Chicago...here we come!

On Monday, July 6, Keith and I headed to Chicago for Keith's evaluation. We had reserved a hotel room which was about 200 yards from Northwestern Memorial Hospital where Keith would have most of his appointments. We made it to Chicago with no problem.  Keith navigated while I drove.
Keith's MRI was Tuesday morning at 7 am. It was cold and rainy.  Keith was called in just after 7 and we were told it would be about 2 hours.  So I sat in the waiting room and read a book.  At 9am, Keith was not out.  At 9:30, I thought, "oh great, he got sick all over himself in the machine".  HA!  (He was really nervous about being claustrophobic in there for 2 hours!)  At 9:45, it wasn't funny anymore.  I thought, "should I go find a nurse and ask if he is OK?" At 10, I started pacing.  I went to get a drink, I went to the bathroom, etc. Then finally at 10:30 he emerges. 3 1/2 hours!! Later I read this on the results from his MRI:  "Please note that several sequences were repeated secondary to motion. The technologist noted the patient fell asleep during the exam."  Wow, I was freaking out and he was catching a nap!!
After the MRI Keith had to have some blood work done at the same hospital.
At 1pm we had to meet with neurologist Roumen Balabanov.  He also evaluates Keith and together with Dr. Burt will make a decision if Keith qualifies.  Dr. Burt gets the final word, it is his study.
Dr. Balabanov's office is at Rush Medical Center.  We took a 15 minute cab ride - Keith's first time in a taxi.  Traffic was busy and neither of us wanted to drive in that.  It was only $15 each way, whew!  Dr. Balabanov's evaluation of Keith is very thorough.  He is pleasant but not compassionate.  At the end he said, "I'm not sure why you are here, you do not qualify for Dr. Burt's study."  I said, 'we knew we didn't qualify, but you still wanted to see us for an evaluation."  He said, "we don't really know your condition until we evaluate you."  Let's just say we left there feeling very defeated.
At night we ate at Giordano's, Chicago's famous deep dish pizza.  It was excellent!
Wednesday was our meeting with Dr. Burt at noon. Keith was not feeling good at all.  Dr. Burt came in and said, "so, you were referred by Dr. Prentice? He is a good man."  Whew!  Off to a good start!  It was a whirlwind of questions, and a quick physical evaluation, small chit chat about being Keith a farmer and Dr. Burt growing up on a ranch, and again we hear, "you don't qualify".  But this time we also hear, "but I do treat people off study who still could benefit from HSCT. I will talk with Dr. Balabanov and we will make our decision and let you know."  He also went on to say, he has only treated around 200 people with HSCT, no one has died, but there are a lot of risks. They also were still unsure what type of MS Keith had.  Dr. Burt only treats those with Relapsing-Remitting MS (RRMS).
After Dr. Burt left the room his nurse, Kate, went over a timeline if Keith was to be accepted.  I thought that was very strange. Why would she take about 10 minutes, holding a calendar and pointing out dates and times to us?  I didn't want to get my hopes up, so I told myself it was protocol.
After leaving Dr. Burt's office we headed for home.

We stayed at the Hampton Inn on the 33rd floor. This was our view!