* Adventures in Mexico at Hospital Santa Monica

Here is a journal of events of our trip to Mexico and Hospital Santa Monica (written 02/27/2006 - 03/19/2006):

Hi All,
Soooo, we made it to San Diego with NO problems. United Airlines was wonderful and efficient. From the time we were dropped off at the terminal to the time it took to get thru security and seated at the gate was less than 30 minutes.
The flight was uneventful except for a little turbulence and the driver for Hospital Santa Monica was right where he said he’d be in the baggage pickup area. We got checked in at the US clinic and got settled for the night.
Tomorrow we will go to the clinic for a physical exam, preliminary tests, and to start the regimen of treatments.
So, our adventure has started…..
More news to follow…
Emily

Hi All,
Sorry for the delay in updates. I thought I was going to have wireless access with no problems but it has been very intermittent and a weak signal – down to nothing now. I have my cell phone as a dialup backup but it is excruciatingly slow, eating up LOTS of minutes just to get a few email downloaded.
With that said, Mom and I are doing great. Mom has had several types of daily treatments with more to be added on. She feels fine – not better or worse – but several people commented on her rosy cheeks today. Her appetite has been great – eating as much and sometimes more than me.
More to follow as often as internet access will allow.
Emily

Hi All,
I will start out by apologizing again for the lack of updates. I have decided to not let the slow to non-existent internet connection frustrate me. There is really nothing new to report yet anyway. The days have settled down to a constant, busy routine. I thought I was going to have a lot of time on my hands (and be bored). I am so busy making sure that Mom gets from one treatment to the other, and talking to other patients and their companions that I hardly have time to read, not to mention getting on the computer, so the internet connection is kind of a moot point.
Mom gets six types of treatment on a daily basis and one treatment three days a week. Below are the names of the treatments. I will give more details to those who are interested once I get home.

Chelation Infusions
Water Massage
Spinalator
Mag Ray
Hyper Thermia
Far Infra Red
Insulin Potentiation Therapy (IPT)
Daily Doctor’s consultation

Today Mom got blood drawn for lab work. Tomorrow the doctor will go over the results, compare it to her baseline, and discuss whether he thinks it would be beneficial for her to stay another week. We will also be talking to another doctor tomorrow or Thursday about what her home protocol should be. I will send out another update to let you know what our plans are.
More later…
Emily

Hi All,
Some of you have not been receiving all of the updates so this is to let you know that due to the positive results we’ve seen, we decided to stay a third week to take advantage of more treatments since we’re already down here.
It’s Sunday evening and Mom and I just enjoyed our one day off for the week. We had a wonderful late breakfast at the restaurant next to the hotel and then I headed off to the Lavamatica to do our laundry. I then went shopping at a close by grocery store to pick up some snacks and misc. items that we’d need for an additional week. The big dietary limitation that mom has is NO SUGAR. We’ve learned that cancer absolutely thrives on sugar so you need to do your best to try and starve it. Well, we both have had sugar withdrawals and cravings. I was able to find a sugar free (sin azucar) neapolitan ice cream today. Well, you guessed it, we do have a refrigerator but no freezer, SOooo, we HAD to eat the whole thing quickly so it didn’t melt. We giggled throughout the whole affair.
That brings me to one of the major positive results that we’ve noticed: Mom’s appetite has increased ten fold!!! She has been eating as much and sometimes more than me. Another small improvement is that when we first got here, when we would walk the short distance to the clinic (across the street and up about three buildings) I would be carrying Mom’s portable oxygen generator and she would have to stop two, sometimes three times to catch her breath. The last few days she has been carrying her own oxygen and usually has only stopped once she got to the base of the stairs at the clinic. What I have been calling a “small” improvement the doctors are calling huge because it demonstrates that her body is reacting very positively to the treatments. The severe coughing spasms that mom was having on a regular basis are gone. She has not had one since the first couple of days we were here. She coughs very little now and when she does it is usually productive, getting rid of flem that has been broken up by the therapies.
We continue to be greatly encouraged by the treatments and the results, and we fully expect the improvements to continue well after we come home.
More later.
Emily

Hi All,
One more day of treatments and we’re on our way home!!!!
Mom and I are both glad we stayed another week, but boy are we ready to be HOME.
Mom continues to show “small” signs of improvement and it should continue as she takes her home protocol. There’s only one item that she takes that is VERY unpleasant in taste but she will only take that for another couple of months, tapering off in the amount the second month. For the most part the rest is just taking a bunch of capsules three times a day that she takes by the handfuls. It has been quite an educational experience for both of us being down here and we will try to apply what we’ve learned when we get home. In about a month Mom needs to get another PET scan that will show the true results of the treatments. In the mean time we will take the “small” signs to reflect “big” positive changes.
We’re looking forward to seeing (or talking to) all of you in a few days.
Emily

Hi All,
Just a quick note to let you know that Mom and I made it home safe and sound. We had a few little glitches getting home that caused some delays but no serious problems. Colorado’s March weather held off just long enough for me to get Mom home and settled and for me to get back home myself (almost – Palmer Divide had started accumulating a little snow by the time I drove up the driveway).
More to follow – after I’ve had some sleep….
Emily