6-28-2007 Switzerland (1)

Thursday 6-28-2007
The plane ride was pretty mellow. Eva thinks that she attracts kids as the flight attendant reseated the row in front of us to allow a family to sit together. We were a bit worried as the kid was a little restless and whiny for the first hour, but luckily he settled down and was pretty quiet for the remainder of the trip. The flight was pleasantly uneventful. No nosebleeds, no passing out (not that that has happened, but you never know). I was amazed that I was not even asked at the security checkpoint about the two syringes in my bag (lovenox). One part of flying makes it a little uncomfortable now are my undergarments. I now wear my jobst stockings whenever I fly for a long time and as I usually wear pants with them (so that I do not stand out), the combination can get a little warm sometimes. Also, between the stockings and the boxers, sometimes my boys do not know which way is up. We arrived on time (got to love Swiss Air), and it was really nice to see George and Miluse at the airport. It had been quite a journey, but eventually, we made it to Switzerland. We all made our way back to Rudolfstetten, and then had a big dinner at the house. We got situated in Eva’s old room and eventually fell into bed.

Friday 6-29-2007
We got up and had a nice breakfast together and George and I went to Zurich and George played tennis. After tennis, we went to pick up a new TV that George had ordered, brought it home, and set it up. It was some good father son-in-law bonding time; boys with toys.

Saturday 6-30-2007
In the morning, Eva and I got out for a little run/ride. Their house is basically on the edge of the little village and a little forest is right across the street. Surrounding the little forest, are some fields with cows as well as a bit of farmland. No joke, you can hear the cowbells when we eat on their patio or if a window is open. Here is Eva all bundled up on the patio.

Just another word on bells, every little village has a clock tower and about every fifteen minutes one clock tower or another is going off. If you ever wonder why the Swiss are so timely, it is pretty obvious once you get here. They have been hearing bells every fifteen minutes of their life since they were born. After a while it just becomes ingrained into their being. Our workout took us through the little forest, through some fields, up into another little forest, and to a small lake sort of nestled in the hill. It was really pretty and just a wonderful place to have grown up. I may have been when I was younger, but I cannot remember specifically if I had ever run or biked through wheat fields. They put a smile on my face for no other reason than that they are just calming and pleasant. When we got up to the little lake, Eggelsee, There was a mama duck with four little ducklings, adorable. I had to walk my bike up a few of the hills, but all in all I got a really good workout. The remainder of the day revolved around food and catching up. Recently, my father and I have been very proud of ourselves for finding that basically anything wrapped in bacon is very tasty. As it turns out, the Swiss have already come to the same conclusion and prewrap quite a lot of different things right there at the meat counter. Here are some bacon wrapped filets and they also had bacon wrapped chicken and bacon wrapped sausages (mmm...so good).


Sunday 7-1-2007
Sunday was similar to Saturday though this time George came with Eva and I on our run/ride. With George along it was more of Eva going for a run and us going for a ride. We would take a different way and then meet up with Eva at different points along the way. We got a little worried, as she was still not home about 45 minutes after we got back. I thought that either something might be wrong or she was just chatting it up a bit. Turns out that she said hello to an elderly couple, they got started jiber jaboring, and 45 minutes later, Eva managed to break away. It was tough, but the rest of us managed to enjoy our lunch without her. We figured that it would not be a good idea to go out searching for her on empty stomachs. Sunday evening, we went to a chamber orchestra performance in a converted church. It was really nice music and well played though I thought that leaving and returning four times during the applause was a bit much. Who do they think they are, Americans? They do not mess around with the perks here in Switzerland though, included with the ticket was wine at the intermission and a long stem rose upon our exit. Not too shabby. Here are Eva and her mom before the concert. How cute.



