Treatment 42 was completed uneventfully this morning. Thankfully, gantry 1 was up and running, at least through Paul's treatment (I did call them at 6 AM just to check). Everyone in the waiting room applauded as Paul entered after the treatment. If you know Paul at all, you know how he hates attention. He looked as if he wanted to crawl under a rock :-).
We arrived home this afternoon and are looking forward to sleeping in our own bed after two long months.
Again, thanks for all your support. It has meant more than I can say to both of us.
Thursday, May 31, 2007
Wednesday, May 30, 2007
Home Stretch
Paul has received 41 treatments, as of this morning, and has one more to go. His appointment tomorrow (Thursday May 31) is at 8:30AM. For those of you who are so inclined, please pray that gantry 1 is up and running at that time.
We plan on leaving as soon as possible after the treatment is completed. Of course, with the recent history of the equipment, who knows exactly when that will be ;-). If it gets to be too late in the day, we'll wait until Friday.
My next post will be written from home. Thanks to all of you for your blog comments, cards, email messages and overall support.
Carol
We plan on leaving as soon as possible after the treatment is completed. Of course, with the recent history of the equipment, who knows exactly when that will be ;-). If it gets to be too late in the day, we'll wait until Friday.
My next post will be written from home. Thanks to all of you for your blog comments, cards, email messages and overall support.
Carol
Tuesday, May 29, 2007
2 Remaining
After a short delay ("minor problems" in gantry 1), treatment #40 was completed successfully this morning.
I don't want to jinx anything so I'll leave it at that :-).
I don't want to jinx anything so I'll leave it at that :-).
Friday, May 25, 2007
Pins and Needles
Since my last post, it's been another fun time at Loma Linda. The fun just doesn't end!
Wednesday's treatment was completed on schedule but Thursday's was quite another story. In brief, gantry 1 was down (again) all day. We hung around the hospital for a while but came back to the hotel in mid-afternoon, resigned to the fact that we were going to lose a second day. However, Mark, the second shift tech, who has come through for Paul before, called at 9:30 PM asking if Paul still wanted to come over for a treatment. What a guy! Paul's answer was "I can be there in 20 minutes". So, off we went! Treatment # 38 was completed by 10:30 PM. Another patient, whose last day was Thursday, was ahead of Paul. Treatment #39 was completed, on time, at 9:00 AM today.
That leaves us with three treatments to go. Monday is a holiday so there are no treatments. If we don't lose any more days, we will be out of here on Thursday May 31. If we lose one day, D(eparture) day will be Friday June 1. I don't want to think about it but if we lose more than one day, D day will be pushed back to the week of June 4.
Thanks to those of you who have been "putting in a good word" with the Man upstairs!
Wednesday's treatment was completed on schedule but Thursday's was quite another story. In brief, gantry 1 was down (again) all day. We hung around the hospital for a while but came back to the hotel in mid-afternoon, resigned to the fact that we were going to lose a second day. However, Mark, the second shift tech, who has come through for Paul before, called at 9:30 PM asking if Paul still wanted to come over for a treatment. What a guy! Paul's answer was "I can be there in 20 minutes". So, off we went! Treatment # 38 was completed by 10:30 PM. Another patient, whose last day was Thursday, was ahead of Paul. Treatment #39 was completed, on time, at 9:00 AM today.
That leaves us with three treatments to go. Monday is a holiday so there are no treatments. If we don't lose any more days, we will be out of here on Thursday May 31. If we lose one day, D(eparture) day will be Friday June 1. I don't want to think about it but if we lose more than one day, D day will be pushed back to the week of June 4.
Thanks to those of you who have been "putting in a good word" with the Man upstairs!
Tuesday, May 22, 2007
Six to Go
This week has started off on a better note than last week did. Monday's treatment (#35) was rescheduled from 9 AM to 11 AM but was completed at that later time. Today's treatment (#36) was completed on schedule. I'm almost afraid to utter those words ;-).
Each day, while waiting for Paul, I see new patients arriving for their consultations and "podding". Loma Linda still has the name and reputation for proton treatment but additional new proton facilities are being built and planned in the US (There are currently only five such facilities in the country). Within the next few years, there will be more competition in the field of proton therapy. I'll leave the rest unsaid.
I'll post another update at the end of the week.
Each day, while waiting for Paul, I see new patients arriving for their consultations and "podding". Loma Linda still has the name and reputation for proton treatment but additional new proton facilities are being built and planned in the US (There are currently only five such facilities in the country). Within the next few years, there will be more competition in the field of proton therapy. I'll leave the rest unsaid.
I'll post another update at the end of the week.
Friday, May 18, 2007
Approaching the Finish Line
This week got off on a sour note. Gantry 1, the room to which Paul is assigned for treatment, was down all day Monday. We were told that it was down from Sunday evening until Tuesday AM. Treatment #31, originally scheduled for Monday at 9 AM, was finally received on Tuesday evening. This means that we are, at present, one day behind our target date for completion. The new "estimated" completion date is May 31. If any more sessions are missed, that date will slip by one day for each missed treatment.
This points out what we consider to be a problem in Loma Linda's delivery of proton treatment. If a gantry is down, they are unable to switch a patient to another gantry which is up and running. We've been told that there's a technical calibration issue involved. Loma Linda has been treating patients with proton radiation since 1991 so the equipment is old and goes down a bit too often. We were warned about this before we came but the frustration, when such an event occurs, is obviously high. They are supposed to tell patients, beforehand, that they can expect to miss, on average, four treatments during the entire treatment course. In our opinion, if they spent more time and money managing the equipment instead of managing patients' expectations, the level of patient satisfaction might be higher. Most patients just accept that they will experience missed days. We are not so forgiving ;-).
