Guest Blogger - Seth Coltan

Hi Everyone, I am guest blogging on my Mom's site because I just got back from Tijuana where I got to spend a few days with her.

And you are in luck...I am quite detail oriented. I know you come here looking for details, so let me paint them for you. But first...a little 'snapple fact': Did you know that you could feed the fish on the right hand side of this blog? Just put your mouse over the fish tank and click to drop in some food. The fish will happily eat it up.

Ok, back to the big show. I arrived in Tijuana on Friday and walked across the border to THE WILLIAM HITT CENTER where my Mom is being treated. She was just finishing up her daily IV therapy and she was quite happy to see me. I was quite happy to see her and that beautiful smile of hers. She certainly seemed to have some energy and quickly ordered me back to the waiting area to introduce myself to Ruth, who is also staying at SADIES and being treated at the HITT CENTER.

Ruth is a fantastic person, and I am so glad that she and my Mom have connected and are sharing this experience. Ruth is in her 70s and is from Mendicino (where Mike and Tanya got married). This is her second time at the HITT CENTER. The first was for breast cancer (she has no cancer cells in her body any more and attributes it to her treatment at the HITT CENTER), and now she is back being treated for Lyme Disease.

Anyway, my Mom and I went in to see her Doctor, and check to see if she needed any changes to her medication. She did need some adjustments, and the Doctor looked at her slide (they swab inside her nose to look at a sampling of her cells) and seemed pleased that she was heading in the right direction. He remarked that she had inflammation. He felt that was a good thing, though I had always heard that was bad. He told us she came in here with no activity in those cells and they have been trying to get them to show some inflammation for the last week. I am positive the Doctor knows better than I do, so I did not question that part any further. We asked how long he felt she would be in treatment for. He started looking at his calander and doing math. I was quick to point out that we were asking for an approximate date considering that we are looking for a cure, and not a cancer management strategy. He let us know that there is indeed a difference, and told us she should be in treatment for at least 6 weeks. This places her at a return trip to Marin in Early March. Well beyond the time frame she desired, but well within a reasonable limit. We are curing cancer after all. I am sure they will continue to monitor her and send her home early or keep her a little longer if things look like they are changing from our scheduled healing.

After the meeting, we shuttled in their regular taxi (driven by a nice man named Hector who picks them up both ways each day) and got to SADIES BED AND BREAKFAST. The place is amazing. It's large, comfortable, elegant, and filled with warmth and love...two things the hotels can not offer. The proprieters of SADIES are really looking out for Carol, and make sure she is comfortable and well fed. They prepare meals that are not only delicious, but also fit in with the specialized diet she is on...though I did catch her cheating once, and as my 4th grade teacher, Mrs. Smolski would say: 'Shame Be On Thee'

I was delighted to see how much energy my Mom had gained. Surely she is not back to normal speed, but someone finally kicked the clutch in from these last few months. My sister in law, Tanya, had been staying with my Mom the better part of the week, and she had warned me that my Mom's energy was very low and that her body temperature was extremely high. Well, this day, we walked four flights of stairs and talked to everyone in the house without wearing down. The coughing was still there, but so many other things had improved.

Time for her to change her medication a bit, and by morning her body temperature had returned to normal. When Tanya was there, the house was freezing (there was a real winter storm). Everyone wore their jackets inside, except Carol who strolled downstairs in a short sleeve t-shirt. But not this morning. Breakfast was served while Mom wore her parka. More evidence that she is reacting to her perscribed medication, as this was an obvious reflection in the change she made the night before.

The thing about this treatment, is that each day builds upon the last. This is why I was not happy when she took a week off for a trip. But now, just a day after Tanya saw her with no energy, the time came for her body to start reponding, and it really did.

Napping is still an important part of the day, because her body is working so hard to heal that it is just exhausted. Forcing it to stay up when it really needs to refresh is not wise. So Carol is very diligent about making sure she gets the rest she needs.

On this second night of my visit (Saturday) something really cool happened. As I saw my Mom sleep during her nap, I noticed she was sleeping on her back. That may sound very small to you, but for the last 4 months she has only been able to sleep on her left hand side curled up in the fetal position. Anything else would have her coughing up a storm. This fetal position on the left was the only thing allowing her any peace. We talked about it briefly, and sure enough, this was the first time she had slept on her back. When I woke up in the morning...the sight was even better. Carol was laying on her RIGHT side! This was also a first, and another wonderful sign of changes happening in her body.

There are still some challanges, though. The Candida diet is strict. It is a hard diet to follow, though very important. My Mom has lost a whole lot of weight (and you know she did not have a lot to lose in the first place). It is critical that she puts some weight on...but this is not a diet that is accomodating to that. It is a very lean, very healthy diet. It also contributed to a heavy round of constipation for her. This would be very uncomfortable for anyone. For someone in my Moms condition who must conitinue to consume nutrients even though they have no room for it...it can be quite unbearable. But she is trooper and handling it better than I could.

Some of the meds can also cause Nausia. So each day is a balancing act. But thankfully, we know she is on the right track, healing with the right doctors, and relaxing at the right place.

Carol, as most of you know, is a care giver. She is always taking care of people, taking care of problems, and taking care of 'stuff'. If this cancer is a wake up call for anything...it's that she needs to take care of HERSELF first and foremost. That's the one positive about her treatment being far from home. She is not distracted by 'stuff' and she is finally allowing people to take care of HER. And that's awesome. The Doctors look after her medical regimen and the people at Sadies make sure she is relaxed. So there is no guessing at this game.

Once healed, she will continue to check in with the doctors every few months to evaluate her progress. So when she gets home, its even more important that she is eating right, having fun, and taking time for herself. Sounds like a perscription we should all follow.