Month: June 2014

It was funny, they needed the room in the Radiation wing that Sherrie was in but, she was not ready to be discharged yet as her fluids needed to continue. They moved her into a small room in the same wing that was once a room but now a office-closet area. We rolled her bed into that room and she stayed for several hours to completion of hydration and med’s.

The room contained a small lead vault in which they stored the treatment substances needed for that day. We watched as the tech delivered it while in the room…..he asked me to stay on the other side of the room while he unloaded the small lead cart he pulled behind him into the vault.

They have learned how she will react to the next treatment and plan to medicate here in other ways next time in advance to the treatment. I will post the names of the drugs later, I need to find out how to write then in English. The one thing that supprised me was their use of CocaCola. I also noted that some of the food seemed to be made with ginger to help stomach problems ( I think ).

When she discharged, they provide all meds that are needed and instructions on how to take them while here. Also, they instructed us to return if needed for additional treatment. They even offered to let us give her IV hydration in our hostel room if needed and we felt OK with it. We can bring the supplies back to the room after they start it again in the hospital.

It is somewhat hard to find food for her to try and eat. I finally went to the Co-op store and bought a few potatoes and the staff here microwaved them for me. She had about 1/2 of one with butter and sour cream. She is taking the nausea drugs round the clock and hope to turn the corner soon.

More to follow later…..bye for now.

We stayed in the room yesterday as Sherrie was far too ill to leave. She continued with the drugs provided by the dr.’s and fortunately later today started feeling less nausea. My hope is that she has turned the corner but, she is growing more fatigued which is to be expected.

Also today, we had a visit from Peggy Decker and her husband who are here from Iowa for the same treatment. She is on her second trip here and based on those who I have met here…. ” ODO ” gets the prize for sending the most individuals here from the USA for treatments. I also met a man from OK who is one of Woltering’s pt’s. I would hope that more US Dr.’s would open their mind to this being a viable option and far better than any treatment available in the USA ( non-surgical ).

By afternoon today, we ventured to the Co-Op down the street and had a look as well as some hot ” I have no idea what it was ” . It was a small snack and we returned to the room for Sherrie to rest some prior to heading out for dinner. We jumped on bus # 30 at the end of the block at the Mazda dealership and went to the train station. The station has many places to eat and English menu’s are available in some of them. That area of town seems to be the center of the new city area. The Hilton and several other places to stay. Many-many places to eat pretty much anything you want. Several street vendors selling cheese and baked goods.

This was enough running for her as she is pretty tired. She is trying very hard to act like she can do anything-everything, which is normal for her. It is 7:30 PM and we are back in the room and ready for sleep. It is very-very quiet in this area and sleeping is not a problem.

The only thing I can say is that I would love to have a regular cup of coffee. This does not seem possible thus far. Every place I go has many options for what they call coffee here but, I am not able to drink much of it…..very-very strong. I went to the co-op ( grocery store ) and wanted to buy some instant coffee to take back to the room. I would even welcome instant coffee. They had a few things like coffee but, none like what I wanted. They did have a very small jar of a similar product and it was $ 14.70 . I would gladly pay if it was normal coffee by US standards but, it is not.
The next time I make this trip in February, I will bring single serving coffee bags with me. That will get me through the next trip

It was not a good day again, we thought yesterday we had turned the corner however, that is not true. This morning started by Sherrie being very dizzy and the bad nausea was back. We waited an hour or so and I walked back to the hospital and the radiation unit to see if I could see anyone who I knew from this week. I was not able to do so and left my local cell number with a nurse in the next unit that watches the radioation wing at night. I asked that the Dr. on call phone me when he arrived.

In the mean time, I went to the ER area and found a Dr. who spoke great English and I explained our trouble. He suggested we get her to the ER and they do bloodwork and hydrate while waiting to speak to the treating DR. His name was Mark and what a Gem he was/is. He checked everything he could, he gave ger multiple bags of fluids and 2 bags of Zofran…..pretty much all for not. She continues to throw up and we will simply make a run for the USA on Tuesday morning as planned. If needed, I will take her late on Monday for more fluids but, we feel she is good to make it to America and back to the care of Dr. Bahary at Hillman.

We now learn that a few individuals have had extended nausea however, the vast majority do not. The good thing is that the Dr. again told us today that this is a good sign given the type of treatment she has been given. That make it all worth it to us if that is the case.

Keep in mind for your info that the hospital doors are locked at 8 PM and all must then enter the ER which is called ” Notfall ” .