Anyway, after Monday, things got better. Gantry #1 finally came back up Tuesday morning but it was past Paul's scheduled time of 9 AM so he received treatment #31 on Tuesday evening instead. The rest of the week was relatively uneventful.
We are now in the single digits -- 34 down, 8 to go. For those of you who care to put in a "good word", please pray that there are no more outages so we can get out of here without having to spend the weekend of June 2-3 here.
This points out what we consider to be a problem in Loma Linda's delivery of proton treatment. If a gantry is down, they are unable to switch a patient to another gantry which is up and running. We've been told that there's a technical calibration issue involved. Loma Linda has been treating patients with proton radiation since 1991 so the equipment is old and goes down a bit too often. We were warned about this before we came but the frustration, when such an event occurs, is obviously high. They are supposed to tell patients, beforehand, that they can expect to miss, on average, four treatments during the entire treatment course. In our opinion, if they spent more time and money managing the equipment instead of managing patients' expectations, the level of patient satisfaction might be higher. Most patients just accept that they will experience missed days. We are not so forgiving ;-).
Anyway, after Monday, things got better. Gantry #1 finally came back up Tuesday morning but it was past Paul's scheduled time of 9 AM so he received treatment #31 on Tuesday evening instead. The rest of the week was relatively uneventful.
We are now in the single digits -- 34 down, 8 to go. For those of you who care to put in a "good word", please pray that there are no more outages so we can get out of here without having to spend the weekend of June 2-3 here.
Friday, May 11, 2007
Paul's Birthday
Yesterday, May 10, was Paul's 65th birthday. We celebrated by having treatment #29 in the AM, followed by dinner out with the Thursday night group. One of Paul's fellow patients ordered dessert for him and everyone sang. Unfortunately, the restaurant was out of candles. Darn! Paul wanted to crawl under the table (As anyone who knows Paul knows, he hates attention). In addition, the Residence Inn staff left a balloon and birthday cake in our suite. The entire hotel staff (including the housekeeping staff) wished Paul a happy birthday when they saw him. One desk clerk even wished him a happy "day after birthday" today as she didn't work yesterday.
Today, treatment #30 was completed. That leaves 12 remaining treatments. It's getting down to the final leg of this journey. This week's treatments were all AM treatments except for today, which was at 1:45 PM. Not bad, all in all. We're very grateful that there are no significant side effects so far.
More next week.
Today, treatment #30 was completed. That leaves 12 remaining treatments. It's getting down to the final leg of this journey. This week's treatments were all AM treatments except for today, which was at 1:45 PM. Not bad, all in all. We're very grateful that there are no significant side effects so far.
More next week.
Wednesday, May 9, 2007
Another Milestone
Treatment #28 was completed today. That brings us to the 2/3 mark -- 14 more treatments to go. So far, so good insofar as side effects. Here is one interesting comment from one of Paul's fellow proton patients, when asked how he was feeling: "If I felt any better, it would be frightening".
We've settled into a fairly regular routine. Tuesday nights we attend the patient run "pot luck" at Loma Linda Springs, an apartment complex near the hospital. Thursday nights we generally join the "dining out" group and eat at a different restaurant each week. We usually don't attend the Wednesday night revival meeting / support group unless there is a speaker whose talk we want to hear. Last Wednesday night, one of the doctors gave a talk on advances in proton therapy, which was quite interesting. If we do attend any of these sessions in the future, we now know to arrive 1.5 hours after the meeting is scheduled to start, having eaten first. That's when the speaker generally begins.
That's it for now. More soon.
We've settled into a fairly regular routine. Tuesday nights we attend the patient run "pot luck" at Loma Linda Springs, an apartment complex near the hospital. Thursday nights we generally join the "dining out" group and eat at a different restaurant each week. We usually don't attend the Wednesday night revival meeting / support group unless there is a speaker whose talk we want to hear. Last Wednesday night, one of the doctors gave a talk on advances in proton therapy, which was quite interesting. If we do attend any of these sessions in the future, we now know to arrive 1.5 hours after the meeting is scheduled to start, having eaten first. That's when the speaker generally begins.
That's it for now. More soon.
Friday, May 4, 2007
25th Treatment Completed ...
... 17 to go. Still no significant side effects to report, for which we're very grateful.
This has been a relatively good week, no outages or cancellations, at least not for Paul. His appointment times this week were all in the morning; that's a good thing for us. Some men prefer evening appointments, claiming that they then have the entire day for other activities. Our theory is that if the equipment fails, a person with a morning appointment that gets cancelled can sometimes get squeezed in later in the day. It's happened to Paul twice.
According to the City of San Bernardino, we are now considered "permanent residents" (and therefore tax exempt insofar as the hotel bill goes), as we've been here more than 30 days. Hard to believe!
We've taken several days trips, two of which were to see two of our Las Vegas neighbors who are in California for various medical reasons. Today we went to Flabob airport in Riverside for lunch. It's not a big place but the trip was enjoyable. Sorry but there are no pictures to post as the camera batteries went dead en route.
More next week.
This has been a relatively good week, no outages or cancellations, at least not for Paul. His appointment times this week were all in the morning; that's a good thing for us. Some men prefer evening appointments, claiming that they then have the entire day for other activities. Our theory is that if the equipment fails, a person with a morning appointment that gets cancelled can sometimes get squeezed in later in the day. It's happened to Paul twice.
According to the City of San Bernardino, we are now considered "permanent residents" (and therefore tax exempt insofar as the hotel bill goes), as we've been here more than 30 days. Hard to believe!
We've taken several days trips, two of which were to see two of our Las Vegas neighbors who are in California for various medical reasons. Today we went to Flabob airport in Riverside for lunch. It's not a big place but the trip was enjoyable. Sorry but there are no pictures to post as the camera batteries went dead en route.
More next week.
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