OK. I guess I can throw my penny in the ring as well.

We drove 40 minutes one way to Methodist hospital here in Houston. Traffic here is pretty messy most times but I was able to schedule him at lunch which the rad folks accomodated even though I am sure they would have rather not... (They were awesome people!) and that helped with the avoidence of the worst of the traffic. HOWEVER, and I say this because it happened so many times I can't count...

The Rad machines are not perfect pieces of equipment. Many times the computers went down and the machines were offline and not functional. Many, many times we were there for hours waiting to get him in. Our time slot was 12:45pm and very often we did not leave the hospital until 5,6, even 7pm a few times.

Having a 40 minute drive was not too bad but a 3 hour drive, for us, no way. I would have just put my foot down and drawn a line whether he liked it or not. He knows that because there were many other times I have had to do just that over the last several months. He hates it but he does it.

Anyway, I guess what I am saying is that since Harry had both chemo and rad and he was very sick because he did not handle either very well, that 40 minute drive for him was like 12 hours. He sometimes fell asleep, other times he was excessively anxious to the point of despair. When we would get home he would lie down and then keep telling me that he thought he was dying.

I have a Dodge grand caravan with the seats that fold into the floor. For all of his rad txs I put 2 mattress covers, blankets, a pillow and a bucket in the back of my car and most of the time he laid there while I drove him to and from.

My advice is that you take steps for a backup plan and have that in place so that should a day come when you just can't make it back home you will have a place to stay.

I was extremely tired from the driving and staying up all night taking care of him that there were a couple of times I thought I was going to have to pull off the road so I wouldn't fall asleep. Most of the time I had to swallow some vivarin or no-doze to stay awake. 6 weeks might not seem long on the face of things but when you are in the thick of it and once you become exhausted, then it will feel like forever.

I wish you the best with everything.

Cindy