Day 10: You Got Mail!

After treatment this morning, we were delightfully surprised when Juan delivered some mail and a package for John! Yippee!! A card from Grandma Mary and Grandpa John, an "I love you" picture from Daddy and Andrea and a package full of crayons, coloring paper, mazes and suduko from Aunt Cathy. Hurray!! Thanks to EVERYBODY for thinking of John!!!


Here is a picture of John getting his treatment. The man sitting next to him is his nurse, Elias. What a gentle, caring person. He's really great - everyone around here just loves him. Elias is injecting the Alivazatos serum into John's IV.

Day 9: Boring Again

It's good that it's boring here. That means treatment is going well and we've fallen in to a routine. We'd much rather have that than constant drama each day. Some new people came today - an Amish couple from central Ohio. Their names are Joesph (they all seem to be named that) and Martha. Very young...maybe early 20's. Joesph has cancer. They left three children back home, a 4-year-old, 2-year-old and 1. Martha seemed very sad when she told us about her kids. They'll be here three weeks. The family we've made friends with leaves tomorrow. That puts no one in the apartments except John and I and two patients in the hospital. The nurses say this is the slow time of the year but it should pick up in the next week or two. Ho-hum.
We did have a bit of excitement during dinner, I suppose. Tijuana is a city of 3 million people, most of them poor. There's going to be violence in a city of that many people. Just think of what happens on the North side of La Crosse once in a blue moon. The government has never had much control over the drug cartel (which has most of the power here) until now. They have a new president [just heard gun fire] and he's cracking down on the cartel. Cartel are acting like spoiled children and rebelling big time. Tonight, during our dinner, about a mile down the road, the cartel raided a restaurant, starting shooting up the place and kidnapped a patron. This went on unknown to us...so as we're all sitting in the dining room (see photo from earlier post), there are suddenly 5, 6, 7 cop trucks screaming up and down the street in front of the clinic. Their sirens are blaring and they're just tearing up and down the road...squealing tires as they turn the corner. The cops had their guns drawn and they were in the "ready" position. It really scared us all. Everyone stopped eating and wondered if we should hit the ground. None of the night staff at the clinic spoke Spanish. I'm the most "fluent" speaker here and that wasn't getting us far so we really didn't know what was happening. We found out later through one of the English-speaking doctors who came in for rounds. Soon after the cop cars came, the helicopters came out. It was seriously like in a movie. And, like in the movie, we sat there like waiting ducks. But where were we to go? Back to our rooms? Not us, I'm not taking my kid outside. In the kitchen? Not allowed and there was no gun fire, so I doubt they'd let us. The clinic was locked, so we couldn't go there. We just sat there, all together. Figured we had some safety in numbers. Finally the night guard we have at the clinic came in and we asked him what was up. His answer, "No habla englais." Great. He went straight to the kitchen, the cooks, servers and he spoke for a bit. One of the servers came out and told us to just stay here. "Everything is fine." Everything DID turn out fine (obviously since I'm writing you), but it was quite scary. As of writing this, the police have not found the gunmen or the kidnap victim. The news showed shot out cop cars and rows of police lights(that's one thing they don't lack down here are cop cars). The doctor I spoke with about the incident said cartel has been focusing on people who look like they have money: people who drive fancy cars (either citizens or Americans) or dress nicely. Since we're neither, I really do think we're safe. But I think there will be no more walks to the grocery store like earlier today. I'm not willing to take any chances. We'll have to get everything we need on the weekend when we're over the border. No one is clear if just anybody is being targeted on these attacks or if it's just cartel killing cartel. Hopefully that's the case. Not that you want anyone to to die, but if it's gonna happen it might as well be them killing each other. Well, on that note: Good night.

For 5B:
This John. I can't come home early. I have to stay 21 days and Sundays. Thanks for your notes. I like them. They make me laugh. I miss you all, too. Street ball is just a made up game of ball in the street. We didn't play in the street. We played in a patio. We kicked the ball against the wall. The other person tried to kick it back. You had to kick hard to trick the other person. It was fun!

Day 8: Boring

So today was pretty darn boring. We just stuck around the complex. We slept in this morning til 8:15. Woo-hoo! We're getting lazy now. So, we got up, John went to have his treatment, I did my run (out on the treadmill), John played video games, then we had his IV removed. It was bugging him so he chose to have it out. A new one will be placed again tomorrow. Needles are becoming a NBD thing for him now ("no big deal" for you non-texters). Then I took a shower (one can get pretty darn sweaty and stinky running in 70 degree weather), we ate lunch and John made new friends: Jose and Raoul. See, we bought a playground ball at Target this weekend in San Diego. Christmas clearance thing that is totally worth its $3 cost. It's kept him very busy for the last two days. Praise God for small favors. Anyway, the ball got a little flat today, so we were going to go across the street. There's a mechanic across the street and my plan was to borrow his air hose to pump up the ball. The problem was I didn't know how to say "air" in Spanish. There were 2 clinic guys standing outside the clinic having a lunch of coconut slices sprinkled with paprika from the fruit cart guy that always parks outside the clinic during the week (I think that was a run-on sentence...). Anyway, I approached one of the guys (we later found out his name is Jose) and asked, "Como se dice 'air' en espanol?" - How do you say "air" in Spanish? Jose answered, "El airo." Seriously, it was almost too cliche. I tried not the laugh, but a smile did slip. He got it and added, "Really, it is." Okay. I told him my plan and being the helpful Mexican they all seem to be, he went with us to visit el mechanico (again, not kidding) to be our translator. Now, notice how I did not say our "interpreter." It's two different things, something I am painfully aware of as a sign language interpreter, never a translator. Anyway. He helped us out at the mechanics, John got his air and he also ended up getting an hour of play with the big boys. The boys ended up skipping work for an hour and took John to the patio next door to play Street Ball. John had a lot of fun! I sat and read while they played their boy games. While seemingly mundane, it really made our day. If anything, being on "Mexican time" makes you appreciate the really small goings-on like this one. Mexican time means people get to sleep on the job. Can you believe that?! My work contract actually tells me I cannot sleep or I get fired (this kind of irritates me - what idiot fell asleep at work, was caught and fought it? Lowest common denominator, baby.). Over here, anytime you walk into the treatment room, there is at least one person sleeping. Okay, so Dr. Park, the acupuncturist doesn't count. He rents space in the clinic, so he can sleep if he wants. It's his money. But when you see the nurses, office staff or even some of the doctors taking a quick nap (usually an hour) it's another little reminder that we are no longer in Kansas, Toto. I think Americans can learn a little from Mexicans in that regard.

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