Sandra Hyman Feigenbaum

My Sandy - A Life in Pictures
August 6, 1930 to August 8, 2007
August 2007

August 2, 2007. New York Presbyterian Hospital
 Sandy was in the hospital in early July. After her blood counts were regulated and she had improved, she went back to her routine visits to her oncologist, Dr. Harris, who had taken over when Dr. Readling retired. He, obviously painfully, told us that he had nothing more for her. She refused to accept that there was nothing further that could be done. He promised to contact doctors he knew in New York City. We went home to search the Internet for clinical trials or experimental programs.

Dr. Harris called to tell us that he had made contact with Dr. Ellen Ritchie at NY Presbyterian who was using an experimental protocol and that Sandy's records had already been faxed to her. We went to NY so that Dr. Ritchie could examine Sandy. 

August 2, 2007. New York Presbyterian Hospital
 Dr. Ritchie explained the protocol and accepted Sandy as a patient. She said the best outcome would be to extend her life "maybe a year". I heard the "maybe". Sandy heard the "year". At that point her prognosis was 4 weeks to 4 months, so she grabbed for the year, figuring that, in a year, something else would be available for her as it had happened in the past.
Dr. Ritchie also told us that the greatest danger was from an infection that was already lurking in her body, since the procedure was to destroy the immune system, so that even a minor infection could lead to her death. Sandy thought that it was a risk that she had to take. She had come through so much for so long, she believed she would come through this. So did I. So did we all.
Both above pictures are the last I took of Sandy. They were taken by a cellphone camera. She was upbeat and looking forward to the end of treatments in 5 days and to going home in 2 weeks. At this point, we did not know that the treatments had not worked as well as the doctors expected. The next day, we were told that she would have to stay for an additional 3 weeks for another round of treatments. She was disappointed, but determined to do it. She told me that she would fight as long as she had something to fight with.