Day Eleven

It's New Year's Day here and it's been a quiet one.  I can tell how much it helps mom when she takes it easy.  We did take a walk outside.  So cold but really refreshing!  Here are some pictures of the area.  And if they look like every other picture I've taken, it's because there are so many of these streets and alleyways.  There are shops on top of shops and even underground markets.  Seoul is busy.  Lots of hustle and bustle.  This is not some po-dunk town.  Progressive and yet, traditional.  Most people dress very well... not like us in sweatpants and Uggs all of the time.  Here you go...

Day Ten

And so it has been another long day. We arrived to the clinic an hour earlier than usual so mom can begin Avastin. First, they gave her an anti-nausea medicine, then hooked up an IV in each arm. They both were used for hydrating her which lasted an hour. Then, they left one in to continue hydrating and the other was changed to the Avastin. Nurse Moon says mom shouldn't lose too much hair, which is good because she only brought one hat. :-)

I am eternally grateful that the clinic was able to supply mom with Lyrica (and at the cost she would normally have to pay as a co-pay and without the $90 shipping cost). We still haven't heard anything about the medications stuck in customs.

After mom's chemo, we took a taxi with Mr. Won to the Korean National University Hospital for the PET-CT scan. Dr. Moon's office should have it on Monday, then we'll need to take it to Dr. Cho on Wednesday.
In the taxi on the way back to the hotel, the taxi driver's cell phone rang. The ringtone? John Denver's "Take Me Home, Country Roads". It was awesome. I literally cannot watch any of the taxi drivers that we've had. They cut other cars off, run alongside sidewalks and practically take out the pedestrians. It's best just to close your eyes and hum something.

As it is New Year's Eve, the patients and their families had dinner together in the Phoenix Room in the Garden Terrace restaurant, which is in the lobby of the hotel.  The bunch of us:  Erica, Joe, Jackie, Tom, Bryan, Courtney w/ little Jackson, Dawn, Dave, Dos, Jeff, Debbie, mom and I.  We sat around the table talking about how everyone heard of this treatment and their stories of the cancers et al that they have been battling.  What a group of people.  Each one, inspiring.
 
Tomorrow is New Year's Day and our big plans are to stay in and relax.  It's still incredibly cold out there!  Be well, All...