Day 2 OF ROUND 2 FOR LU177 PRRT TREATMENT

In November, I was treated with the radioactive peptide, Y90.  Today I will receive a different peptide called LU177.  While both types will have an effect on all tumors, the Y90 is the better treatment for the larger tumors and LU177 is more effective on smaller tumors.  This is the reason the doctors here, through their research,  have found this to be the best option for treatment with the optimum results.
Currently, in the United States, if you are lucky enough to be admitted into a study or into the facility in Houston, that started providing PRRT treatment in November 2011, you would only be receiving LU177.  It would not matter if you have different size tumors.  This is all the United States is able to provide at this time.  I am so grateful for all the help, support and love I received to be allowed to have the choice to be treated in Basel, Switzerland under Dr. Wild.  I am grateful that all my tumors will be treated properly.

All is going very well since we checked back into the Hospital at 8 AM this morning.
Pierre greets us after we arrive and settle into the room, which by the way is a lovely private room.  How that happened, who knows but I am not complaining.  Happy.  Happy.  Happy.
I set up my laptop, plop my magazines all around my bed, and check my stash of Swiss Chocolates into the closet.  A girl has got to be comfortable, after all.  Agreed?

Soon after, Dr. Kaul, Professor Wild's assistant, came into the room to put in the special IV for treatment.  (As I was fumbling with my chocolate in the closet, I might add.  OK guilty, with a red face, hopefully he thinks I am just flushing.)
First I am started on an IV drip with medicine to protect my kidneys from any harmful effects of the radiation treatment.
Next, I am given a dosage of three steroid pills, along with a pill to protect my stomach, as steroids can be harsh.  I also receive an anti nausea pill that melts under my tongue.
I am now prepared and the clock has begun.  I will be brought to the treatment room an hour from the time the IV drip is started. 

An hour later, oh the Swiss are so punctual, my cheery buddy Pierre breezes in the room with his ear to ear smile.  He leads me and my loving hubby down stairs to the treatment room.

This is where my writing a blog gets so exciting, what a pay off, I feel like a star. Silly me.

As I sit waiting with my husband, the door opens and an obviously American man is coming out of the treatment room. 
Let me explain myself.  There is a sixth sense that develops once you are in a foreign country, that does not speak your language, have signs in your language, have television in your language,  menus in your language, trolley stops in your language, grocery stores in your language, who knows what I have been eating, ect.  Simply put, you recognize your own. 
All the Doctors and nurses in the hospital, not only speak English well, but several other languages also.  In the city, you will find many understand and speak some English.  We are staying in a little town outside of the city.  A nice little two bedroom apartment with a kitchen, and it is cheaper than any hotel.  We also can cook our meals, which is great because all restaurants in Basel are very expensive.  I'm afraid though, we may just be the only two English speakers in the town.  :) haha
Coming from the States where so many languages are spoken, the shoe is definitely on the other foot.

As this man sees us, I am thinking, that he also recognizes us as American.  At the same moment, his hand reaches out to me and he has a big smile, " Hi Donna, I am Jim O'Donnell, I am from New Jersey, and read your blog, I feel like I know you, so nice to meet you." he says.
"Jim, nice to meet you", I shake his hand and introduce my husband Adrian.  My nurse Kerstin had told me when I arrived yesterday, that a patient named, Jim O'Donnell, knows me and wanted to say hi.  I couldn't place his name and assumed he was from the email support group, carcinoid@listserve.acor.org.  I put a post on the site that night, that I would love to meet him, it is exciting when someone from back home is being treated here at the same time.  There was no response, and that was because he knew me from my blog. 
My Blog, people.  Oh yes, for a split second the little me in my head did the whoopee dance singing, " I'm famous, famous, famous I am".
Ok, just joking, no really I am.  Hey, I take a stab at being funny sometimes.  :)

Thank you Jim for giving me the greatest compliment.  To learn that when you write down your heartfelt words during a difficult time in life and then your words reach others, that you never would have met, who understand what you are saying, and need the comfort is humbling.  A gift is given to me, a gift beyond compare, if someone in the same position, has learned to advocate for themselves or a loved one, due to my story and the stories of others with links on this blog.  I know that is how I learned.  These sites and blogs taught me knowledge, and gave me support, comfort, and strength during dark hours.  I have a wonderful supporting family, I am so lucky.  However, there is a need to also be able to reach out to others that are traveling the same road as you.  I think of these blogs and support groups, email groups and patient conferences and Doctors that give their precious time to answer questions on email sites, as an interlocking circle.  I am glad my story and my blog is reaching and holding a spot in that circle.
So a Big, Warm, Welcoming, in English "Hellooooooo" to you Jim O'Donnell, and I messaged Maureen Coleman, from Canada, who sends you also a warm hello, and remembers a wonderful conversation she had with you at a CNETS Conference in Toronto, in 2008.  She wishes you well.

In the mist of this introduction, it is my time to go into the treatment room that Jim has just left, and things are punctual here. 
This set up is different.  The Y90 was administered though an iron box and the Dr. pushed it through the IV via a long cord from the other side of the room, they also wore protective gear.
Dr. Kaul, flushes my IV with saline, and all is working well, he then proceeds to do what I thought was flush the IV, one more time.   He asks me if  I feel all right, any nausea, pain, shortness of breath or dizziness.  No, there are no symptoms and that was not a flush.  That was the LU177.  I sit for about ten minutes and then, my cheery, smiling, Pierre arrives to escort my husband and me back to the room.  I need to remain six feet behind them and enter the special elevator last.  He constantly needs to remind me.  I feel like such a ding ding.  Remember to keep your distance I tell myself, and mess up anyway.  I feel fine, so I keep forgetting.

Back in the room my husband is banished for four hours, and I remain on the IV medication to help flush and protect my kidneys.  I will also need to continue lots of litres of water over the next several days around the clock.  I need my kidneys, so glad to oblige.
My husband returns after site seeing in Basel, using the wonderful trolley system and walking the beautiful cobble stone roads.  Honey buns stays behind his iron wall of protection and can stay two hours.  He is tired and bearing gifts of chicken mcnuggets, in case my food doesn't match the description, I am happy to see the greasy little nuggets.  I do not eat at McD's back home, but sometimes something familiar is just nice and comforting.  They hit the spot, along with my hospital salad and fruit dessert.
Let's see what tomorrow brings, shall we?  Good Night all.