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Beloved Family & Friends ~
Monday was a Mexican holiday so we found out Tuesday that the pain specialist who was supposed to administer the cortisone-anesthesia for the pain in David’s neck was away at a convention, along with all the other pain specialists in Mexico, and the soonest available appointment would be next Monday unless we wanted to drive to San Diego and get the procedure done by someone else. I got mad and wanted to control the world, David handled it really well. The appointment is scheduled for this coming Monday at 1:00pm with the pain specialist in Tijuana. David is taking more pain drips now, which is good and bad. Good because he feels less pain and can sleep more, bad because it diminishes his appetite and causes a lot of grogginess.
Today was chemo day. We got up and ready to be shuttled to the clinic, but, gratefully, Dr. Mancilla brought the treatment here to the apt./hotel room (being upright for any length of time sends David’s neck pain level sky high, imagine a bumpy shuttle ride in the potholed streets of Tijuana, ouch). David handled the chemo so well, with just a little nausea and minor vomiting only after a pain drip later this evening. One of the many treatments David is getting is called Insulin Low-Dose Chemotherapy (Insulin Potentiation Therapy or IPT). Oversimplified, this type of treatment starves the cancer cells of glucose (which they live on) through fasting and then raising the insulin through iv drip, then administering the chemo when the cancerous (apoptotic) cells are vulnerable. This means that a far smaller quantity of chemotherapeutic drugs are needed to achieve death of cancer cells. This also means there is less toxicity to normal cells and fewer side effects.
Dr. Sanchez drew blood yesterday and it looked like the color of Xango juice to me!
There may be the possibility of stinting the liver, which would be done by laparoscopy or endoscopy. If that can be held off, then the doctors can proceed with the liver surgery without having to put a stint in the liver. The liver surgery is estimated to cost between $14,000 to $25,000. At this point it’s a waiting game to see if the chemo is effectively reducing the size of the tumors. We find that out with the next round of cat scans in a couple weeks. We will also know more about the status of the liver when the blood work lab results come back.
Then there’s the other treatments: the vaccine shots, the bone building drip to help the bones at the top of the spine and base of the skull, the detox drip, the immune building drip, the vitamin drips, the anti-inflammatory drip, the anti-oxidant drip... Honestly it’s rather constant and David is doing great, all things considered.
Infinite gratitude to all of you, it is indescribable to read the emails and hear the phone messages of all the people David has touched and who love him and support him so very much.
Keep sending the prayers and healing energies and good vibes. It all helps!
Infinite Love & Gratitude
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