Good morning to all of my followers,
I awoke today at 6:45 with a bit of nervousness about all the information that I was going to have to take in today. I took my daily dose of pain medications prescribed by my Dr. In the USA. Usually I lay in a hot bathtub until my pain starts to subside. I stayed submerged in hot water until about 7:30 and then was able to get up and get ready for the rest of my day.
Breakfast was served at 8:00 where I met a really nice man from Sedona, Arizona named Michael. He is from the Netherlands and is fluent in seven different languages. It was very nice to be able to talk to someone who is from the states.. Michael has been here for eight weeks and is doing great. When he arrived he said he was in really bad shape, almost a skeleton. After being here and following Dr. Weber's treatment plan he is looking great and eating a lot too! This is very encouraging for me because in the states my appetite was not there and already I am eating more and feeling good afterwards.
9:30 I met with Dr. Weber for the first time and we went over all my history and what treatments he can offer Me. He is a very nice man, and he believes that I am still very treatable. The US Dr.s basically were looking at the best way to buy me time. Dr. Weber is looking at ways to get rid of this cancer once and for all. 10:15 I met with a nurse named Steffi and she seemed to be a little stressed. I think it may have to due with the fact that five of the nurses are out sick. She managed to give me all my medications that I will be taking while I'm here and two injections. She also wrote up my whole schedule while juggling other patients in different rooms. She's got a pretty full plate today! 11:00 I had a 20 minute oxygen treatment where I got to lay down and listen to relaxing music while I breathed pure oxygen. This was a nice treatment.
11:45 time for lunch. The food here is great! I ate sour kraut and potatoes and a lot of other vegetables. I had a creamy zucchini soup and a fish entree that was pretty amazing. The flavors are so different then what I am used to. I retired to my room for a half hour before I started my afternoon therapies.
Afternoon 1:00 I went into have my blood drawn for testing purposes and to get two infusions. One was an "own blood o-zone" which is where they take out about eight ounces of my blood and then add oxygen to it before returning it to my body. The other was a vitamin c and saline infusion. They both took about twenty minutes each. After that appointment I went to the massage therapist named Marco. He did a foot massage called reflexology which is an ancient way of opening up the channels in your body through pressure points in your feet. You can work every organ in the body through the feet with reflexology. It was a cool experience.
2:30 time for the hyperthermia treatment. They layed me on this water bed and put a water filled sack attached to an arm against my abdomen right where my liver is. The treatment is supposed to heat the liver without heating the skin or causing any pain. This was not true for me. I immediately started feeling pain in my lower abdomen. I asked the nurse why I would be feeling pain and she said that she didn't know. I continued the treatment for about 30 minutes before I said "no more"! Dr. Weber wanted to get an ultrasound to see what was going on in there. The ultrasound revealed that there is a tumor on my right side where my appendix was taken. The weird thing about this tumor is that it is between my skin and the abdominal cavity almost like a hernia. This is not a typical metastasis of my cancer. Basically in 2010 when I had my appendix out, two months before my diagnosis and surgery cancer cells made there way up into the opening where the appendix was taken and made a home to start growing. I have been having extreme pain in this location for the last three months. They gave me a little something for the pain and I will try this treatment again tomorrow.
Evening 5:00 I took a little walk in the snow. It is very pretty here with all the snow covering everything. 5:30 came back to my room and had a little FaceTime with Megan and Camille before I went to dinner. It was nice to see their faces and hear their voices before I ate. I look forward to doing this every evening with them and Liam. I gotta catch him before he goes to school. 6:00 had dinner and it was pleasant. I ate some fruit, soup, and a caprese salad (tomato,mozzarella,basil,balsamic vinegar,and olive oil) it was delicious. After dinner I retired to my room for the night to watch "The Departed". It's a pretty good movie that I have seen a few times already. It is 9:45 now and I am finishing my day blog and gonna call it a night. Updates to follow!!
