The Adventure Day

Today's adventure began when we found out that our doctor went on vacation for the remainder of January, without telling us or redirecting John's medical care. Nice. After I calmed down, we were able to work out new care. Our new doctor (and at this point I'd have to say "improved" as well) is Dr. Vasquez. He's quite nice and very willing to answer all my questions. I was warming up to Dr. Henriquez, but now I'm not too fond of him. Maybe someday...
So, Dr. Vasquez was quite able to pick up where we left off. I updated him on treatment so far, shared John's medical records with him and then asked him the very same questions I posed to Dr. Henriquez to make sure the course of treatment would still be the same. The treatment will continue as planned, thank God. Today is also Monday, which means Blood Work Day (from now on referred to as "BWD"). John had his pinky finger pricked (he howled a little more than the IV placement, but then again your fingertips have more nerves than your forearm). The doctor brought up a blood smear and a blood spot on the computer so we were able to look at the cells in HD. Pretty cool. Pictures are below: The top left one shows his blood cells stacked together like coins. That's not cool. The more stacked they are, the less oxygen can get into the cell and the less they do their job. Usually when cells are stacked like that, it indicates an enzyme imbalance. People with stacked cells are usually sick (the more stacked, the more stacked), tired, easily cranky and have low concentration. This would surely be John (and a million other people, but that's their problem). There's another photo we looked at that looks like a planet or some photo from space. Or, as John noticed, a close-up of a hamburger (I think he misses cheeseburgers). The problem with John's "hamburger" is it has pieces floating off of it. This shows a vitamin deficiency. With the way these pieces are clumped it indicates a deficiency in Vitamin C and magnesium. Interestingly, here is where the doctor paused and asked, "What is John's problem? He does not have cancer, so what is it again?" Well, chronic constipation can lead to deficiencies in vitamin c, magnesium, calcium...all kinds of things. If poop is stuck in the intestines, pushing on the walls and just sitting there, the intestines can't do their job. Their job is to absorb remaining nutrients as they move through to the toilet. In other words, all the Vitamin C tablets and powders, all the magnesium supplements and calcium supplements we've spent 100's and 100's of dollars on through the years has just been pooped out (in the rare times that happened). Great. Well, now we know. Now we know we need to get his gut healed, remove the inflammation and power it up with enzymes, vitamins and minerals. Oh, yeah! That's called the Alivazatos treatment!! Silly me. For those of you researching this treatment and these ideas, the blood test is called the Augusti test, named for the French researcher who came up with the markers. We've also set a date for the live cell treatments - this Friday. John will get 5-7 shots for one week starting Friday. But, shhhh...he doesn't know that yet. All in good time, Young Jedi.
Also for those medical people who are keeping tabs and who've asked, here are his blood levels otherwise:
HB: 13.7 (range 14-18) \ only slightly low...no big deal, really
HCT: 41.4 (range 42-52) /
platelets: 102 (150-350)
Hepatic Index: 5.1 (greater than 10)
Immunologic Index: 4 (less than 0) - yes, that says FOUR
Immunity Coefficient: 14.2 (-10...10)


Okay, enough medical talk. For fun, we went to Aviendo Revolucianes. "Revolutionary Boulevard." It's an open-air market. Full of Mexican people who want you to buy their stuff. "Pretty lady, pretty lady, I have something for you. Only for you!" (Yeah, right.) or, "Come here lovely boy. You can buy my things."(Leave my kid alone.) "Boy! Boy! I have fun things. Come to my store to buy." It was incessant and annoying. It really took away from fun shopping. But, we did get some GREAT deals. We had fun wheeling and dealing with the people, I had fun working on my Spanish. When the vendors found out I speak semi-fluent Spanish (a lot better than most of the touristas here), they weren't happy. I feel I got better deals that way. But I have to say it was hard to do that. They seem so poor (some people say it's all an act to get more money but I don't know) and I felt bad trying to talk them down in price. I mean really - $3 for a sterling silver bracelet? In America it would be 10 times that, do I really talk them down? The driver who brought us to the market told us he makes $150 American dollars/week!! That's nuts! But, then again the exchange rate is currently at 13:1 (13 pesos equals one American dollar). Our money goes far here. Ugh, I'm getting into politics and I don't want to go there. All done for today!


P.S. Did you know if you click on the thumbnail photo, you can make it larger and see more detail? Well, now you know!