It's Friday night, 9pm, and we just got back to the hotel room. The first week at Herzog clinic we stayed in patient, however this week we decided to go outpatient. A fellow patient and her family shared some advice about saving a lot of money by staying at nearby hotels. Inpatient is a set rate of 420 Euros a day which included: 3 meals a day, infusions, supplements, magnetic field, initial ECG and ultrasound, ozone therapy, physiotherapy, and injections. Local hyperthermia is 200 Euros per session, and the moderate whole body hyperthermia (no chemo) is 1.300 euros, these are not included in the 420 E. As good of a deal as that sounds, it still turns out to be cheaper when you pay for everything and have them itemize the treatments. After this week we will compare the 2 weeks and see how much we actually save.
That first week my sister and I shared a room on the ward while my dad had his own room a floor down. When I say "ward" you think hospital, but it's nothing like that at all. They have very nice rooms with personal bathrooms and big cabinets to hang your clothes. The beds were very comfortable, my sis and I kept commenting on how well we were sleeping. The only difference between the wards and the other rooms is that you cannot lock the doors. They nurses need to be able to come in to check on patients and take BP's every morning. It is very convenient to stay in-patient, especially if it is you first time coming to the klinik. It's enough time to learn the ropes and see how everything works. Things can get very chaotic with the language barrier, so staying in-patient helps to avoid missing any treatments.
Tomorrow (Saturday), I will go in for my daily infusions and local hyperthermia. No treatments on Sunday, although in-patients get infusions on Sunday morning. A little extra kick for their immune system.
We have made friends from all over the world: Australia, Ireland, Norway, California, Missouri, Canada. Its hard to not make friends here. You see these people EVERYDAY, eat together, get treatments together, sit in the community area together. It is a great way to learn about others experiences, what worked and what didn't. One thing I'll say...I'm in the right place!!
Off to bed, I have local hyperthermia early in the morning with my infusions.
Gute Nacht!
Some of our friends
Gene, what a guy!! :)
This last picture is the hotel we are staying in. 2 buildings away from Herzog