 

 

If you are like me, I must stay in touch via the Internet and cell phone when away from home and office. In order to do that, I decided on two things here in Basel.
First of all, I got an unlocked cell phone prior to leaving home that would accept SIM cards. My main phone in the USA is a Verizon cell and they do not accept such cards.
You do have the option of making arrangements with your US provider to enable your phone to work here in Europe however, the cost is about $ 1.00 per min. and that is far more than you need to spend.
I suggest in Basel that you go to the Mibile Zone store in the Market Platz and purchase a pre-paid SIM card for the Lebara network. This card can be as inexpensive as $ 14.95 and then you load as much onto the phone prior to use as you wish.
When you do this, you can accept calls from anyone free of charge ( airtime free ) while here in Switzerland. You may also make calls to other countries very cheaply from your cell. As an example, you can call the USA for $ .09 per min. which is far better than what your provider will charge you.
I was here for 10 days and made many calls to home and still have money left on my phone card for the next trip. I started with $ 50.00 on my phone. You may start with whatever figure you want from $ 10.00 and up.
You will also have a local Swiss phone number to give the hotel, hospital, and whomever you wish in order to be reached when needed. An example of how important this is, the hospital was able to reach me to request I return after Sherrie was discharged in order to provide bank info to them. After the treatment and after I made payment in full with my credit card, Highmark Blue Cross/ Blue Shield decided to pay for the treatment in full. The hospital needed to reach me to refund my money. Had I not made arrangements for a phone and provided it to the hospital, that would have had to await my return home for letters, ect… That in itself was worth the entire cost of the phone and phone card to me.

I am sorry to say I am behind on posting about this trip however, I will post as much as possible at this point. Once again, we arrived here early and admission was on Monday at 10:00 am. The treatment was given by the same Dr. and Sherrie had the same American roomie that she had previously.

They seem to group the Americans as much as possible or at least English speaking folks together.

This works great and makes it very easy to function. The nurses are fantastic and speak very good English. They are Martin, Piere, and Kirsten….trust me, they are the key to your understanding what takes place after treatments.

This is about 1/2 a block from the entrance of the hospital and I would say the easiest location to stay at reasonable prices. They include breakfast each week day and you may purchase lunch ( very good food ) up till 2:00 PM. The breakfast at most places consist of rolls, pastry, fruit, breads, yogurt, ect……at rochat they also include eggs and omlets for free.

The rooms are basic but very clean and functional. you have a TV and a small fridge that they stock to sell items to you including beer-coke-juice-water. I removed these things and purchased supplies at the store and will put them all back prior to leaving. If you consume them, each item is $ 4.00 and coke can be purchased at the store for about $ 2.00.

Rooms have a safe to lock items up and they offer safe deposit boxes in the office. Each room has it’s own heat control and the windows do open. You can leave a wake up call if you wish. The TV’s have alarms built in and you have an additional alarm you do not have to set……The church next door has bells tha ring every morning at 7 AM and 6 PM, it is quite nice.

Phones are in each room and a big feature is free wireless Internet for your laptop ( very slow and drops often ) but rather than pay for a wireless pre-paid which i also have, it cost’s about $ 50. for the card and $ 3.00 per hour or portion of an hour.

I always take my laptop with me when traveling. I need this for family contact, blog updates, and several other reasons including ongoing research. I found that many of the smaller hotels and none of the Hostels have Internet for you in your room. Some do offer a computer that everyone can use when the office is open. As an example of this, the hospital Hostel is closed at 6 PM and on Weekends and that does not work for me or anyone who is tied to their Internet for whatever reason.
At the same Mobile Zone store in the Market Platz, I purchased a wireless pre-paid internet SIM card that snaps into a wireless receiver they sell you. The cost is $ 99.00 dollars to buy the package and it comes with $ 50.00 of time on the internet. Keep in mind that the cost is $ 3.00 per hour ( or portion of an hour ) so I suggest you set a schedule of the times you will use it and budget your time to get done what you need and have enough time to do so.
I found that by typing emails and blog entries in advance and then logging onto the Internet, I saved a great deal of time. I simply use my word processing program to do this, it works for me. You can use your email program also if you wish, this was easier for me.
Keep in mind that with this card, I was able to take my computer to the hospital room when I was visiting Sherrie and we could communicate with home in that way.
We stayed in constant contact via email with her Oncologist in Pennsylvania, Dr. Bahary in this way. He was able to ask questions through us which saved time for all and will make her followup care smoother I am sure.