Hope4Cancer Tijuana, Mexico- Week 1

Yesterday marks one week since we flew to San Diego and traveled across the border to the clinic in Mexico.  We had a little bit of a rough start, but things seem to be going smoothly now!  Benjamin had numerous tests run over the first two days and by the first full day in the clinic started on all of his treatments.  Because he had a grand mal seizure after a heat treatment that day, we have adjusted the treatments he is doing, but he continues on everything else!

I thought I would share a little about what each day looks like and the things that he is involved in doing here!  For the most part this is what our day looks like:

7am- We get up and head downstairs for him to drink his lemon water, golden milk (turmeric milk) and hibiscus juice.

8am- We head off to breakfast.  The meals are incredible here.  Breakfast usually consists of some type of eggs and vegetables as well as porridge or oatmeal with fruit mixed in.

After breakfast he does his PEMF treatment- this is a pulsed electro magnetic treatment that he does 3 times for 3 minutes at a time.  He holds a paddle to his forehead over the tumor and short pulses go through him.

9am- He goes into the hyperbaric oxygen chamber for 50-60min.  He typically naps during this treatment and his only complaint is that his ears pop as it starts.  I sit outside the room during this one since he is sealed into a capsule and I check every few minutes to make sure all is well.  Sometimes the nurse will sit at his feet so that she can tell if there is any movement so that I can run and get a shower for a few minutes!

10am- We stop by the juice bar for his first juice of the day.  Then we typically head back to our room and our nurse will hook him up for one of his two daily IVs.  He gets PolyMVA (1 hour) daily, and alternates between Vitamin C (3 hour) and B-17 (1 hour).  He will either nap or watch television for a bit while laying on the bed.  Around 11am I will run downstairs and get his morning protein shake/smoothie for him.  Twice a week he also does UVBI (involves taking blood and adding oxygen to it before putting it back).

1pm- Lunch! We are usually both hungry by the time meals roll around so we get there right when the dining hall opens.  Lunch and dinner typically start with a soup and a salad.  At lunch, they often serve fish as well as some other veggies and rice or quinoa. 

2pm- After lunch Ben will head to the sauna for about a half an hour.  We are hoping that he will be able to start alternating this with whole body hyperthermia at some point again as long as he continues doing well.

3pm- His second round of juice of the day from the juice bar and then he starts his second IV of the day and frequently takes a nap in our room while he is getting it.

4pm- I run down and grab his smoothie/shake from the juice bar.  If we have a few minutes we may walk a couple of blocks to get out in the sunshine before dinner.

5:30- Dinner.  This is another meal with lots of fruits and veggies, no meat, and usually no fish at this time either.  We both typically ask for more of whatever we liked during this meal to help us last the night since there is no snacking!

6:30pm- After dinner Ben does his coffee enema.  We schedule this right before his evening dose of pills to make sure that his detoxing doesn't knock them out of his system. 

Twice a week at 7pm there is a prayer/worship service that we have enjoyed going to!

8pm- We typically are back in our room for him to take his evening pills and head to bed... he is enjoying catching up on Netflix, but we are both ready for sleep by 9pm. 

Mixed in throughout the day are doctors appointments.  Typically his doctor will find him wherever he is and check in for a few minutes once or twice a day.  He has several 1-2 hour sessions with a doctor trained in recall therapy as well who is helping him trace his family history and events from his past that may have helped contribute to his current health.  This is fascinating to me and I have learned so much from it!  In addition, he will be having a consultation with a biological dentist.  Root canals, gum disease and many other dental related items can contribute to sickness and illness so we are excited to learn what they have to say.

He will continue with these treatments and a few others over the next weeks until about 3-4 days before we leave for home.  At that point he will be receiving Rigvir.  He will still receive his IVs during the three days he receives rigvir but he wont be doing the intensive detox.  We are hoping that we will have a little extra time those days to get out and see a little bit of Tijuana. 

Here is a view of the beach... we can cross the street in front of the clinic to take a few steps down to the boardwalk.  We have done that twice and have enjoyed the fresh air!

