Day Twentyeight

Tijuana: Wed 20 July 2011

Last full day at CHIPSA. Well, it's been fun, but I'd be lying if I were to say that I wasn't glad to be moving on. Maria has been champion in all of her treatment, and I myself feel incredibly good and considerably lighter. Maria finished off with her Autologous shot, which I administered this morning and an IV this afternoon, so that she is fully energized before we continue on our trip.

Tomorrow San Diego! Here's a couple of pics of

some of the staff here, and a couple of Parsley roots.

Maria and Dr Mora. Easy girls!

Day Twentseven

Tijuana: Tue 19 July 2011

Humble Pie! Sorry, couldn't resist it. Woke up and watched the BBCs live feed of the MPs select committee hearing over Murdoch's alleged phone hacking. Pretty interesting, unfortunately, not such a tough committee apart from a few exceptions.

Just two days left at CHIPSA and then on to San Diego for a couple of days before our break in Cabo. I think while it has been great here, we are ready to start heading off. Met again with Dr Mora, and I gave Maria a sub cutaneous Coleys. We have now upped the dose to 0.18cc. Another multivitamin IV and tomorrow we shall be giving her the first shot of the Autologous vaccine, and hopefully going through her blood results that went off to the lab this morning. Another really cool chat with Gar this afternoon, who had actually checked himself in to CHIPSA last week after he got a crazy fever. There's a practice what you preach testimonial!

Day Twentysix

Tijuana: Mon 18 July 2011

Hip Hoorah! Dr Mora is back! Was really great to meet him again and have a go through of everything. Maria got an IM Coleys which reached a pretty good 38.6 fever and an IV. I think he wants to boost her vitamins a bit before we leave.

Three more people came today, one patient Zue or Sue (not quite sure), and her sister Katie, who was just staying overnight, along with Anita, who is Robin's girlfriend of 20 years! It's quite cool when there are a few more people around, there's a little more of a vibe and the staff start running around a bit more.

Day Twentyfive

Tijuana: Sun 17 July 2011

Very simple quiet day today. No shots for Maria, so we took it fairly easy went for a little walk around the block. Oh, and by the way, that's the Gym! Check the abs!

Day Twentyfour

Tijuana: Sat 16 July 2011

OK. The next few days will be a little concise, as the Internet has been a bit flaky here. Maria had Coley's sub cutaneously today as well as an IV.

We had a little trip down to the beach where there was a really cosy little shack type coffee house, where we enjoyed a nice Peppermin tea. Maria was feeling a bit feverish, so I went down there with Clare and her Mum, Steph.

Day Twentythree

Tijuana: Fri 15 July 2011

Funny thing happened today. Feli came in to show me how to perform a Liver injection, which is basically into the bum. She firstly showed me how to load the syringe with the medicine, and then she was going to show me where to inject into the bum, but Maria was busy. So she called one of the cleaning ladies over, pulled down her trousers and gave her a shot straight into the bum!

"What are you doing?", I cried.

"It's OK with some extra vitamins", She replied with a smile.

Freaky.

Really nice day today. Maria had an IM Coleys with a fairly medium reaction. We actually all ate lunch up on the sun deck, which was great.

Well Dr Mora, should be back on Monday and hopefully we will be getting the Autologous vaccine, which has been specially developed from Maria's own blood. These I think are taken once a week, and don't give any kind of major reaction, I think.

The picture above is of the Coronado islands, which we can see from our room. They have some pretty interesting history, especially during the prohibition. You can read about them here.

Day Twentytwo

Tijuana: Thur 14 July 2011

Today is exactly a week until we leave. Just thought I'd start today's entry with a picture of my sweetheart.

No Coleys for Maria today as her arms just can't take it so she got a day off, and it was quite remarkable the difference. It is amazing how quickly (apart from obviously the pain in the arm), you recoup from the Coleys. Extremely different to chemotherapy! Today is my last day of Enemas, I have now been doing them for about two weeks, although I will take the odd one now and again.

Had a chat with the hospital director today about some of the small things we were a little unhappy about, such as some nurses and doctors wearing perfume (which is no no on any kind of immunotherapy ward); and in good old Central American style he got on the phone straight away, to get his secretary to start a new memo about the subject. Love that old school styley!

Went for a quick walk around the block, as though she feels better Maria is still a little weak. Just realized I haven't put up a picture of dinner, so I'll start with that tomorrow.

Toodle pip!

