Day 3 in Germany November 18, 2009

Day 3 was a very long and tiring day for Jeannette. We woke up and had a nice breakfast of fresh yogurt with fresh fruit and nuts/seeds. We also had eggs and toast. After breakfast, we had massages from Ziccor, our expert massage therapist. Then off to the treatment room where Jeannette gets her infusions and oral medications. The doctor and nurses are having a very hard time with Jeannette's veins as they move around and are difficult to enter. Doctor Jacob met with Jeannette and encouraged her to get a port surgically installed in her chest to aid in future infusions of medicines and chemo. Jeannette readily agreed because her hands and arms always hurt from the effort to find a suitable vein. Dr. Jacob also said that she has been giving Jeannette a very aggressive array of medicines because the cancer has progressed. She is very concerned that the cancer is in the lymph nodes in her chest region. After her infusions, Jeannette was feeling nauseous and vomited . Around 2pm, we were driven by taxi to a local hospital about 10 minutes away where Dr. Keisling, a surgeon, went over the procedure. Jeannette was taken into surgery and the port was inserted into her chest. From the port entrance, which is under the skin, a tube takes the medicine directly into a large vein. After two hours in recovery, a chest xray showed the port to be in place. We waited another hour for Dr. Keisling to come and give his OK for us to go back to the clinic. We returned very tired around 6:30pm. We ate a light dinner and went back to the treatment room for Jeannette to finish her treatment. Jeannette was feeling very tired and we went to bed early. At about 11:30pm, she awake with a 102 degree fever. I called the nurse who came upstairs immediately and gave Jeannette a drip of some kind and ice packs. The nurse checked on Jeannette all night long and the fever went done. We were advised that the fever was probably due to the medicine Jeannette has been given to address the cancer in her bones.

Just a note to mention my impression so far of the German hospitals. The two we have been in are very modern, large and clean. The doctors and nurses are extremely friendly and helpful. Everyone speaks English. It is very surprising to me that there seemed to be very few patients at either hospital. Compared to their size, the hospitals were virtually empty.

Jeannette wants everyone to know that, although she is too tired and weak to respond directly to everyone's e-mails, she is grateful for all the love and support. She can't wait to go home in three weeks.