Blizzard - December 27, 2010

It's Monday evening and the blizzard of 2010 is hopefully behind us.

It hadn't been snowing for very long when Gina, Pete and I left home around 1 PM yesterday afternoon. We did have to pull onto the shoulder a few times on the ride up to the condo to clean the ice build-up off of the windshield wipers. The roads were getting pretty slick by the time we actually arrived here around 3.

Pete's appointment was originally for 10 this morning, but watching the morning news, hearing that a state of emergency had been called for much of NJ and that the authorities were asking people to limit travel into the city, we decided to just wait to see how things would shape up. Just as Pete was about to call NYU to see if they were actually open, he received a call from the radiation department. They told him that they were open, but with a skeleton staff, and he could get his treatment if he got in before 3.

We left around 10:30. The roads were slick in spots but traffic was very light and I have to say that the other drivers we encountered were all driving sanely. We arrived at the cancer institute with no problems. After Pete had the radiation treatment to his back we headed one floor up for blood work, then up to Dr R's office.

Pete mentioned to Dr R that he had a strange kind of feeling in his throat. Without hesitation, Dr R wrote a prescription for an anti-fungal medicine, Diflucan, aka Fluconazol as thrush is a very possible and common side effect of Methotrexate. He also discussed having a new port put in either Wednesday or Thursday and told Pete to be certain to get in touch with L tomorrow to get the ball rolling on that. The blood work results came in while we were there and all the numbers continue to look good.

When we left, we headed right over to Costco in Clifton to have the prescription filled. With Pete's compromised immune system he has to be extremely diligent in administering any medications the doctor orders as quickly as possible. From Costco, we drove across the highway to a very empty Applebee's where we had a relaxing lunch, and were back at the condo around 3.

Tomorrow is an early morning; Pete's appointment is for 8:30 AM. Hopefully the roads will be well sanded because the overnight temps will pretty much ensure that anything that may have thawed today will be frozen solid by morning.