14 Hour Day - November 22, 2010

We were up and on the road before 6:30 this morning. No real problem finding the NYU Cancer Center but it would be a whole lot easier if NY city didn't post a "No Right (or left) turn" at the exact corner that I need to make that particular turn.

Parking was different because it was really simple. You pull your car up in front of the hospital and they have valets who whisk your car away. You call them 15 minutes before you're ready to leave and the car is waiting for you right outside the lobby. It's a flat $19 fee for either 8 or 12 hrs, not sure which, and then there's an added fee if it goes beyond that. Considering the normal parking garage fee in the city, that's a real bargain.

NYU falls somewhere between Sloan-Kettering and Beth Israel as far as facilities go. Sloan felt older and colder. When Pete was going there for chemo treatments I don't recall there being any TVs. They weren't forthcoming with offers of any kind of adjuvant services. Beth Israel was much more warm and comforting. They have individual flat-screens for each patient. They were always offering all kinds of services, such as the acupuncture, Reiki, nutritionist, social worker, psychiatrist, etc. NYU has a more welcoming atmosphere than MSKCC, but not quite as reassuring as Beth Israel. NYU has individual TVs but they're the big clunky CRT TVs of years past. They offered massage therapy, nutritional counselling and a social worker.

Dr R just returned from the CTOS conference in Paris so things were a little unsettled following the very recent move to NYU from Beth Israel. A had been getting things organized and sorted through, but since each facility has its own way of doing things with required forms and paperwork, things moved a bit slowly this morning. I have to admit that I miss having D and the other nurses who had been working with Dr R for so many years. The nurse that was assigned to Pete today was very nice and thorough, but she's not at all familiar with Dr R's methods and procedures.

We had expected that Pete was going to have a second round of Cisplatin and Adriamycin, so it took us by surprise when A told us that Pete was going back to the high-dose Ifosfomide. It is going to be administered a bit differently than the last two doses. When Dr R came in he explained that he was going to be using the method that has been producing good results with less toxicity at M D Anderson. The chemo will be administered a bit more slowly, but still continuously, over a longer period of time. Instead of 8 days, Pete will be wearing the pump for 16 days. He wasn't at all happy to hear that. He was chomping at the bit to get rid of it after a week; the thought of having to wear it for over 2 weeks made him a very unhappy camper.

I don't know how coherent this all is. We pulled into our driveway a few minutes before 8 PM; making our day just a bit shy of 14 hours. We go back tomorrow and Wednesday and both should be shorter days. The blood work will determine whether we go back again Friday or if it can wait until Monday or Tuesday.