So France was lovely–Roquebrune-Cap-Martin and St.-Paul-de-Vence are now beautiful memories, and I have failed once again to blog about these far away places and their strange-sounding names.  Perhaps later, when I am remembering them through photos.

The “Even Dozen” infusion #12 on September 12 was essentially non-eventful, with the notable exception of travel problems and a Bactrim allergy.  On the allergy front, I’d been taking one Bactrim a day since the beginning of the daratumumab infusions with the goal of Not Getting Sick while my immune system is down.  Unfortunately, my body decided that Bactrim was an enemy and let me know by a pretty significant rash (hives?) on my arms, hands, chest, back–all areas touched by the sun despite copious use of sunscreen.  This was not a good look for me.  So on the Even Dozen day, Dr. Fervenza decided to take me off Bactrim while he did some serious thinking on alternatives.

As for the travel, we hurried away from the hotel in time for our 3:45 flight, only to watch the arrival of far too many seriously dark clouds over the Rochester airport.  Then rain.  Our flight was initially delayed because, per the Delta gate agent, flights were suspended from landing in Minneapolis, our only hop skip and jump of a stop.  The flight was delayed and delayed still further, but so was the flight from Minneapolis to Austin.  So we had hope.

We watched another plane leave the airport successfully and were greatly cheered.  We actually boarded the plane and were still cheered, since the Delta gate agent told us it was really only about a 17-minute flight to Minneapolis.  Then the pilot welcomed us on board and told us that the plane had accidentally been over-fueled by something like 14,000 gallons and that we would have to fly around for one hour and forty minutes until we could land.  Hard to get any more hosed than that one.

After one thrilling night at the Country Inn close to the Minneapolis airport–physically attached to a TGI Friday’s, which does not make a bad margarita–we made it back to Austin.  And thus ended the Even Dozen Infusion.

I tell you this story because here I am after infusion #13, sitting in the Courtyard by Marriott lobby, waiting on my taxi to the airport, and watching the rain.  Really?!  Again?!  And this time it is 43 degrees, rather than the previous 85 degrees we experienced during the Even Dozen.

Perhaps there is some basis for triskaidekaphobia, a morbid and somewhat irrational fear of the number 13.  All I can say at this point is that I would almost never select a plane seat in Row #13.  I would not pick #13 as my lucky number.  And I would not be surprised if Infusion #13 results in yet another travel delay.

The infusion itself went like clockwork.  However, Dr. Fervenza has decided to start me on another antibiotic, which is given in liquid form and which the study coordinator describes as “distasteful.”  I’m thinking that may be an understatement.  I shall ask the pharmacist whether it can be followed with a tequila chaser or something like that.

My new nurse Patty is 62 years old, and her husband was on the floor below the Clinical Research floor, where he is battling cancer and other things due to Agent Orange (this all from Nurse Patty).  Patty can put an IV in your arm so quickly and painlessly that you forget that there were ever any other bad IV experiences.  She is one of seven girls in her family, and she has five other brothers.  She is the only one of the seven sisters to have curly hair.  All of Patty’s sisters went into the medical field in some form or another.  Her sister Judy just got back from Uganda, where she delivered 400 pairs of expandable shoes (what a great idea!) to 400 orphans.  Patty thought about becoming a nun for a long time–lucky for my veins that she decided to go the nursing route.  When she retires (which she thinks will be sooner rather than later because of the Epic system now used by Mayo), she may make a trip to Uganda with Judy.  But she worries that she would bring 400 orphans home with her.   If I had a glass of wine right now, I’d certainly toast Patty.

I fear that this blog post will bore you beyond words.  With that in mind, my next entry will include a few photos from the beautiful trip to France–perhaps they will inspire me to blog more about beautiful travel than medical travel.  All is still well.