'll let you know what I think after a week or so of burn in. I'm sure I'm approaching the maximum potential of my system.
Steve (Vetterone) has found a piece of vinyl that is really special. So special that I consider it to be the finest recording I've ever heard. When I listened to it on his system last week I was simply blown away. Finally, a piece of software that set his wonderful system free. I've urged him to write a review of it now that I've got my own copy coming my way. I'm guessing that it will be one of those records that will demand big money on the used market as I think it will be a limited production piece. I can't speak intelligently of the recording techniques used since it was in a language other than English but I believe it is a direct to disk recording. If only all software was this good.
Sad to report that the Syrah did not get fixed. But get this, Steve has purchased another one for me to use. It should be here soon. What a guy!! You gotta love him.
