Phill & Evan's Most Excellent Adventure

I have blogged on this site very little in the last six months.  Instead I have posted on my CaringBridge website. The blog below was originally posted on that site a few days ago on December 30, 2010.

At the moment I am sitting in a recliner at the Kennestone Cancer Center receiving chemotherapy. This is the last of four weekly infusions of Rituxin. I like a one drug out-patient infusion much better than week-long hospital stays with a spectrum of drugs! I have been in the hospital for seven weeks in the last seven months.

Most recently, I was admitted to two hospitals in Italy and New York for almost eight days over the last two weeks. Let me try to update what happened. This entry will be more like a blog than just a medical report. If you want to be spared the following read, the short story is that I am alive and fairly well.



I wanted to take Cissy to Paris as part of her birthday celebration this month, but she did not feel strong enough to make an international trip. Instead we had a great trip to the Florida beach. Yet I still had the itch to make a big trip. If I have a bone marrow transplant I will not be able to travel for a long time. So, two weeks ago, on Thursday, December 16, my son Evan and I left for a planned four day trip to Switzerland.


I use the word "planned" loosely. Two days before the trip we were still trying to decide between going to Buenos Aires, Barcelona, or Switzerland. Flight schedules dictated that flying into Zurich was the best option to optimize our time.


Evan arranged for us to fly in business class. The reclining seats, sumptuous food, and "extras" made the flights very enjoyable. An occasion arose for me to tell a flight attendant a little of my story. She instantly responded that she would be praying for me. Before we de-planed she reminded me again that she would be praying for me. Her teary eyes and choked emotion told me she was very serious about her promise.


Evan and I took the train out of Zurich and stopped in Lucerne to walk around the city for a couple of hours, before resuming our journey to the winter wonderland of Wengen. We stayed in a lovely hotel in Wengen, the Jungfraublick, with staff that showed us great hospitality.


Ahmed works as a receptionist in the hotel. He grew up in Egypt, graduated from university, and has worked in Wengen for the last six years. When I told him my story, he told me I need to keep a good attitude and think positively. I agreed with him completely, and added that even more important to me than a positive attitude, is to receive the amazing grace of God. Again at check-out he encouraged me to stay positive.


On Friday and Saturday nights there was an ice show in a small outdoor rink with bleachers. The stars of the show were two great Swiss Olympic skaters (he an Olympic silver medalist and world champion; she a national champion for many years). The lights and music filled the packed arena with excitement and beauty. An almost full moon reflected off the snow of the towering mountains that surround the town. I thought to myself if this is the last Christmas season I experience on this earth, I will have a happy memory to cherish even in heaven.


On Saturday we awoke to an incredible view out our balcony window. We looked out over the village and up the valley that stretched toward the towering mountains of Eiger, Jungfrau and Monch. The clearing sky told us it would be a great day to ride to the "Top of Europe," the highest train station on the continent.


Jungfrau Mountain at 11,782 feet greeted us with minus 13 degrees and snow swirling in the 40 mph winds. Evan and I braved the elements to go out on the observation point for a few minutes. It was the coldest I have ever felt in my life.


Sunday afternoon we boarded the train for Milan, Italy, with plans to get on a plane to return home on Monday. We got off the train for several hours at stops in Swiss towns to see the local scenery. We arrived in Milan after dark and checked into a hotel near the airport.


During the night I got a fever and chills, followed in the morning by diarrhea and vomiting. One time I got out of the bed to go to the bathroom and evidently passed out and hit the floor with a thud. With great difficulty Evan dragged me to the bathroom. He checked with Cissy back home who called my doctor. Upon his recommendation Evan called an ambulance. I was taken to a hospital in Novara just outside Milan.


During the five hour wait in the ER my simple, repeated prayer was a soft plea for help. An exam by a doctor was followed by X-rays, blood culture, and ultrasound. The diagnosis was a kidney infection and an abscess at the site where I had a biopsy for lymphoma seven months ago. The culprit was a mean bacteria, staphylococcus aureus, better known as MRSA.


I received excellent care and attention from a team of doctors and nurses for five days. At times I was frustrated trying to communicate with those who did not speak English. The elderly man in the bed beside me had a loving family who cared for him. I wanted to tell the son and wife how much I admired their care, not only for the gentleman, but also how they helped me with small tasks.


Finally, I was discharged on Saturday morning, Christmas Day. Evan made thorough arrangements for our departure. Helpful staff at the hotel and Evan’s Droid Ssmartphone with internet access were invaluable. A taxi picked us up at the hospital door. The driver sped us (at times the speedometer hit 100 mph) in his fleet Mercedes.


There is a daily direct flight from Milan to Atlanta every day but Saturday. Since the flights were full in days past and for the future, we decided we had better take advantage of seats available on the flight to JFK Airport in New York on Saturday.


Upon arrival at JFK not only was no seat open to Atlanta, but we could find no seat available anywhere in the Southeast. As evening approached on Saturday, it looked like Evan and I would have to spend the night in the airport terminal.


However, the doctor in Italy had given me an antibiotic that was supposed to be administered by injection by midnight. Our inquiries found no one in the airport able to give the shot. When I inspected the abscessed area I decided I needed to see a doctor. The only option was to be transported to a hospital by ambulance.


I arrived at Jamaica Hospital Medical Center late Saturday night for another five hour ER wait to see a doctor. Once again I had X-rays, EKG, and blood culture. A surgeon drained the abscessed area. About 15 hours later so I was admitted to a private room where I received antibiotics via IV. On Sunday 16 inches of snow paralyzed the city and closed the airport. Evan spent Monday night at LaGuardia Airport and arranged two seats on a flight departing at 11:37 a.m. on Tuesday. If I missed the flight, it might be the weekend before I got another chance to get home.


I anxiously waited for a doctor to discharge me on Tuesday morning. Shortly before 10 a.m. I was finally released. Phone calls to three taxi services got no answer. I walked out to the street in front of the hospital and tried to hail a taxi, but all were carrying fares.


In desperation I stepped in the street and stopped a passing motorist and asked him to take me to the airport. We quickly negotiated a price. He was from India but had lived in the U.S. for twelve years. His speech had a terrible stutter. When we got to the airport we encountered a big traffic jam. Since we were near the terminal, I got out of the car and walked to meet up with Evan. At 11:15 we got someone to roll me in a wheelchair through security and arrived at the gate at 11:25.


Sitting on the plane I wondered what would go wrong next. Thankfully, the rest of the trip was smooth sailing. Haley and Seth picked me up at the airport. I arrived home on Tuesday about 4 p.m. (after a brief fueling stop in Atlanta at a gas station and the grease station across the street ...The Varsity for chili slaw dog, onion rings, and frosty orange).


On Wednesday Cissy took me to my local oncologist. Afterwards Cissy's remark is that there appears to be no permanent damage except maybe for Evan. After all the stress and responsibility for me he is exhausted.


Our four day trip turned into over twelve days of adventure. Now I am ready to celebrate Christmas for the next week, even if New Years comes along to interrupt!

Click on photos and videos from our trip. The train ride video at the end about our style of travel being flexible was prophetic about my emergency hospital visit the next day in Italy, and then the next unplanned hospital stop in New York.  Later I realized I was in two hospitals on two continents, both on Christmas Day!