Day Twentyone

Tijuana: Wed 13 July 2011

Happy Birthday Maria! My little sweetie is a year wiser today. She even got a cake, Gerson of course!

Birthday or not though she still had to have Coleys, however, we tried sub cutaneous which was a slightly milder reaction.

Clare and her Mum bought Maria some flowers as well as a couple of presents.

It was otherwise a fairly quiet day.

Day Twenty

Tijuana: Tues 12 July 2011

Twenty days already! Time flies, but I think we are getting ready to move on soon, and looking forward to that 10 day break in Cabo! Mmmmm!

Another intra muscular Coleys for Maria today in the same arm, poor Maria. It had really ballooned up, she is a real tough nut.

Forgot to mention another new patient started yesterday, Robin, who'll be here for a couple of weeks. Apparently he has a sister who was diagnosed with terminal cancer back when she was 12. Then after some research by his mother, who came across Gerson, and subsequently the Gerson diet, she's doing very well now at the ripe age of 62!

Went out for a wander today to find a little something for Maria's birthday tomorrow. No easy task. Once again, I am so shocked by the amount of street junk food available here. There really isn't much healthy choice, especially in our immediate vicinity anyway.

We're really missing Dr Mora, and looking forward to his return on Monday.

More Sopranos! Lots of Sopranos!

Day Nineteen

Tijuana: Mon 11 July 2011

Well even though they had scheduled to leave on Tuesday, it seems like Audrey and her entourage are leaving today. She has quite a hectic journey home, so hope it all goes well Audrey and get well soon!

This is the last full week here at CHIPSA, then we will be leaving next Thursday, on the 21st. Maria had intra muscular Coleys today, which again made for a very painful left arm.

Just on a lighter note. Thought this picture of Niko Alm and the adjoining article were pretty funny. he basicall managed to get his ID picture to contain him with a Pasta drainer on his head. This is because his religion is Pastafarian. You can read the whole article here.

Day Eighteen

Tijuana: Sun 10 July 2011

Lunch! Nice easy Sunday. We even went down and saw Audrey today. She looked amazing for an 82 year old who had just had such major surgery. She is leaving tomorrow so, was great to see her before she left. Maria had a multivitamin IV today otherwise no other treatment.

We watched a film in the afternoon, Earthlings. It is an extremely graphic and open account of how we treat or mistreat animals, and also the newer problems that have arisen within our food as a result of this. A very apt quote in the film, 'you reap what you sow'. Here is the film. I will warn you that this film could possibly change the way you eat and think about animals.

Day Seventeen

Tijuana: Sat 9 July 2011

So I decided that I would put up a picture of each meal here so you can see what we eat. This is obviously breakfast, which is something like Porridge with banana, prunes and apricots. Toast with homemade jam, bit of fruit, orange juice and camomile tea. Lovely!

We were going to go into Tijuana town today, but unfortunately Maria can barely move her arm, it is so painful after a week of shots. Never mind, there'll be other times. We met a new patient Clare and her Mum today, from Canada. They are really nice and will be here for a couple of weeks. She was here in February for a month.

Not too much treatment for Maria today, a vitamin C IV and we have started to make a log of how certain conditions feel a couple of times a day, so we record things like amount of coughing, voice weakness, etc both at 1200 and at 1800.

Watching both, Sopranos and Cold feet these days, nice bit of contrast.

Day Sixteen

Tijuana: Fri 8 July 2011

Hello Pips! Wow. Amazing what can happen with public outcry. New of The World shall print for the last time on Sunday. Unfortunately, some equally useless piece of toilet paper will probably take it's place, but still...

Back in Mexico, and Maria had another intra muscular shot of Coleys, which again took her up to 40 degrees. We had a long chat with Gar today, as Maria has been worried about a pain she has been getting in her right trapezoid muscle. Gar and later via e-mail Dr Mora, both believed that the pain is referred pain, ie. coming from somewhere else, ad tis is more than likely due to the Coleys. So, basically, good news. Gar also took a long good look at Maria's PET scans that we had taken with us from Sweden, and took some time to explain to us what they show and how they are read. I think it was a little freaky for Maria to see the inside of herself like that, but she was really interested in his explanations.

The diet is going well, I am still on the same diet as Maria, and still managing two enemas a day, however, I will probably stop them next week and maybe just cut back to one a week, I think I can safely say, that I am pretty well detoxified these days.

Loving this film of Pella, she rocks.

