Paypal Express Checkout Recurring Payments Custom Start Date

Question

I am using Paypal Express Checkout to set up a recurring payment. The issue that i am being blocked on is that i cant figure out how to pass the start date from my site all the way through to the CreateRecurringPaymentsProfile function. $_SESSION isn't working so i looked at the API and there is a field you can set in SetExpressCheckout called PAYMENTREQUEST_n_CUSTOM, however its only for transcations including direct payment and not recurring. Can anyone help me with this?

function CallShortcutExpressCheckout( $paymentAmount, $currencyCodeType, $paymentType, $returnURL, $cancelURL, $paymentStartdate) 
{

    $nvpstr="&AMT=". $paymentAmount;
    $nvpstr .= "&PAYMENTACTION=" . $paymentType;
    $nvpstr .= "&BILLINGAGREEMENTDESCRIPTION=".urlencode("Denise Austin 360 Weekly Payments");
    $nvpstr .= "&BILLINGTYPE=RecurringPayments";
    $nvpstr .= "&RETURNURL=" . $returnURL;
    $nvpstr .= "&CANCELURL=" . $cancelURL;
    $nvpstr .= "&CURRENCYCODE=" . $currencyCodeType;
            $nvpstr .= "&PROFILESTARTDATE=" . urlencode($paymentStartdate);
            $nvpstr .= "&PAYMENTREQUEST_0_NOTETEXT=". urlencode($paymentStartdate);


    $_SESSION["currencyCodeType"] = $currencyCodeType;    
    $_SESSION["PaymentType"] = $paymentType;
            $_SESSION["startdate"] = $paymentStartdate;

    $resArray=hash_call("SetExpressCheckout", $nvpstr);
    $ack = strtoupper($resArray["ACK"]);
    if($ack=="SUCCESS" || $ack=="SUCCESSWITHWARNING")
    {
        $token = urldecode($resArray["TOKEN"]);
        $_SESSION['TOKEN']=$token;
    }

    return $resArray;
}

As you can see i am trying to pass the startdate in the field PAYMENTREQUEST_0_NOTETEXT but when i get into the order confirmation part and i call $GetExpressCheckoutDetails($token), all that is returned is:

Array ( [TOKEN] => EC-6JB06756S20069824 [BILLINGAGREEMENTACCEPTEDSTATUS] => 1 [CHECKOUTSTATUS] => PaymentActionNotInitiated [TIMESTAMP] => 2014-11-22T23:58:03Z [CORRELATIONID] => cfd8d79420c2f [ACK] => Success [VERSION] => 84 [BUILD] => 13630372 [EMAIL] => xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx [PAYERID] => xxxxxxxxxxxxxx [PAYERSTATUS] => verified [FIRSTNAME] => Test [LASTNAME] => Buyer [COUNTRYCODE] => US [SHIPTONAME] => Test Buyer [SHIPTOSTREET] => xxxxxxxx [SHIPTOCITY] => xxxxxxxx [SHIPTOSTATE] => CA [SHIPTOZIP] => xxxxxxx [SHIPTOCOUNTRYCODE] => US [SHIPTOCOUNTRYNAME] => United States [ADDRESSSTATUS] => Confirmed [CURRENCYCODE] => USD [AMT] => 14.99 [SHIPPINGAMT] => 0.00 [HANDLINGAMT] => 0.00 [TAXAMT] => 0.00 [INSURANCEAMT] => 0.00 [SHIPDISCAMT] => 0.00 [PAYMENTREQUEST_0_CURRENCYCODE] => USD [PAYMENTREQUEST_0_AMT] => 14.99 [PAYMENTREQUEST_0_SHIPPINGAMT] => 0.00 [PAYMENTREQUEST_0_HANDLINGAMT] => 0.00 [PAYMENTREQUEST_0_TAXAMT] => 0.00 [PAYMENTREQUEST_0_INSURANCEAMT] => 0.00 [PAYMENTREQUEST_0_SHIPDISCAMT] => 0.00 [PAYMENTREQUEST_0_INSURANCEOPTIONOFFERED] => false [PAYMENTREQUEST_0_SHIPTONAME] => Test Buyer [PAYMENTREQUEST_0_SHIPTOSTREET] => xxxxxxxxxx [PAYMENTREQUEST_0_SHIPTOCITY] => xxxxxxxxxx [PAYMENTREQUEST_0_SHIPTOSTATE] => CA [PAYMENTREQUEST_0_SHIPTOZIP] => xxxxxxxxx [PAYMENTREQUEST_0_SHIPTOCOUNTRYCODE] => US [PAYMENTREQUEST_0_SHIPTOCOUNTRYNAME] => United States [PAYMENTREQUEST_0_ADDRESSSTATUS] => Confirmed [PAYMENTREQUESTINFO_0_ERRORCODE] => 0 )