Day ??: Friday, Jan 2

The days are blending into each other. The first day here, someone said the days would start melding and I mentally promised myself that wouldn't happen to us. Well, so much for that promise. It all seems the same...get up, get treatment, eat, run, hang around, walk, nap, watch tv, eat, play cards, sleep, wake up and start over again. I wasn't expecting a vacation, but not this either. Not sure what I was expecting. But, I do have to say I'm very, very glad we're not stuck down in the hospital like Joe and Ava - no windows, very bleak and bland. At least we CAN go for a walk. The people downstairs are tethered to their treatment bags for hours and hours a day (sometimes 12 hours). They are very, very sick and they need it. John, fortunately, is not like that. So I'll quit my whining and be thankful we have a routine that includes the outdoors in some fashion (even if it is behind four stucco walls).
I have to also apologize to you if this post is either rambling, unorganized or otherwise not up to par - I feel like crap. Have been getting a nasty-a** cold for the last few days and today is really bad. Woke up throwing up this morning. What a great way to greet the day. Maybe it's just empathy-flu for John. He's the one who's supposed to be "flu-ish."
John took his treatment today like a champ. Our hero, Elias, was back from his day off, thank God. He placed that IV line like the pro he is - again, John didn't even have time to grab my hand. What a winner! John, I mean. His treatment lasted a little over an hour and today only his ears turned bright red. His body is becoming used to the infusion of minerals, vits and amino acids, which is great news. We have another blood test on Monday. His labs (we finally got the results back) showed too high inflammatory responses. They want to see a 2.5 or lower (I forget what the 2.5 represents - I have it if any of you detail-oriented people need to know). His is at 4. A reading of 5.0 indicates cancer. In other words, his body is working hard to regulate something that's inflammed. In his case, it's most likely his gut. Inflammation of the gut can come from numerous places: immunizations (which we stopped when he was 3 months old due to a reaction), environmental (toxins, food, etc.), stress, medications (which I guess falls under "toxins" but let's not go there) or something I took when I was pregnant with him (see, we're a walking billboard for no coke during pregnancy! Kidding - the worst thing I did was a can of Pepsi every so often and chocolate. Things could've been a lot worse!). There are a million of things that could be causing his problems, but this is not the forum for my soap box lecture on the dangers of medications and immunizations for perfectly healthy little babies and children. Anyway, back to my original story of his labs (my how easy it is to get off-subject...). We will be watching them weekly. We hope his numbers lower each week. I have to say, though, I'm pretty darn impressed with how it's going so far. He as pooped more in the last six days than he has in the last month, all together. He goes three or four times a day. It's awesome! Today, while in the Gas Lamp District, he had to go. (Side note, if you do not know that I have a little "Mama Bear Temper" in me when it comes to my kids, here's your first warning.) We ran into the Giradellhi Chocolate store (I swear, it was the nearest place and, yes, convenient that I wanted to buy some candy). There was a short line for the bathroom and we waited the best we could. When the people came out and the next were to go in, I asked if we could please budge seeing as how my son (pointed to John) had a small medical condition and REALLY needed to use the bathroom. They completely ignored me and proceeded into the bathroom. As the one woman shut the door, she gave me a little smirk. I banged on the closed door and yelled "You Bitch!" I think I startled a few people. Yeah, wasn't too happy with her decision. But, then again, Toto, we aren't in Kansas anymore and I gotta protect the needs of my kid. We beelined for the next viable bathroom. He made it and all was good in PoopLand. But, man, what a wench for the smirk and inhumanity! What comes around, goes around and I hope I'm there when that woman craps her pants one day. Mama Bear has now gone back into her lair.
We decided to go into San Diego to the International Car Show today. We took the van to the border, then got on the train in San Ysidro and took it up to Petco Park in San Diego. We roamed around the car show for a few hours, then went for a walk up Gas Lamp District (super cool!! - wish I had a bunch of girlfriends along for some major shopping!), ate at the Hard Rock Cafe (shhh....that's just between you and me. It's huge against the Alivazatos Diet!), then came home (boy, the word "home" just flew out of my fingers; guess we're comfortable here) again. John did a great job picking out some food, trying to follow Alivazatos - he chose grilled chicken, lettuce and french fries (ok, fries not so good, but I stole most of them. If I have to gain some weight in order to help my son, well, then I'll take one for the ol' Gipper). He also had a bite of my cheeseburger. You CANNOT believe how good a cheeseburger tastes after six days of various juices (lettuce, watermelon, barley and papaya), veggie pizza and cabbage soup! Lord have mercy!
I'll post some pics in the next post. Just know the black Jaguar, XJ retails at $105,000. Being a teacher and the wife of a tampon salesman, that car will have to stay in the book marked "Foolish Dreams." There's also a pic of John in his dream Mini-Cooper. Children are so realistic sometimes.