Day Fifteen

Tijuana: Thur 7 July 2011

We went for a walk along the beach after breakfast today and found this cool shell, which has a marijuana leaf on it's back. Far out! The other thing that was cool was that the sand has a kind if golden glitter in it. I did a little bit of googling when I got home and read that it was most likely pyrite, also known as fool's gold.

We have heard from Audrey's daughters, that she is making good recovery after the operation and even managing a few words and movement. We have two new patients coming in soon; one on Saturday and the other on Monday, I think.

Maria got an intra muscular shot of the Coleys today, and yes it did work. Truly the most aggressive reaction so far. She finished the day with a full on 40 degree fever and shakes. Poor thing, she gets so weak during these fevers and her arm is totally pained up. She is however, so mentally strong and positive all the time. She really is inspiring and that's why I love her sooooooo much!

Day Fourteen

Tijuana: Wed 6 July 2011

My little angels are back from their holiday in Portugal! We skyped today, and Elsie showed me her new goggles. In just a couple of days, they will be off to see my Mum in France. Little globetrotters, I miss

them so much.

We have been skypeing with Pella every day, and she is also having some great quality time with her Grandpa in Spain.

Maria had another sub cutaneous today, but again, a fairly mild reaction, with her temperature just breaking 38.5 degrees.

The Ecuadorian family that were here have left and gone home, where the father we be having some surgery. They may come back after that.

Not a lot else today, bit if work stuff with Sam.

Day Thirteen

Tijuana: Tues 5 July 2011

Today, Dr Martinez gave Maria a sub cutaneous shot of Coleys. Again, sorry to say, a quiet day today, although we did have cooking class, where we learn to make the infamous, banana oatmeal cookies. Good stuff!

Met with Gar today, once again, much time spent talking about Maria's treatment and plan, and how we will maintain it, even after we leave Mexico. One of the nice things about Gar, is that, even though he abides 100% to Gerson's protocol, which he also modifies and keeps modernized, he doesn't get to tied up in what you can and can't do, for example, the recommended juicer for following the Gerson diet properly cost around $2500! Gar will quite happily recommend one that you can pick up for just over $100, and as he says, when talking about the amount of time it takes to follow the program properly, "one of the most important things is that you find a way, so that you can have a life". This can be done by pre-making soups in advance, juices at the beginning of the day for the whole day, etc, etc.

Been reading and following this NOTW (News of the World) scandal in the British Press, disgusting! Whilst we always understood, how spineless and low these reporters are, I couldn't really believe that the phone hacking could go this low, allegedly. I don't know, I really do believe that everything will come to a head soon. We are moving too fast. Economies are escalating, whilst others are crumbling, we are creating wars that aren't even there, technology is moving faster than we can buy it, and Media and values, well, they don't really go anywhere, and as for diet, nutrition, etc. We just don't have time for that, cause we are too busy with everything else. My opinion? I don't know how we fix it; I actually think it will as I said, come to a head, thus fixing itself, and then we can go back to basics. Phew! Sorry about that. Just my twopence worth.

Maria did get up to 38 degrees, but by no means as aggressive a fever as yesterday. Tomorrow another day. Think we're almost about halfway through our stay now.

Day Twelve

Tijuana: Mon 4 July 2011

Independence day, oh well. Fairly easyday today. For me at least. We met Dr Mora, for the last time before he goes away for a few days. He showed me how to perform an intra muscular injection on Maria, and I shall be trying this at a later date. Maria got the full effect of the Coley's shot later on in the day, and managed a 39.5 degree fever, with all sorts of coughs, aches and sharp pains. These are however, all good as they prove the immune system is w

orking properly as well as the nervous system.

Well as promised, here comes the recipe for good old Hippocrate's soup. This soup is the backbone of the Gerson diet, we eat it with every meal, except breakfast. It is delicious and extremely good for you.

1 Cup Celeriac or 3/4 stalks of branch celery

1/2 Cup Parsley Root

2 Cups of Leek

2 Cups of Onions

Handful of Parsley

2 Cups of Tomatoes

3 Cups of Potatoes

Don't peel any of the vegetables, just brush them thoroughly and cut them pretty coarsely. Place them in a large pan and cover with water, (distilled if possible). Cook on a low heat for about 3 hours, then blend in small portions. After the soup has chilled it can be stored for up to 3 days.

I really like to garnish my soup with a handful of chopped onions, tomatoes and Coriander. Also grate in a little fresh Garlic and a few drops of Apple cider vinegar. Delicious!