Monday 7-2-2007
Eva, Miluse, and I went to Spreitenbach (I am sure that I have just misspelled it but oh-well), which is the mall in the next town over. Even though their house is only about 30-40 minutes from Zurich (the largest city in Switzerland), they really do live in a little village of only a few thousand people. The villages are really defined as well and there is always a bit of farmland or forest that separates the villages. In LA, when we drive from San Pedro to our apartment near Beverley Hills, we drive through probably a dozen different communities but you would never know it because they all run up against each other. Just one of the many little differences that you might notice in Switzerland. The mall was fairly similar to any mall in America and our first stop was H&M. Last fall, we were pretty excited that an H&M was coming to the Beverly Center, though when it arrived, it was a lot different than the one in Switzerland. I do not know if they were playing to the Hollywood crowd but we prefer the Swiss version – nicer clothes at cheaper prices. The usual protocol is to take care of me quickly, then put me into a safe place, like the food court, and then Eva and her mom will go off shopping for a while. This trip stuck to the plan as I found a few nice things, got set up in the food court and Eva and her mom were off. They found a few things, though they did not come back with bags and bags as would be expected from a really good day of shopping.

Monday evening, George (the son) and Susi came over to the house for dinner. It was wonderful to see them and great to hear about what they are up to. Susi just finished her studies at the university (Congrats Susi!) and George is working to finish up his PhD. It was another nice dinner and good times.

Tuesday 7-3-2007
We got up and all had breakfast together and then George, Susi, and Miluse were on their way to Zurich. Eva and I hung out and enjoyed the house for the better part of the day. I brought a few books on instruments flying and have had some fun reading about it and then also using flight simulator on my computer. I was proud of myself when I flew from Santa Monica to Long Beach only using instruments on the computer. Eva gave me a high five, she is so supportive. We spend a lot of time out on the patio so here I am.


Wednesday 7-4-2007
Again, we took it pretty easy in the morning and eventually made our way out for some activity. We went to the nearby pool to do a bit of swimming. I had thought the pool was nice when I had visited on earlier trips but apparently it was not nice enough as they had redone the whole aquatic complex between our trips. Eva is wonderfully tolerant of my splish splashing and attempts at swimming. She is so graceful, smooth, and fast. I can keep up for about half of a length and then I get tired and start flailing about.

After swimming, Eva and I went to the local hospital to meet the doctor and take care of all the details for the infusion, which should be the following week. Dr. Stelzer was very kind and the whole meeting was very pleasant. The hospital we went to was fairly close the house (a bit out in the countryside) and was a pretty nice hospital. The oncology floor was amazingly quiet. It seemed as if it was deserted. Granted, UCLA and Memorial serve many times more people than this hospital (the population of LA is about half of the total population of Switzerland), but it was still a bit eerie. You could look down the hall and not see anyone for ten minutes. It looked as if you could actually get some rest there as opposed to UCLA where your vitals need to be taken every two hours and sleeping longer than that interval is unheard of. Dr. Stelzer was a really nice person and was genuinely interested in making sure I was well taken care of. I think she was a little surprised at how many different chemos I have been on over the last year. The list just got longer and longer but Dr. Isacoff has done a great job so far. I had my travel cancer binder with me and she actually took it to look over, we think, out of curiosity and interest more than necessity to care for me. I have been very fortunate to have come into contact with very caring doctors. She spoke English very well though a few of the subjects were pretty hard to translate, in which case Eva would usually step in and make sure everything was clear for everyone. You have to trust your wife very much when she is the link between you and proper medical care. Luckily, I do trust my wife immensely and am confident that she will make sure everything goes according to plan.

Before I went to bed, I called my folks and we actually had a little video chat. It was really nice to see my mom and dad as well as my aunt Karen and Uncle Terry who were over for the fourth. My dad found a little American flag to hold behind them while we were talking to give me a little sense of the holiday. The video chat worked pretty well and it was rather amazing to be looking into my living room at home from 5000 miles away. It does have its drawbacks and takes a little getting used to but it was pretty fun. My father could not resist picking his nose or putting bunny ears on my mom. It was really nice to be able to share in their celebration of the fourth a bit. After we finished, they were barbequing on the patio and then were off to the Galaxy game and were going to watch the post game fireworks from the stadium. I heard later that the fireworks were really nice and my mother said it was really refreshing to hear, even in this jaded world of ours, the “ohhhs” and “ahhhs” of genuine enjoyment of their group as well as the people around them.