An easy trip to Chicago

Friday, July 31, 2009. We completed our 1-day trip to Chicago today for my treatment and appointment with Dr. Nicholas. We flew up there at 8 AM and back late afternoon. We left Chaim at the vet overnight in order to get to the airport on time. Everything went as smooth as could be expected. The flights were on time, my labs came back "perfect" according to Dr. Nicholas and the Avastin infusion went flawlessly. No problems with the needle sticks this time. All-in-all, a very good and successful trip.

Phil & Patty's mini-vacation to N.J. & N.Y.

I've been feeling pretty good these days so Patty & I decided that we could take a mini-vacation to New Jersey and New York City. in order to see old friends, family, and two Broadway shows. It is actually one of our favorite things to do. We arrived at Newark airport during the late afternoon of Friday, July 24th and drove north to East Rutherford to our hotel, The Fairfield Inn and then met our friends for dinner at "The Crow's Nest" restaurant. The next day, Patty & I took the bus into New York, had lunch at the Carnegie Deli and saw the Tony award winning musical, "Billy Elliott". The plot was different than most plays we've seen but the singing and dancing were outstanding. After the show, we went back to the Hillenius' for some Angelo's Pizza. It was as good as ever. On our next day, Sunday, the Mohns and Hilleniuses drove down to our hotel and we ate lunch across the street at "Charley Browns". Then we rode into N.Y.C together and parked near the Lincoln Center for Performing Arts and saw the latest revival of the play, "South Pacific" at 3 PM. It was wonderful. After the play we left the Mohns and Hilleniuses to go home without us and walked through a rain storm to meet my cousins, Phyllis and Ira Bergman for dinner at the Greek restauran,, Molyvos. We took the bus back to N.J. after dinner and went back to N.Y.C., one last time on Monday. We visited Coney Island and it's Aquarium and then Phil rode the famous Cyclone Roller coaster before we ate a Nathan's hot dog for lunch. On our final night (Monday), we went up to Bob & Ellen Mohns for dinner before returning home to Indy on Tuesday morning. Then, on Friday (7/31) morning is back to Chicago for another Avastin treatment and meeting with my oncologist, Dr. Nicholas. Needless to say, we had a great time on this mini-vacation.

Phil splits a corn beef and pastrami sandwich with Patty at The Carnegie Deli before the Saturday show

Outside the Imperial Theater before the show, "Billy Elliott"

Phil with his old buddies enjoying some Angelo's Pizza.

Bob & Ellen Mohn, Patty & Phil, Harry and Maureen Hillenius at Lincoln Center before the show, "South Pacific"

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Patty, cousin Phyllis Bergman, and Phil at Molyvos Greek restaurant in N.Y.C., on Sunday, July 26

Phil rode the famous "Cyclone" roller coaster at Coney Island in N.Y. on Monday. It was quite a thrill.

Back from Avastin July 17, 2009

Back from Avastin:

This time it hurt.

I guess you could call it a minor issue but anytime you suffer some pain it doesn't seem minor. We flew up early on Friday, Jul 17 on Southwest Airlines feeling a bit of trepidation after the Southwest's problems earlier in the week (click here to see details). Our plane had no problems as we arrived early at Midway Airport, took a taxi to the Medical Center and went up to the 6th Floor to get my infusion at 10 AM. All seemed well and ahead of schedule until the nurse had problems sticking the cephalic vein in my lower right arm. She failed in her first attempt and then went back into the same vein, only higher on my arm. It hurt plenty this time with the stick and worse yet, it continued to hurt for a half hour as they waited for my Avastin to show up from the hospital pharmacy before my infusion could begin. This is the worst time that I've had in their infusion suite since starting the ordeal in March. Let's hope that it doesn't happen again. The Avastin dripped in OK into that vein and I had no side effects. Following my infusion, we took the taxi back to the airport and unfortunately waited an extra two hours for our delayed flight back to Indianapolis. We picked up our dog, Chaim, at Sarah & Thomas' and went home. I took the bandages off my I.V. spot and noticed swelling and bruising at the needle sites this time. As I said, it was a minor problem, but it did hurt quite a bit and was an unexpected problem based on my prior experiences. I hate to sound like a baby but it's one of the few issues that I think could have been avoided at their clinic.

Two days at the University of Chicago Med Center

Patty and I have returned from Chicago having gone through the 2-day visit to the medical center that happens for me every two months if I continue to do well in their treatment protocol. For these visits, we drive both ways as we need our car to get back and forth to the hospital from a hotel. As usual we left our beloved dog, Chaim, with Sarah and Thomas and drove up on Wednesday, July 1. This was a different schedule for us due to the Independence Day holiday week closing of the clinic there on Friday (July 3). On the way to Chicago, we stopped at my now favorite place for lunch: Culver's, and had their featured item, the "Butter burger". We really don't know why they call it that, but it sure is good. The drive up was not too bad and we arrived at the clinic at 3:30 PM Chicago time for my MRI appointment. I think you know from my previous posts that these MRI's are not fun, but this time, it was a little easier with less waiting time and only 45 minutes in the loud and uncomfortable chamber. After this, we left the hospital and drove and checked in to our hotel which is near Midway airport. We had our usual dinner at Friday's restaurant and settled in for the night at the Fairfield Inn. The next morning we drove back to the medical center and had my appointment with Dr. Nicholas' partner, Dr. Lukas. Dr. Lukas examined me and showed us my latest MRI scan results. Patty and I were both happy and relieved to hear that tumor remains held in check and my disease has not progressed. My blood counts and labs are also in excellent shape. We couldn't have received better news. From Dr. Lukas, we went to the food court, ate lunch, and then it was up to the sixth floor for my Avastin infusion. The infusion suite was backed up, 1 hour behind schedule, making it a bit harder. My Avastin infusion again went without incident, we left the hospital and began our 3.5 hour drive home to Indianapolis. Sarah and Thomas brought Chaim up to our house for us and the four of us went out to nearby Ocean World for a sushi dinner.