Maria fell asleep with her fever quite early tonight so I did a bit of computing on the computer and saw the distant fireworks over San Diego, till I fell asleep to a film.

Day Eleven

Tijuana: Sun 3 July 2011

Maria had an earlier IV today so that we would make it to the tour. Yep, that's right, our day off we get taken somewhere locally. This week would be Rosarito beach resort. Well, it was certainly a resort, and pretty busy. There was a pier there, at the end of which I could see some dolphins jumping, but overall, it was pretty overcast, thus the day was not really a beach day, although we did take a quick walk up and down the beach. The usual souvenir shops were to be found there, so we ventured out into the town a little. It was quite an amazing typically Mexican town, and we found a gallery. Half of the gallery belonged to a local painter David Silvah, whose work was beautiful. Especially cool was his selection of Flamenco dancers which had amazing light detail.

Back at home, we had a late lunch and crashed out, just taking care of e-mails, etc for the rest of the day.

Tomorrow, Maria will be starting Coleys again, so, Sopranos and then bed.

Day Ten

Tijuana: Sat 2 July 2011

Nice quiet Saturday. Not a lot doing. As I said, Maria gets to take a break from the Coley's shots at the weekend, unfortunately though she has to take the Vitamin C via an IV, which is a long way down on her list of favourite things to do. We took a walk before lunch down to the local 'mall'. Pretty impressive array of junk food. I think I wouldn't be pushing my neck out if I were to say that Mexicans as a rule don't have the healthiest diet.

Following on from a delicious lunch we headed back to the room, where I crashed out for nearly two hours. Hard work this! After that we watched an amazing seminar by a Doctor Robert Lustig from the University of San Fransisco, about the dangers of sugar, more importantly HFCS (High Fructose Corn Syrup). This seminar is truly remarkable, and I think that all parents can greatly benefit from seeing this. No, to be honest I'll rephrase that and say that all parents should be made to watch this.

Later on Dinner spent chatting with Audrey's daughter, who told us that she was more coherant now and managed to say the odd word now and again. An episode of Sopranos this evening (Maria had not really seen it before, and I'm going to see them all again), followed by bed. Maria was a little sad tonight, I don't think one can ever understand the psychological strain that a cancer patient carries, unless you have been one. All one can really do is be there and give as much support as you can.

Day Nine

Tijuana: Fri 1 July 2011

Hard luck Andy! That Nadal is just too good. Still a valiant attempt by the Scotsman nonetheless.
We met up with Audrey's sister again today, who told us that she had suffered a cardiac arrest after surgery, but they had managed to revive her and whilst she wasn't lucid, she was at least stable. We're thinking of you Audrey, get well soon.
We had again, a fairly normal day. I for the second time, gave Maria her Coley shot, with a slightly higher dosage, which didn't prevail as aggressively as yesterday's fever, but she did just about break 38 degrees anyway. Her poor arm, is so sore, she has likened the pain to Dave's description, which was that it was like having someone stab you in the arm with a fork and then twist it around. At least she now has the weekend for the arm to recover, until we start the Coleys again on Monday.
Still Skypeing with Pella every day, and got a quick mail from Nelly the other day telling me how much they were enjoying their holiday in Portugal. Well, at least how well her tan was coming on!
Suddenly the hospital is overrun with people! Another of Audrey's daughters came today, Marie, as well as a new patient from Florida, and his family, wife and three kids! Never seen it so busy the chefs are having to do buffet layouts at dinner instead of individual servings.But really, it's nice with a little more action here.
I'm still doing the coffee enemas, although with varying levels of success, sometimes I have a good one, sometimes a bad one. Don't think I've mastered it yet. One amazing thing about this diet though, is that I have lost 4-5 kilos in just over a week. Forget the no carbs diet, this is the fastest I have ever lost wait.
Unfortunately we will be losing Dr Mora for a week or so after next Tuesday, as he will be going to look after his brother who is having some surgery, but no problem, plenty more doctors to fill in. He will be showing me how to perform an intra-muscular injection on Monday, as I will have to do these on Maria when we get back home.
Quite a lot of goodman news from the guys at work today, watched a bit of Tv with Maria and bed.

