Thursday, March 3, 2016

Philippines Details and Catching Up

Okay, I have to put a short disclaimer up here.... I am way too tired to proofread this right now but I want to get it posted so please disregard and overlook anything erroneous. Or, leave a comment and tell me about it so I can fix it. Later.

Well, we have been back from the Philippines, first international trip for both Greg and I (and probably the last for Greg) aside from Canada and Mexico, for a little over a month.

Right before we left on New Year's Eve, our Internet connection went haywire so when we returned in late January we were without Facebook Internet for several weeks. The girls and I made weekly trips to the library to stay connected, but somehow, I inadvertently gave up Facebook for Lent. I didn't really mean to.

One day, as I found myself reading Romans, I realized that if I was still on Facebook, I wouldn't have made time to be in the Word. As I was sitting in our church's Ash Wednesday service the following day (Feb 10), I was moved to jump off the Facebook bandwagon for a time. So no cat & cuke videos or fluffy puppy pictures or incendiary political posts for me until after Easter. I'm remarkably okay with that since I have been doing so many other things that would have definitely gotten pushed aside in my haste to see what updates and dramas I had missed. I never even got a chance to explain what I was doing or to check my birthday messages, but those will wait. That will all keep and I now have made some time to update my blog. It's sure been a while.

First let me just say that God does indeed work in mysterious ways, but also in what seems to me ridiculous ways, ways that are so confusing and obscure and unfathomable so as to make my head spin and my brain hurt.

As I said in my top ten list last post, we spent seven months in Arizona for treatment. We arrived there in November of 2014 and came home this past spring, making a few trips up as needed in the interim. But mostly we were down south, getting tan and getting treatment five days a week for seven months straight. I sat in the treatment room in a big fluffy recliner with some of the smartest, most inspirational folks I've ever met. I spent my days hob-nobbing with some unique and gifted individuals from all walks of life, who I truly believe were placed in my path to further my story and proclaim His glory.

Greg went back and forth every two weeks so he could work, but the girls and I (and the puppy) stayed in the sun and healed, homeschooled, and had a happy time together. We missed Greg when he was gone but somehow the vacation-ness of our adventure (read: swimming in the sun every day) soothed us and helped us soldier on without him. The Chick-Fil-A on the corner may have helped also.

So, one of the people I spent my days chatting with was a very lively, healthy-looking fellow from Northern California. He and his wife had been actively charging through their own cancer journey for several years by the time we met, and he and I spoke the same language of nutrition, treatment, Big Pharma, and crappy insurance. We enjoyed a similar conservative approach to politics and a love of sports and the out-of-doors. He was by trade a nuclear engineer, a researcher at heart, but had been downsized out of his career a few years before we met. His new career since he was not quite old enough to consider retirement, was as a financial advisor. Keep these two job experiences in mind.

When we left Arizona in May, my new friend had already been gone for a week, on to the next treatment idea in San Diego. Once we got home, he and I became buddies on Facebook (it's not all bad!) and within a few months he was telling me about the treatments that he had done - good, bad, and goofy - what worked and what didn't - after leaving the clinic in AZ.

He contacted me one day, nearly demanding that I look in to a treatment in the Philippines. He had just returned and wanted met to go. He even offered to put up money for me to start fundraising to pay for the trip and treatment. Well, THAT sure got my attention. But, what?! Go to a third-world country half way around the world, when I live right here in the good ol' U.S. of A.?! Did that make good sense? Did it make ANY sense?! We had just gotten home from Arizona where we'd incurred quite a bit of debt for a treatment that seemingly only delayed the inevitable. Even though I trusted my friend's testimony about his success, my brain was not thrilled with the thought of a long trip, nor at that time was my body even able to manage a trip of that magnitude, even if we were independently wealthy. Which we weren't. (Nor are we now, fyi.)

Plus, pain. Horrible pain. I ended up in the ER for pain when Greg couldn't get me out of the tub one night. He thought this might be the end for me. I hadn't considered that and surely (if asked) would have said that once the pain was under control, I'd be right back to normal, whatever that is. The pain was bad enough that I would have gladly accepted death at that point.

God had other ideas.

While I was on the morphine drip and admittedly out of it, Greg called my mom to let her know I was in the hospital with "10 out of 10" pain. It was bad. Lots of IV morphine, lots of moaning and crying. My mom immediately flew up here thinking I was dying, even though Greg hadn't said anything about that. She heard something with her nurse-brain and wanted to be here. She got here in late September expecting to say good-bye, but when I picked her up at the airport she was a little astounded. Should people on their deathbeds be driving minivans and doing homeschool and should they be so chipper? So confusing!

So, let me just take a quick sec to explain a few things.... my mom was a nurse for 50 and a half years! She has seen how patients respond to all sorts of medications, treatments, diseases, and they all follow a somewhat predictable pattern. Well, not me. Since I wasn't doing chemo and radiation, but rather taking a more natural approach to cancer, I wasn't doing anything the way I was supposed to be doing it. My body's natural defenses would engage one week. Then the next week, the cancer would get stronger and grow for a time. And my immune system would try to rise to the fight and I'd be feeling great for a while, then not so much, then great again. I wasn't making any sense to my mom, and we had no idea what to tell my poor brother. He wanted to come up, but he didn't want to make the trip if I was incapacitated... he wanted to say good-bye, but didn't really want to waste the money coming if I was fine.... we went back and forth for several weeks, trying to figure out how exactly I was doing. We are still not sure what to tell him or anyone else.

