Lymph Journal # 43

3/15/2012

A bright sunny day here in my room in the Freiburg Uniklinik.  I’m in a two person room with a young man named Thomas who lives about two hours from here on the Bodensee (aka Lake Constance).  He speaks excellent English, which is a big relief, although I must say my German is improving through all this.

The room is bright and cheery with a small balcony (big enough to stand on but not enough room for a chair) and part of the building I showed in yesterday’s blog.  Back side however but still interesting as people hustle by below this (third story Southwestern exposure) doorway along pedestrian and bicycle paths that converge.  I can hear the medical helicopters as they take off and land – twice so far this afternoon.  There’s also a chorus of crows somewhat overwhelming the springtime songbirds.  There are usually two or three at any given time hanging out near the mistletoe growths in the taller trees.  In a stream of consciousness fashion may I add that mistletoe extracts are used as an alternative of supplemental cancer therapy that, to me, seems a bit sketchy as it was pioneered by Rudolf Steiner the founder of Anthroposophy.  (Even the website “Die Mistel” waffles about why there are not very many gold standard randomized clinical studies – well, who knows).

At 6PM the crows get plenty of competition from church bells.  There are also a few ducks wandering the ground but I don’t see any water.

I’ve only seen one Green Woman so far.  One English language guide for the hospital mentioned that Green Men and Green Women might be seen in the course of one’s stay.  The explanation relates to their clothing color and they serve the equivalent of a Candy Striper in an American hospital (do the still have Candy Stripers?).

Today is a day of preliminary tests and getting settled in to the routine.  I don’t get the sense of hurry that you experience in a stateside hospital (where major surgeries are more and more shifted to an outpatient formula – “Yes show up at 9 for your heart transplant and make sure you have someone to drive you home”).  I’ve had blood drawn and my hearing tested (hearing damage is one risk of this protocol of chemo known as "VCP–E", there was a long list but they have to recite every possibility).  As expected my left ear flunked the test but I’ve known that for years – that’s why when Diane and I take walks she always is on my right side.  I warned the audiologist that my German was not so good.  She demonstrated that her English was non-existent but I proved able to follow directions.  Even better, she asked, when the testing was done, what I was in for (specifically where was the tumor – she thought that might explain my “uneven” hearing).  I replied regarding my lymphoma and she launched into a long monolog regarding her Mann (her husband) diagnosed with lymphoma in 1999 and today taking 100 km bike rides.  As I left I was wished “Viel Gluck” – come on, you can figure out what that means.  All in all, a nice experience.  This was followed by another examination and something new to me – maybe it’s a regular deal in the states but I’ve never seen it – tongue depressors made of stainless steel and presumably sterilized between uses rather than the oversized popsicle sticks I’m used to.

Over dinner conversation with my roomie I found out that he’s here as a healthy young man on a noble assignment.  He responded to a drive for bone marrow donation and his data matches someone who will be treated here.  Tomorrow is his procedure and he’ll leave Saturday – again, seems a bit different than the American way.

Meals are done here in a European mode meaning the “big” meal is lunchtime (Mittagessen – “mid-day” and “to eat” combined in the German way) and the evening meal (Abendessen – “evening” and “to eat” combined in the German way) is smaller and colder.  Tonight it was a cold (but cooked) chicken leg/thigh, raw carrot and some other pale root vegetable sticks with dip, bread and butter, an apple and optional tea.

By the way, here’s a shout out to my senior class (and some of my fellow staff as well) who engineered a delivery of a cash gift (generous and nice) and a booklet of greetings and well wishes (even more nice) to our home mailbox the other day.  Very, very good to hear from them.  Here’s the photographic proof:

Well, I think I’ll post this now.