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!

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...

The Border back into Mexio

The traffic at the top of the photo is going INTO the US. The traffic at the bottom is going to Mexico.
John walking across the border. Super easy to get into Mexico. Not so much on the other side.

Pictures of Fancy Cars and Friends who Left

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.

Pictures of the Place

front of clinic - apartments are connected, directly to the right
street view of the apartments
hallway to our apt - ours is last one on the right
our front door
Dining room

New Year's Day

Last night was wild! Wild AND crazy! Holy cow! You would NOT believe how we celebrated the new year last night. Okay, first we had dinner - baked chicken, salad, and tiaramasu (or however you spell it). I know - crazy! Over the top. Then, we back to our room for about a half hour. The neighbors knocked at our door and asked us to go play cards down in the hospital with the patients who are too sick to come upstairs. Wowza! How could we refuse?! Fun AND charity. Can't beat it. So, we down to play three rounds of BlackJack. The excitement was beyond belief...people were out of control. When we were done with cards we came back to our apartment to watch a movie. Okay, cover ears and eyes here...we watched "Shrek." Yep, living the high life!! When it was over at 10, we went to bed. Can you believe our wildness? Who knew it could get so crazy in Tijuana?!
At midnight, however, the noise from all the fireworks woke me up so I went out to check it out. It was pretty cool (no sarcasm here). The sky was lit up with constant color...it didn't stop til after 1 a.m. Pretty neat. Although I didn't hear any gunfire (in all the commotion, I'm not sure I could pick it out vs. fireworks going off), the neighbor (a Vietnam vet) said he heard a few shots. I trust his ears with that kind of stuff. He lived with it for four years.
After we slept in (have to recover after such a wild night), we got up to get treatment. The clinic is closed today so we had to go to downstairs to the hospital (I'm going to post pictures in a little bit so you can get a better idea). We haven't been here, so the nurses don't know us or what John "prefers." They started to get him set up. They started injecting the saline solution to clean out the IV and he promptly starting screaming. Nice. There are some seriously sick people down there and he's screaming his fool head off. I tried to hush him and it didn't work. The nurse, who doesn't speak English, stopped pushing the saline. She jiggled the IV around a bit (that went over like a lead balloon) and tried again. Mistake! She was insisting in pushing the saline when I noticed his skin was bubbling. I asked her to stop ("Alto, por favor!"). No response, she pushed, he screamed. "Alto! Por Favor!" No response. Everything escalated a little..."Stop! Now!" and I grabbed her arm. Not a good idea when someone has a needle stuck in the arm of your kid. She wasn't happy with me. I apologized and told her we would skip treatment today. When she investigated further, we found out the IV had gotten itself removed from John's vein and was just laying under his skin. That's why it hurt so much when she injected the saline. Even now, describing it to you, makes me nauseous. Yuck. So, the IV was removed, John dried his tears, grabbed his toys and left. We'll have to have the IV replaced tomorrow (he is NOT looking forward to that), but at least we'll have Elias, the amazingly gentle nurse.
The neighbor guy was really sweet - he brought a hugmongous "Cars" pen over for John to do his homework with. That was really nice.
To answer some of the questions in the "comments:" Yes, you can write us. Please do!! The address is International BioCare Hospital/Clinic, PO Box 431880 San Ysidro, CA 92143-1880. People have been getting letters from the Midwest and it seems to take about four days for mail to get here. Not bad. Amy and Linda - nice job on using a blog for the first time! We really appreciate it. John really, really enjoys reading the comments everyone sends. Please continue. It really makes his day. Thank you for thinking of us in your very busy days.
Up next: Photos of the Place