First Week Done

On Saturday afternoon, we took the clinic van back across the border for a visit to John's cousin, Jacob, in San Diego. Waiting at the border was an experience! It took us 2 hours and 2 minutes to get across. It's nothing coming in to Mexico but getting into the US is insane. There are two choices: walk across or drive. We drove since it was raining and it was a Saturday early afternoon, so the walking line was over a mile long. In the rain? No thanks. It was definitely quicker than driving, but a lot wetter. So, we sat in the clinic van with two ladies from New York. One of the women was a patient at the clinic. She had Stage 4 lung cancer. She spent 28 days in the clinic and left with no signs (blood work and PET scan) of it. Amazing. She's 78 years old and is a retired Broadway actress. She's fascinating to listen to so sitting in the van for 2 hours was actually pretty interesting.
We finally got across, met Jacob and his mom, Lisa, downtown and went to their house for the night. It was so great to see John being a kid again. He was running around, jumping on the trampoline, going boulder climbing at the park, bike riding, chasing the dog and playing video games. Finally some normalcy. We had "real food" (not the vegetarian diet they have us on). I cheated and made some chocolate chip cookies (sh....that's between you and me!), ate some (okay, a lot of) dough. YUM! We got some laundry done, too. Thank you Lisa and Rob! For me, I got back to training a little - swam 1500 yds and did a 10 mile run. It was a great run - all the training is finally paying off. When I stop to think about it, it's very fun to be running in January wearing shorts and a t-shirt - outside!
On our way back to Mexico today John and I talked about how we've been here a week now. We felt very different coming across the border to the clinic this time. Last week, we were both nervous, worried and frankly, a little scared. We didn't know what to expect. Last week, after we arrived at the clinic and Sergio was giving us a quick tour, I fought back tears - a lot of concerns, fears, worries, questions...it was all so overwhelming. This time, we were coming home. We're the "seniors" of the clinic. Most of the patients we met last week were in they're last week and have since left. It's just us and one other family left now, plus two people down in the hospital. We had no qualms, no worries, nothing. Our biggest dread was lettuce juice and more avocado. I'm not sure I'll ever want either for the rest of my life once we leave here.
So, here we are. Ready to tackle Week Two. Highlights of the week include lab work tomorrow morning, hypberbaric chamber for John and one more try at acupuncture for me (gulp!). We're looking forward to a trip to La Jolla for the weekend to visit a Global Hero friend, Kristine. It's supposed to be in the 70's here this week, all sun. Sorry!! Not really...