Mom's Turn on Day 2

This is the the view from the treatment patio. Unlike conventional (allopathic) medicine, one of the aspects of treatment is the well-being and frame of mind of the patient. Here, they make the patient as comfortable as possible. I'm not taking paper gown vs. cloth gown comfortable. I'm talking, what do you want to watch in TV, what chair/floor/couch/bed would you like to sit/lay/stand, are you hungry/thirsty, would you like someone to rub your feet while you get treatment, would you like your blankie/teddy bear/book? That kind of comfortable. If you want treatment outside on the beautiful, sun-drenched deck over-looking the hills of Tijuana - you got it. Es no problemo.
John recieved his IV and treatments like a champ again today. They're not painful - they are just so concentrated and intense, they make his face flush. He gets all red-faced and his ears get hot. Yesterday he got splotches on his arms, but nothing today. That's a good thing! Everyone sits around in the big, comfy chairs talking about treatment, back home or what's on TV. After the Alivazato's treatment (the concentrated infusion of minerals and vitamins), he went into the hyperbaric chamber. That was new today. He was so psyched to go in! He called it a spaceship and said he planned to travel to the moon. Well, he traveled to wherever the song on my iPod took him, anyway! After two treatments, he was pretty tired, so he went back to the room to lay down where's he been almost all day. This is pretty typical at first - very tired, headache, feverish...It'll go away in a day or two. While he was resting, I left him to go for a walk to the grocery store about 3 blocks up with some of the other patients and their families (imagine being end-stage cancer and being able to walk three blocks to the grocery store! Only here!). Good thing we went then, because about a half hour later, there was huge shoot-out up there between drug lords and cops! Holy Hannah! No kidding either. And I'm probably absolutely freaking out my parents right now, but it's true. They closed the street, had cops everywhere and helicopters flying overhead. We never heard gunshots til later, but we were asked to stay on the clinic grounds (again, es no problemo!). It's finally quiet five hours later but I'm a little nervous to sleep tonight. I asked our security guard (armed) if things were okay, he said no, stay in. He would make sure everything was alright. There are only two ways in here (other than over the walls, but then whoever'd have to fight two very large Doberman's to get through the yard to our walls) and the security guard has them covered. We've all discussed the situation at length (all the patients) and we've all decided we feel mostly safe, but we agree that it's extremely weird to be so close to danger. The Amish couple keep calling the gunfire "fireworks." They're having a hard time believing it's guns. So, we are in the for the night. No nighttime get-togethers this evening.

The upside is I'm really improving my Espanol. It's amazing how easy it's come back. However, when I find myself searching for a word, I end up signing it. As if that's gonna help! I also cannot get over how cheap everything is here - grocery store only cost me $7 (American) to buy some pop, 2 bags of chips, pudding, salad-fixings, dish soap and apples. Rock on!

Oh! Gotta run! The neighbors came over to play cards. Yea!