One thing was certain: the cancer was growing and we either needed to give up or find the next best treatment for me. My engineer friend was still pushing the Filipino treatment and we were still hem-hawing about that. In addition to it being just flat-out crazy to consider going, I had actually looked in to it enough to get some of the financial particulars and they were alarming. Not only was it all out-of-pocket and seemingly exorbitant, there was international wiring of funds that seemed super sketchy and rife with red flags. So we were firmly in the NO camp for that idea. But my friend was relentless. Polite and trustworthy, but relentless.

As Greg and I were steadily cooking up excuses for why we'd never go to the Philippines for cancer treatment, we made plans instead to head to LA for treatment, on the advice of yet another godly, intelligent, cancer friend. I needed to send bloodwork results to two different clinics/doctors there and quickly. We made all our plane reservations and arrangements for the girls and my mom, who by this point near Thanksgiving had been with us for nearly two months. The dark and rain were getting to her and we knew that even though she was a huge help, it was high time for her to get back home and dry out. I was antsy to get the blood draw scheduled, but in our small town there are not many options when I don't do pokes in my arms (for fear of lymphedema from node removal) and the technicians have to access my port. Only one nurse at our local hospital could do it so I was frantically calling my doc's office to get the orders sent. I even offered to hand-deliver them so I could get it drawn on one specific day so that the results would beat us to LA. It was tight, but we were going to make it work.

God had other plans.

As usual.

Turns out my blood work came back all wonky and instead of flying to LA, I was immediately admitted to the hospital in Juneau for three separate infections in my blood. I had no symptoms except one ---- when the infusion nurse (she administers chemo to all patients here, very experienced, and super sharp lady - she likely saved my life, possibly more than once) flushed my port with heparin and normal saline after taking blood, I got all shivery and cold... but not until about 20 minutes after I left the hospital. She just happened to call Greg with a question, and he just happened to be at home with me, trying to get me calmed down from the reaction, which was half anxiety attack and half reaction to the flush... it sounded odd to her so she had me come back for more blood, this time from both my port and each foot, to compare and see if the infection was systemic.

Well, it was. Times three! I spent two full weeks in the hospital on IV antibiotics, fighting with insurance, and watching Shark Tank. I had a procedure in my room to remove the port.

One more thing.....about 75% of the staff in our local hospital is Filipino.

What a bizarro coincidence, huh?

I spent all my long days in the hospital waiting for Shark Tank to come on talking to the skilled phlebotomists, kind nurses, and hard-working aides about the medical system in the Philippines. All of them raved about it and said it's quite a bit more advanced than what we have in the US.

Interesting, huh?

So while we were griping about having to pay spendy, unnecessary change fees to the airlines and trying to get our frequent flier miles back, God was working to direct us down a path that we thought was pure insanity.

Well, we did it anyway and I live to tell the tale.

According to my Filipino Doc, the cancer is gone. I believe him. When we got back, I had almost a month of the absence of the insufferable nerve pain that sent me to the ER and made my doc here mention hospice. I had some other pain, but it was tolerable and different from the nerve pain that no meds could touch. It was muscle pain that felt good when I stretched and moved. Where before treatment I was tentative and even scared to move too much lest I snap a bone, I was now excited and happy to be moving. Baby steps, of course, but I had a glimmer of getting back in shape and getting rid of the walker.

Just since this past Friday, my nerve pain is back so that is concerning. I'm in contact with the director and inventor of the Philippine technology so we will certainly stay on top of whatever is happening. He thinks my immune system is overreacting and inflammation is causing the pain. While some measures have helped somewhat, I've been in bed since Friday, not able to support my own weight for longer than about 30 seconds. I did get out briefly on Super Tuesday to NOT vote for Trump, but other than that I've been in bed. Watching Shark Tank.

In two months, I will have several MRIs to see if the American docs agree with the Filipino doc that the cancer is gone. Until then, there may be some additional posts here. There may not be. 

In the mean time, here are some pictures from our international expedition....
Romantic, celebration dinner on our last night on the 34th floor of our hotel.

The food was marginal, the service was pushy, and the cleanliness was missing completely. When you're not really sure if you should stomp on a large, menacing cockroach because the staff doesn't react to it scurrying across the floor right toward them, it's just awkward.

View from the elevators of Cebu City, a thriving metropolitan area of 1.4 million people. We stayed in the room a lot as we were a tad overwhelmed with the crowds. And raw sewage stench.

Cebu is on the coast of one of the middle islands of the country. We were not too far from the ocean and liked to watch the ships and ferries coming and going. We were on the 20th floor. We also got to watch the celebration and parades for the Catholic festival of Santo Nino called Sinulog. Non-stop drums.... seriously one parade lasted for twelve straight hours.

This is where Greg spent a lot of the two weeks. He did get out running errands, like grocery shopping and changing our dollars to pesos. He often was followed by a troop of homeless children because the first day out, he gave then bananas.

This is a frigid, aging spa pool that I went to exercise in several times. While the movement felt good, it was seriously chilly. And I think it gave me a rash.

Taken from a big wall of windows in Honolulu airport, where we had a three-day layover on the way. Well, not right in the airport...... we went and stayed up on the North Shore of Oahu and watched the crazy surfers. It was a nice break from traveling and much-needed to cope with pain and swelled ankles. And it was so nice to be with Greg, my love, all alone, together. He is my rock.

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