Visit to Freudenstadt

To love and be loved 

is to feel the sun 

from both sides.
      

 - David Viscott

 There have been some ups and downs since my last entry, so just the usual really, same as everyone else. Disappointingly I did not have any reaction to the last Removab other than a headache the next day. Routine blood test also reflected no response.  Now waiting for more in depth blood test to see if there was an immune response.  This has meant a change in the game plan.  Now scheduled for hyperthermia on Monday and Removab on Tuesday.  Hyperthermia is a 2 1/2 hour process starting with a hot bath then in a hyperthermia 'tent' to get body temperature up to 40C.  Then a slow cool down.  It gets very uncomfortable after about 39C and I will be given tranquillizers to help cope.  A combination of the heat and tranquilizers is apparently very tiring and so most people sleep in the afternoon.   The Removab will be double the last dose and I will be monitored closely so they can stop the infusion if I start to react.

Found out after my bone marrow aspiration I should have some sedation which apparently would have made the pain more bearable and completely forgettable.  That would have been nice.  Haven't been able to find out why I didn't get it but not impressed.  It was only a short procedure but quite painful.

Yesterday the weather was stunning and together with a couple of Canadian women we went to the nearby town of Freudenstadt.  The taxi dropped us in the main Marktplatz (marketplace) and we walked around for a bit and ended at a cafe near where we started.  We had a lovely time.  There were plenty of flowers and interesting old buildings.  There was a beautiful old church we went in only find the inside quite modern.  There were some photos with history which was interesting.  The foundation stone was laid in 1601 then in 1632 there was a fire in the town which destroyed 141 buildings but not the church.  The church was almost completely destroyed in 1945 when Freudenstadt was heavily bombed.  Only the towers survived and the church was later rebuild but the beautiful interiors had been lost.  Some black & white photos showed how lovely it must have been.

We also came across some lovely old buildings at the edge of town not far from the Markplatz and with pine forest in the background.  Even though rebuilding must have occurred in the late 1600's the building here do look a lot newer than some of the old German villages I have seen.



We are hoping to also go to Dornstetten which is a smaller town than Freudenstadt but larger than where we are in Hallwangen.  Looking at tourist maps and photos it looks like it has a lovely old part of town as well.  Hopefully the weather will improve again and I will recover quickly from the treatment on Monday & Tuesday.

Surviving & thriving

Linda