The trip to Pittsburgh for the new Clinical Trial CTLA-4. (9/12/06) Day 1 Page 1

In anticipation of the wet drive to Pittsburgh, I decide to upgrade my windshield wipers. So off to PEP Boys I went and picked up winter blades the previous day.
We left right on time (5:30 am. Traffic was light up until we reached the interstate 90 tolls just outside of Buffalo. Traffic was heavy, but was moving at a fast clip. As soon as we reached the 290 north to Buffalo/ Niagara Falls exit, it thinned out and I was able to put the van on cruise control. By now it was early morning and you could see the sky getting very dark. We were heading into a weather front. It started out drizzling and gradually got harder. I hate driving in the rain. I don’t like to hydroplane. Well, by the time we hit the state line it was coming down in buckets. At times, you could not see two car lengths in front of you. This went on for miles and miles. I was glad I had changed the wiper blades the day before.
To make a long story short, we got to Pittsburgh around 10:30 am. It was still raining quite hard. I decide to park in the Shadyside Hospital’s parking garage so we would not have to move the van after day one’s appointment, and just across Centre Ave. is the Shady House where we would be staying. The parking garage was packed. We ended up on the roof to park. Needless to say, we got drenched.
The Hillman Cancer Center is about a block and half away from the garage, but is attached to the hospital via pedestrian bridge. Similar to the Kodak’s Bldg 83 – 81 bldg bridge. So we knew we could get to the Hillman without going outside. This would be greatly beneficial during the winter months. So we mottled our way through the hospital until we came to the bridge.On the Hillman side of the bridge, there is a small café where we had coffee and home made crumb cake. We were early, so we took a break before we signed in. I called the Shady House to make sure we had a room for the night. We did.
Then we proceeded to the second floor where the outpatient center is. Pam and Beverly greeted us with great big smiles and asked us how our trip down was. We replied, “fine”.Bev took my vitals signs. I had gained 6 pounds in the last two weeks. I was caught. I been baking up a storm and eating for two. My sister Jody had just completed a visit and we cooked, baked ,and ate like there was no tomorrow. We had just bought a recipe book at Bauman’s Farm market and had to try some recipes.