Day Eight

Tijuana: Thu 30 June 2011

Looking like it's going to be a beautiful day even from the offset today. Breakfast at 8, and Dr Mora at 9 am. He is very happy with how Maria is reacting to the Coley shots and has decided to up the dose a little today, he has even decided that I will administer the dose today! This I did, very carefully. Not a lot of places left on Maria's upper left arm to give the shot.
We met Audrey's daughter today, who has come to stay a few days while Audrey goes through her surgery.
After lunch Maria started getting a little feverish. We went up and sat on the sun deck for a while, where Dr Mora and Gar came and found us. We sat and talked for a while before Dr Mora had to leave, then we continued talking with Gar. I think we sat there for almost two hours! It was truly fascinating and I think as I have said before these guys never have the attitude that "you are only a patient so you wouldn't understand". They tell you everything with every chemical and biological name till in the end you get totally drunk in there terminology. I mentioned this to Gar who answered this by saying "think of this as learning a new language" and yes that's exactly what it is. It is truly unbelievable how little we know about our own bodies.
I am also now receiving a green juice in the middle of the day. Maria's temperature is climbing and by late evening she has hit 39 degrees and is in the clutches of a full on fever, with shivers and coldness. She is asleep in bed by 8.30 so I finish of some mails and code up in bed with a film.
Goodnight.

Day Seven

Tijuana: Wed 29 June 2011

Took one for the team today! Yep, my first ever coffee or anything for that matter enema. It went pretty well actually, and I'll spare you any further details on that, other than to say that I will be taking two a day for the next two weeks, which should result in a total detox.
It was a beautiful day today, with the sun shining almost all the day, this is quite unusual here as Playas de Tijuana has it's own little microclimate with the fog often rolling in off the Pacific Ocean, it can remain fairly overcast here, while just a few kilometres up the road in downtown Tijuana it can be baking sun.
Dr Mora gave Maria a concentrated Coley's shot today, and gave me a course in how to prepare and administer the shot, as I will be doing this back home. I will even be giving Maria her shot tomorrow. We had a long talk about a medicine called Zometa, which is used to prevent and reduce bone metastases. Whilst Maria is extremely cautious and sceptical of normal medicines, Dr Mora explained extremely thoroughly the ins and outs and safeness of this medicine. He also took a lot of time in explaining how whilst the Gerson treatment is based around natural and nutritional balance, we can sometimes use some of the non agressive, non poisonous drugs to possibly aid us. This is also interesting of just this Gerson clinic, in that it endeavors to improve the treatment in accordance with medical progress. Anyway, he has told us to take our time and think about it, as it is ultimately Maria's decision, and something they will never push upon her, so that is what we shall do, think about it.
Rest of the day, fairly normal. We had a course again today, showing us how to prepare the coffee for the enemas, along with how to prepare the Castor Oil enema, which is taken once awake on the Gerson treatment. The coffee is a specially prepared blend that comes from Canada. It isn't Nescafe.
We popped over the road to the supermarket today, which has it's own crazy valet! He stands there with a whistle and then whenever anyone comes with a car, he 'helps' them park it with aid of different whistle pitches. I'm sure they would never manage it without him. We bought a couple of Avocados, as Maria likes to make her own face pack comprising Avocado and Aloe Vera. The fruit and veg at the supermarket seems so fresh, will take a picture next time.
The Coley's came on pretty strong later on, with Maria, holding a steady 38 degree fever, as well as experiencing the spreading pain that sets in across the back while the vaccine is working. While she took a lie down and watched a film, I took a quick spell in the Gym. Managed to do a quick compact 30 minute Bikram Yoga session, alone! First time I have done the yoga without a mirror, it is a true test of concentration and thus balance. I started a 3 Km run on the treadmill after this, but after nearly 2 Ks, the machine just stopped abruptly with 'error code 22'. This was quite a pain when I had been joggin at 9km/h and suddenly down to 0km/h. I had to run a bit on the spot just to warm down.
Maria also had Hydrotherapy today, which is basically a spa whirlpool with aromatherapy in a cosy room, with candles and music and I think she really enjoyed this. I think I will hop in next time.
Not much sign of Audrey today, I think she is preparing for her surgery tomorrow. Good Luck Audrey, she's a tough cookie.
Well, that was about it for today. Quick episode of Sopranos and then bed.