We have been blessed by the amazing staff, doctors, and the other patients here.  The clinic is nothing beautiful, but the people have been wonderful and we are enjoying getting to know people from all over the world.  I wish I could say my Spanish is improving, but alas... it is not!

Where are we going from here?

The last few weeks have had some ups and downs.  After a series of seizures a couple of weeks ago, the doctors doubled the daily steroids he was on in order to try to control the swelling in his brain (that was evident after the last MRIs).  Shortly afterwards, Benjamin started having trouble with balance and walking.  His vision was affected and when we went to church three weeks ago he was not even able to get out of the car without help.  We found out his seizure drugs were at toxic levels in his system so they upped one medication and took him off the other for a weekend to make his levels drop.  We added the meds back in slowly the following week which encouraged a couple more seizures to get thrown into the mix.  I am happy to report that Ben has not had any seizures since last Sunday!  Not even the focal (partial) seizures.  Praise God!  He is on a little lower dose of one medication then before and it seems to be working for him!

The medications that he is on through the Texas clinic continue to be holding tumor growth at bay and his last MRI said that there may be slight decrease in size as well.  The doctor recommended Benjamin get a PET scan to see if the tumor is still active and if it is not, to continue on the current treatment for the next eight months.  We have been trying to schedule a PET Scan and also, praying about whether this is the best choice for continued treatment as it becomes increasingly harder for us to come up with the money to pay for each month’s treatment.

In February we also found out that our doctor in Texas would be going in front of the Texas Medical Board on a list of charges.  The clinic was unsure whether they would be able to remain open after the trial the first week of March.  Because we could not afford to pay for medication in advance, we were unsure of whether we would be able to continue on the treatment plan that we have established there.  We started looking at a few other options and came upon the Hope 4 Cancer clinic in Mexico.  We prayed about whether to go there and started talking to the admissions staff to see if it was the right fit for us. Ben and I both (and his mom who helps us with decision making these days) felt that a diet and lifestyle overhaul would be a good choice for us at this point.  When we realized the seizure meds he was on were pushing him to a toxic level, it helped us to realize that a few weeks of detox would help him to start fresh with treatment and hopefully help produce more of the results we are praying for.  The fees for the treatment at the clinic in Mexico include a year of treatment and two follow up visits after this initial trip.  If this proves to be enough treatment for Benjamin long-term, it will relieve a lot of the financial burden we are currently under (which is what Benjamin is most concerned about at this point).  If the treatment does not prove to be enough on its own, it will work well in conjunction with the treatment that we are currently on through the Texas clinic and we will go from there.

The clinic would have been able to fit us in earlier this month, but Benjamin and I both felt taking a few extra days to pray about it (and get passports) was the right way to go at that point.  The more we discussed and prayed about it, the more we felt that that was the path we needed to head down next.  That said, Benjamin and I leave next Wednesday for three weeks at the clinic in Mexico.  My mom will be coming to stay with our children while we are gone and we are praying that that will be uneventful. Please pray for me as well… I have never left the children for this long and while I know they will be in good hands, I am struggling with the decision to leave them for so long.  I will miss them so much!  I am so grateful that my mom will be coming to stay with them and provide the stability that they need while we are away.

Our praises:

*The clinic in Texas won at trial and will remain open should we have the finances to continue treatment there.
*Benjamin has been in much better spirits the past two weeks and has been able to spend quality time with the kids and I.  He is sleeping less and feeling better.

Our prayer requests:

*That Benjamin will fare well on the new treatment.  That the doctors will know the best course of action for his future treatment and that he will be miraculously healed.
*That our travel to Tijuana will be smooth and uneventful.  
*That our house in Tennessee will finally sell and free up some funds for us to use to pay for continued treatment.
*That our children (and I) will handle the separation well and that we will be able to make up for lost time when we return.  I miss them already.
*For Benjamin to find something meaningful to fill his days. He doesn’t admit it often, but he is lonely and often goes days without seeing or talking to anyone other than the kids and I.  Any stay at home mom knows that is a hard place to be ;-)