My MRI is tomorrow at 10:30 am. I'm nervous as ever, but so it goes, I know the drill and it can not be avoided.
Here is a main run down of my trip to Germany...
Day 1
Arrived Frankfurt and took the train to Gottingen (2 hour ride on the high speed)
Spent the night in Gottingen
Day 2
Taxi to Duderstadt (30 min ride)
Checked in at clinic for blood work and met with Dr Germany
Day 3
Leukephresis (2.5 hour allotted appointment)
Met with Dr Germany
Day 4
Hyperthermia
IV of immunotherapy (each IV included 1 billion)
Day 5
recover
Day 6
recover
Day 7
Hyperthermia (cancelled due to reaction)
IV of immunotherapy
Day 8
Hyperthermia (cancelled due to reaction)
IV of immunotherapy (cancelled due to reaction)
Met with Dr Germany
Day 9
Hyperthermia (cancelled due to reaction)
IV of immunotherapy
Day 10
Shot of my dendritic cells (13 million) primed my immunotherapy
Met with Dr Germany
Took taxi to Gottingen and spent the night in hotel
Day 11
Took high speed train to Frankfurt and spent the night in hotel in airport
Day 12
Flew home
Each time I got an IV of my immunotherapy I got a slight fever, was dizzy, and exhausted. I slept most or all of the day after each shot. The hyperthermia was not tolerable so I only did it once. It caused massive headaches - incredibly severe. It was so much so that Dr Germany stopped the treatment. He said that the most important treatments are the immunotherapy shots and the boswellia supplements. Both are scientifically proven to shrink astrocytomas.
From here I have the following shot schedule.....(each will be administered in NYC)
2013
February 13 (with Christel)
March 20 (with Libbey)
April ?
June ?
August ?
October ?
December ?
2014
March
June
September
December
2015
April
August
December
For years after that I only have to do three shots per year.
The first year is going to be disgustingly expensive, but hopefully it will all be worth it! :) Because I'm doing the shots in NYC (not Germany) they are around $7,000 apiece. Yikes! I already have February's trip booked. Oddly, it is cheaper to get a hotel for two nights one block from the clinic and a flight than just a flight alone. How crazy is that?!? The clinic gives dates about 4-6 weeks out, so I'll need to be flexible. The shots are always on a Wednesday, that's a guarantee.
Just talking about all of this makes me SUPER excited. I can't believe I'm doing this!! I'm still working on all the financing, but I know we'll figure it all out. One way, for sure, will be a second annual cherry sale. And this time I want to be there to help out and say hello to everybody (last year it was just too overwhelming). Dan and I are really excited to join in on the cherry fundraiser. And if it goes well we might do a follow up with the soft fruits (peaches, nectarines, plums, etc.) and then finally apples. It would be a total of three fruit sale occasions. I'm getting ahead of myself here, but it's all so exciting!! I feel really good about the fruit idea because you guys get something in return. I feel very uncomfortable just asking for money. It just doesn't make sense to me. We all work very hard for our money and I'm happier when I can give you a delicious treat. Okay, enough of that. I've obviously got jogging endorphins surging through my brain :)
Cheers to a great weekend everyone, and fingers crossed for a great MRI!