Day Six

Tijuana: Tue 28 June 2011

So all in all a quiet day. Maria had a Coley jab early on, which later on in the day managed to just about hit 38 degrees centigrade. My tooth doesn't hurt quite as much today, but I think it will take a few days to heal properly.
Had a good chat with Dr Mora today and gave him a copy of the latest pathologist reports from Maria's last PET scan, which had been written in Swedish and we had the joy of translating. I can assure you translating medical stuff is no easy job.
Weather was pretty overcast today, so we only managed to venture out onto the sun deck for a few minutes, but it was too cold.
Gar was in the hospital today, but I think he was extremely busy with Audrey most of the day and also in the cancer board, where all the doctors meet and discuss the patients, so we didnt meet him yet.
At 3 pm, we had a quick cooking course in how to make the Hippocrate's soup, which is kind of the basis and at the root of the Gerson diet. Recipe to follow.
Have been reading some of Max Gerson's book, "A cancer therapy" and came across a very interesting quote, actually from Leonard Wickendon. It read as follows; "It has been emphasized before that cancer develops in a body which more or less has lost the normal functions of the metabolism as a consequence of a chronic daily poisoning accumulated especially in the liver". Go figure, but basically makes a lot of simple sense.
Well, as said earlier, fairly quiet today, watched a film, lights out at 11 pm.

Day Five

Tijuana: Mon 27 June 2011

What a day! So a nice breakfast followed by a little walk down to the beach. An abundance of squirrels running around, they're the new rats, I'm sure. The bad news is that it seems the headache I had been getting for the last couple of days, may have actually been due to an infected tooth, ow! Spoke with Soroya, who has booked me in for a 2 pm appointment after lunch.
Dr Mora came down with Maria's blood results. Everything was in order and pretty much within all the recommended levels. This is great news, and what was really interesting is that her protein levels were adequate and remember she hasn't touched any animal proteins in over a month. Dr Mora, spent a good deal of time just explaining what all the different blood tests were and what they meant, something that has never happened in the dozens of times she has had blood tests back home.
Oh well. D-Day, we have eaten lunch and it's time for me to go down to reception where a driver will take me and Soroya (who will act as my interpreter) to the dentist. Good news is that within a couple of minutes the dentist had confirmed that i had an infection around an old tooth; the bad news, it has to come out; the extra bad news, it was a root filling.
Cut to 3 hours later and 6th x-ray, and finally the last of the tooth had been removed. An extremely careful dentist who decided he would take his time rather than just yank the thing out in ten minutes. Although I must admit, my mouth and lips got pretty dry. The cost for this monumental amount of dental surgery, 40 bucks! If anyone from the LA area wants a recommendation of a dentist just across the border, drop me a line ;-)
Got back to the hospital and to my partner in crime, Maria, who was actually beginning to wonder where I had gotten to, and if I had enrolled in a Mexican street gang, and discussed my woes and the pain I had been through. Man flu!
Got to dinner time and there is no way I'm going to be getting any solids in my mouth, so waited a couple of hours, and mushed up my food and ate most of it through a straw. Opted not to take the painkillers I had been prescribed, although I did chicken out and take the anti-biotics, just to be safe?
Crashed out to Black Swan with Maria, and stopped it about half way through before we both passed out for the day.

Day Four

Tijuana: Sun 26 June 2011

Awoke again bright and early at 5.30 am. It must be these earlier nights. Had a shower, although it wasn't so easy as the shower head has fallen off, so we now shower under a jet of water. It works! As Dr Mora said the other day, this place isn't as fancy as some of the hospitals that are almost like spas these days, but the help you get here outweighs all of that, and I have to say, I whole heartedly agree with that.
Again, a fairly quiet day, I guess most of them will be as this is a recovery phase where one should take it fairly easy. I am really beginning to get into the diet now. Before, back at home I really over ate. I would find myself not only eating the wrong food, but too much of it. I had tried several times in conjunction with my Yoga training for example to cut back on my diet, but it seems that not only is it about quality but quantity. I can now eat what I would consider a laughable amount of food, and not feel hungry again afterwards, and I don't even have cravings between these meals. Whilst up on the sundeck this afternoon, by the way, we had tremendous weather today, I got a waft of some grilled chicken from the surrounding neighbourhood, and whilst I can say I still find the smell attractive, I didn't get a craving, and I consider this a good sign. The amount of information we have recently digested regarding nutrition, dangers of sodium (salt) and produced foods, I think I can safely say that it is time for a change in my diet. I encourage you to see some of the lectures by Gar Hildenbrand here along with a film he made where he travelled around the USA meeting some survivors of sometimes terminally diagnosed cancers that followed the Gerson protocol sometimes along with the Coley Vaccines. What you take away from this film with you is the sincere belief that our health system, not just in the US, but also back home in Sweden is so unknowledgeable and based on profits for pharmaceutical companies. I was always skeptical about such conspiracy, whistle blowing films before, but the facts are there, and the simplicity is that we (society today) is malnourished and has a lot of resulting sickness and disease based upon such deficiencies. I shall be putting up links on the right side-bar later to some very interesting documentaries.
Well, I'll just hop off my soap box for a few moments and tell you about the rest of the day.
At dinner we met one of the other patients here, Audrey, who in her early eighties is returning to the hospital for further treatment. A very alert and extremely knowledgable lady, it was really interesting to hear her stories about how things had changed in the US during her lifetime.
Cracking sunset this evening, caught the sun a little today, so just off to rub some natural aloe vera into my rosy arms before bed.

