After checking into my Kaiser Oakland hospital room yesterday morning on the 10th floor (penthouse!), things began to roll pretty quickly. Many tests (including COVID, several blood tests, two different sputum tests, lumbar puncture), a picc line put in and plenty of forms and reviews of all the meds I’m on.

I have to say that the accommodations and the food here are much better than Stanford which surprised me. Not to say the Stanford’s medical care is lacking. My main doctor here is from Australia, and it helps that he’s very cute. My oncologist is originally from Stanford, and he knows the docs I’ve been working with over there. He was especially complimentary of Dr. Epstein the infectious disease specialist whom he said he would trust with his life.

One of the notable differences in my lumbar puncture was that Dr. Kelly (the cute one) noticed that my spine is curved because I had scoliosis when I was a kid. The issue is that a doctor needs to stick the needle more from the side into my spine rather than straight down. The folks at Stanford didn’t catch this and twice I had to endure lots of pounding to get the needle in including one that took over an hour. It took Dr. Kelly less than 10 minutes to complete the procedure.

At one point, a team of 7 doctors, nurse practitioners and doctor assistants crowded around my bed. They pretty much confirmed a few things. Disappointment that the CAR-T procedure didn’t work out. This bispecific antigen drug (Talvey) is a very new treatment that was just approved recently after clinical trials. It has risk of several moderate to severe side effects. While it has been administered in other hospitals in other parts of the country with mixed results, Kaiser and Stanford have just started treating with it. And, yes, this is pretty much my last resort. Although, as the team pointed out, there will undoubtedly be newer treatments coming out if I can last that long.

For now, I can have visitors as long as they haven’t been exposed to others who may be infected — not just from COVID, but other infections from flu, RSV or other viruses. They strongly advised against visitors who have been traveling by plane or have attended recent gatherings where status wasn’t clear. They would need at least 3-5 days of isolation beforehand. All current visitors have to get their COVID status checked before and wear a mask when they come into my room. All this depends on how I’m feeling and hopefully not experiencing icky side effects.

Clearly, I’m feeling well enough to ramble on and on in this blog. Now, I’m waiting for results from the various tests they’ve done.

Onward, with all your love, prayers and support to keep me going.