In Little Rock, Arkansas

Wow! What a difference being in the right place makes! We arrived Thursday evening in Little Rock at our hotel. Complete with complimentary shuttle back on forth on demand to the UAMS (Univ of Arkansas Medical System) campus, which is about 5 minutes by car away. All the area hotels have nurses that come to the hotels in the morning and do everyone's blood draws in their rooms so they don't have to go over to the hospital! When we arrived at the Institute (MIRT: Myeloma Institute for Research & Therapy) we didn't even sit down. As soon as they knew we were there it began. Small amount of paperwork as we had done much before hand. Meetings with various administrative personnel, insurance coordinator, case manager, scheduler, triage nurse, etc. throughout the day. First stop was the lab tech who took 36 vials of blood and told Dave he had been officially "hazed" by the University! :) Also told us that would never occur again, a one time deal (that much!). Then we were off to the first clinic appt. Complete with a bag from the institute with a 1" notebook all tabbed with information and FAQs and phone numbers of everyone we would need. Also included was a business card sheet to put all the business cards of everyone we meet in it, of which everyone connected to our case did give us, complete with phone numbers and emails and encouragement to contact them directly with any question! The bag included a full day schedule including our lunch and food snacks in the bag, complete with notebook and pen to take notes! Every clinic we were told has a refrigerator in the waiting area complete with food: yogurts, fruit, crackers, and drinks that is expressly for us and to help ourselves throughout the day. Geezus! Is this a resort or a hospital! Honestly. Within 30 minutes of being there I received an email (they have wireless broadband throughout the hospital) from the President asking me to please fill out an online survey regarding our appt there and assurances that he reads all comments and gets a report on all survey results! So we had a very long day Friday with getting checked in and we started at 8 am and didn't call for hotel pick up until 8 pm! We were good until about 6 pm when we still had 2 hours for the MRI to do. Dave wasn't supposed to eat after lunch in preparation for that, so we were starting to feel a bit wiped out. But honestly, up until that point, we were totally fine. Everywhere we went if people noticed us looking lost, they stopped, inquired and would direct us and sometimes walk us to our next appt. We have another full day on Monday of tests and biopsy and so forth. We were to allocate 5 days, but in reality all tests have been scheduled in two days and then we will have nothing until the doc consultation Thursday AM. We will see if we can move it to Wed, but if not, its OK. Tuesday morning Dave's case will be presented at the doctor's meeting and Dr. Barlogie, the head and director, will approve or change the treatment protocols presented by our assigned doctor. So comforting to know that the big guy is involved in every case that walks through the doors at some level. They have 8-10 new myeloma patients each week, 52 weeks a year from all over the world. They treat only this blood cancer and none of the others. It is their focus. We have definitely come to the right place, at least that's how we feel right now. We have no reason to think our care won't continue to be good as when you meet people at the lower levels in the machinery who are happy, efficient and dedicated, you know it comes from the top down, not the bottom up. Hope to get to the River Front in downtown Little Rock later today as the day is beautiful, sunny and high 70s. Otherwise we are just sitting in our hotel. In the US, as many of you know, our main transportation is cars and so without one, not much to do! :) Thanks for all your continued good wishes and support. - Lori