Day Three

Tijuana: Sat 25 June 2011

Woke up at 2.30 am to dogs and party in the street! Didn't manage to get back to sleep. Breakfast with Dave and Denise before saying goodbye to them as they head back to Pittsburg. Following breakfast we decided to head out for a walk, and apart from a brief spell on the terrace the evening before, we hadn't actually been outside since we arrived, let alone left the building.

We went for an hour long walk down to the beach front and along the boardwalk, all the way along to the border. This is something we shall try to do every day, weather and Maria's condition permitting.

Pretty quiet in the hotel at the weekends, Maria had a Vitamin C IV and the usual monitory checks, but all in all a quiet day for treatment.

Following dinner, Baked Potato and Asparagus, we went upstairs to watch the Gold Cup final on TV between Mexico and USA. The game finished 4-2 to Mexico, I don't think the Americans were very happy.

Early night tonight, due to lack of sleep, turning in at 9.30 pm.

ps. Thanks Mariama for scanning the 20 something pages of journals and mailing them over.

Day Two

Tijuana: Fri 24 June 2011

Woke after a great night's sleep at 5.30 am, and watched the end of the film we had tried to watch the night before. Breakfast was porridge and toast, which even had some homemade jam with it.

We met Dr Mora, who seemed great and amazingly focussed. It would be easy to be fooled by his young looks if he weren't so knowledgeable. He spent a good hour talking to us, giving us a brief overview of how the treatment might pan out. What is interesting here, is that they take each case and break it down and then try several different approaches to treating it. This is a very different way of working and feels extremely more personal. The other thing to remember is that there are very few patients here. The hospital doesn't take more then six!

Dr Mora explained Coley Vaccines and how they would be used to help try and kick-start the immune system, and retrain it to fight infections.

Lunch was a delicious sweet potato along with a bean soup and salad. This increased the gas levels in our room for the rest of the afternoon!

After lunch Maria got her first Coley shot and began feeling the pain in the shoulder later in the afternoon. Dinner was a baked potato and aubergine along with soup and salad. Spent dinner talking with Dave and Denise again. My plan is to also start taking enemas tomorrow, I have also told Dr Mora that I wont take any special 'visitor' alternatives with my meals, such as chicken or pasta, thus I will be eating more or less the same diet as Maria. I can say that after just a few days of radically changing my diet I feel amazingly different. Had a really shitty sinus headache bugging me for most of the afternoon.

Day One

San Diego / Tijuana: Thu 23 June 2011

We were picked up by the hospital's director at our hotel and driven down to Tijuana, Mexico. This of course involved a border crossing and registration. Arrived at the hospital and were introduced to some of the staff and taken to our room, which overlooks the Pacific ocean.

Soroya, head of patient relations and Lourdes (Admin), were on hand to say hello.The nurses and everybody we have met so far are really kind and caring and interested in Maria's case. Dr Martinez did some brief checks on Maria.

Nurse 'Fila' (I think that was how you say it), explained quickly some medication and also the coffee enemas, although Maria had been doing these previously for the last two weeks. We met another couple Dave and Denise who were really friendly and Dave was just coming to the end of the three week course of treatment. They had nothing but praise for the treatment and the staff at the hospital. They mentioned Gar Hildenbrand and Dr Mora (who will be Maria's main physician here), again singing their praises and saying how intelligent they were. We had been watching one of Gar's lectures on a DVD that day, and yes, this guy really knows nutrition and pretty much everything else inside out.

4 pm and Maria has an IV containing multivitamins as well as a shot (Litherin I think). Food has been totally OK. I have not been following such a strict raw diet that Maria had been following, so the change for me was quite substantial, though totally manageable. Feeling very tired, must be jetlag catching up, time for bed.

Had no idea what to expect here in Mexico and the CHIPSA centre, but the feeling is good. Better than all this though, is that I get to spend over a month of dedicated time with the girl I love.

Getting Here

Stockholm: 21/22 June 2011

Following a long day with Nelly and Elsie my two other daughters and spending Nelly's birthday at Gröna Lund, Stockholm's tivoli, we finished packing and crashed for the night. We awoke at 5 am and took a cab at 6 to Arlanda airport where we flew out to Newark Intl Airport in New York. We arrived around 11 am and weren't taking our connection flight until 7 pm, thus it was time to explore the airport. This took around 30 mins as the same pattern folded out wherever we walked. Fast food, gift shop, etc. We managed to find a juice bar, which was ok, and also a food joint that built you a custom salad. Maria had been on a raw food diet for 2 weeks prior to our trip. Flight was delayed for 2 hours, so at soem time just after 9 pm, we boarded our flight to San Diego. Jumped in a cab and crashed at the hotel. Knackered!!!!

A backstory ...

In the summer of 2009, my girlfriend Maria was on holiday with our then newborn baby Pella and spending some time with her Father in Spain. Maria had been having problems with persistent coughing and been diagnosed a couple of times with pneumonia. She was sure however, in her self that something wasn't quite right and her father decided to take her to a private clinic and run some tests.

On the evening of 12 August 2009, I was sat at home alone watching a film after a day at work. I was staying at home at this time as Maria had taken a long break in Spain, and I had quite a lot of work on. The phone rang, not unusual, as we always kept in touch at all times. Maria told me straight out in tears and barely able to talk that "they had found a tumor in her lungs". My world stopped and an indescribable weight dropped in my stomach. I didn't know what to do or say, I was totally numb. I rushed over to Maria's mum's place and met her with her brother where after a very traumatic night we managed to get Maria on the next plane home to Sweden.

Following comprehensive tests, Maria was diagnosed with an inoperable adenocarcinoma lung cancer. The tumor was growing and the doctors put Maria on a course of Chemotherapy along with Radiotherapy. After several months and more scans, it seemed as though the cancer had shrunk and was inactive. Not enough to operate but nonetheless dormant and not posing any threat. We began to enjoy a normal life and start enjoying time together as a family with regular scans to keep a check on the sleeping giant.

In may of this year, we met Maria's oncologist for an update on the latest PET scan. The news wasn't good. The tumor had awoken and now spread to 4 or 5 different areas of the body. Our world bottomed out again, but only for a day. Maria decided straight away that we had done enough moping the first time and we could now attack this with a strength from the (second) beginning. Her doctor suggested taking a new biopsy a procedure she had done a year ago, which involved opening the throat going down and fetching a sample of the tumor (not very pleasant) and then seeing if she would have the correct mutation of cancer for a new promising drug that had finally started to do tests in Sweden. We had heard about this drug a year before and had travelled to Italy which was one of the few places that was doing the early trials on the drug. The new drug Crizotenib, had indeed had fairly good results, but it is just that, a new drug. Nobody knows what the long term effects may be, and the common side effects included tiredness and nausia, and this was a drug that you would pretty much have to take for the rest of your life.

Maria decided that she didn't want to go down that old road of conventional medicine this time. The doctor had also suggested that Radiotherapy and possibly some Chemotherapy would be required if we were to follow the normal path. So after some research and reading around, we heard and read about a natural alternative called DCA (Dichloroacetic Acid) which had also had some pretty impressive results, however no clinical trials and after reading about the history of the research it appeared that the path of development and progress seemed to have dried up around 2007, although DCA is selling very well, in all shapes and sizes.

A bit more reading and searching and Maria came upon the Gerson therapy. A course of treatment developed by Max Gerson a genius doctor from Germany who discovered that (simply put) a course of controlled nutritional diet could help the bodies failed immune system recover and ultimately fight the host disease. The Gerson Institute whilst being based in the USA, had a lot of it's early development based in Mexico, where it is stilled practiced today. One of the centres specializing in the Gerson therapy is the CHIPSA Immunological Center in Tijuana and this is where we went to start a 4 week treatment.

This blog, is by no means meant to be any accurate scientific journal, or guide. It shall merely be a daily collection of observations and happenings during the course of our time here at the CHIPSA hospital. It wont be structured and may seem really lame at times. However, it is my own journal, and it may be of some use to someone, somewhere in the future, who knows?