money changing and an unexpected face mask

Much cooler today, the Mexican's all wearing jackets and jumpers, but we're ok in a tee shirt. Caroline had another interleukin 2 treatment, injection this time, and although she was told it might give her a temperature, nothing much happened. I had a chat with Lety the psychologist and heard Dr Contreras again this morning, a more general talk about the philosophy of the Oasis of Hope treatment, ( not Issels), which is to concentrate on the survival of the patient rather than getting rid of the tumour.

Yesterday I asked the receptionist about exchanging some money, pounds for dollars, as Caroline said Mum had last year. Araceli initially said she couldn't but came back later and said she would do it tomorrow. This morning we did a private exchange based on an internet rate, (as she said, no commission) she is hoping to visit London, particularly Notting Hill, after seeing the Julia Roberts film, so she is keen to start collecting cash for her trip. Caroline and I found her a selection of notes and pound coins to make it more interesting.

                                             Araceli at her reception desk.

This afternoon I went to laughter therapy with Shary, where 3 other companions and I laughed, sang and hugged. No room for British reticence, and some funny jokes.

Did you know Tijuana is the golf capital of the world - there are 18 holes in every street.

Mohammad and Nader left today, and we have several new patients on the 5th floor, but we haven't met them yet. One of them had a mud poultice this afternoon, and there was some left so Annabel gave me and Carol a face mask!

Not a pretty sight, but as Carol said my skin is now as smooth as a baby's butt!

Another British couple arrived this evening, Pam and Wesley from Surrey, and sat at our table for dinner.

Companions lunch at El Yoghurt Place tomorrow. Caroline may be having the stem cell treatment, so I'll probably go for some cheese.

monday - patients getting ready to leave & news from home

Another good night's sleep for both of us, although my bed is a little hard and is bruising my hips a bit. Another companion, Carol, who is Canadian and here with her dad Clifford, sat on it and promptly told me to ask for the foam topper on her bed when she goes on Thursday. Apparently it was bought by another companion and passed on to her. 

Caroline has had lots of IVs today and another UV treatment on her blood. We've also had a second visit from the visiting missionaries, Beatrice and Andrew, who blessed me as well as Caroline this time. A lot of the activities on the board are described as being led by 'Amigos dos Esperanza' who I've been expecting to meet all week; I realised today it's not someone's name, but refers to these missionaries, 'friends of/in hope?'

David and Ruth Ann have left the hospital today for the Amish guesthouse and outpatient clinc, and when I went to the supermarket today I saw several other Amish families, including a beautiful blonde mother with an 8 month old baby called Andrew with flaxen hair. Our neighbours Mohammad and Nader his son leave for Wisconsin tomorrow, and Carol & Clifford go on Thursday. If no-one else comes Caroline will be the only patient in the Issels section of the hospital.

A couple from Indiana arrived yesterday on the third floor; Henry and Joanne have been married for 51 years, from the ages of 18 and 15, and have a great grandchild of 7! It was Henry's first ever flight to get here, but he seems to have coped extremely well, although the lack of Diet Coke in the hospital might be a problem for them.

We are getting lovely emails from Mum, who seems to be in a whirlwind of activity while Dad is recovering in hospital; making jam, walking Ollie the hip breaker, preparing for the joiner coming back to replace some more windows and finishing today with a trip to one of the Seahouses curry joints with Dave and my children. (Dad's not keen on spicy food, so she doesn't get much opportunity.) Dad has been up walking and should be transferred to Alnwick tomorrow so that will make things easier for her.

Sorry no photos at the moment, my phone camera has started to store photos in the phone memory rather than on the card and I can't get at them.

Good news, Nader next door has just fixed it so I should be able to upload some more tomorrow.

Keep the comments coming please, we really appreciate them. It's particularly special to hear from our American cousins; Happy Anniversary John & Nancy.

good mexican coffee - no cream no sugar

Sunday today, a service in the cafeteria after breakfast and we were surprised to see Dr Contreras again, Caroline only saw him once last year. He was very interesting, speaking for about 1/2 hour about his father's work and his own, starting from a lifetime achievement award he had just received for work with cancer patients. I forgot to take my camera for photos, but will try to get one from one of the other patients tomorrow. Dr Contreras was followed by Bruce, one of the missionaries, who talked about his own cancer treatment, remembering when he had to learn to have coffee enemas and how the nurse would arrive with a jug of coffee for him, telling him ' good mexican coffee - no cream, no sugar'.

There is an Amish couple from Wisconsin in the hospital, Ruth Ann and David, she had surgery on Friday and appeared at breakfast today looking very well. She is extremely friendly and is enjoying talking to everyone at meal times. They have 8 children, 5 still at home, the oldest two looking after the farm and house.

Caroline has felt much better today, the eye drops have helped and she slept almost 10 hours last night. I was going to go on the market trip today and leave her to rest, but there weren't enough people wanting to go so we went for a walk through the malls and past the chocolate shop. We bought some dark chocolate goodies to try, a few choc raisins and chocolate with almonds. 

It feels as if we are on another planet here, the time difference with home, 8 hours behind, is difficult to get to grips with, most of the time we are awake, they are asleep. For most people emotions are very close to the surface, but although all the patients have major health problems, it's not an unhappy place and Caroline and I have had a lot of laughs.

Quite a few people have gone home in the last few days so we're waiting to see if tomorrow brings any new arrivals.

News from home is good, Dad seems to be recovering well from surgery and will be moving to Alnwick hospital before going home.

Keep the comments coming, it's lovely to get a response.

movie star

Mrs Issels has been on the phone several times to see how Caroline is and ask her if she would be filmed for the website. It's wonderful confirmation that they see her as a success story, but unfortunately in the last few days she has had what appears to be a minor virus, which at the moment is affecting her eyes, which are sore and feel gritty. Hopefully it will be gone by Monday, when the video is being shot, as she won't want to be filmed looking less than her best. I've got to blow dry her hair tomorrow, no pressure...................
She had two blood treatments today, the blood taken yesterday which had been activated with interleuken 2 and then a UV treatment of some blood which was put staight back in. The interleuken has left her feeling ropey, and has made the eye problem worse. Apparently all to be expected, but uncomfortable.
There was a shopping trip to a mall today, which I didn't go on, but I've signed up for the artisan's market tomorrow afternoon. Caroline won't come, but there should be some patients as well as companions, the Oasis of Hope patients don't seem to have any treatment at the weekend. The hospital is very quiet, the other patients we have met so far have been American, Canadian, and Australian, with the odd Italian and Nigerian.

Magy

Caroline is looked after in the afternoon & evening by a delightful nurse called Magy, who Mum and Andrew will remember from last year. She's a grandmother with a grandaughter called Carolina, but she looks no more than 30 and is a lot of fun, very efficient, calm and caring.

She has a selection of cartoon work tunics, this is Betty Boop.

friday - lovely sunny day & everything's looking better

After a very overcast start the sun came out gloriously, we had slept well, with no painkillers for Caroline, and after another X-ray to confirm that the lung was fully reinflated, the drs took out the valve this afternoon. Caroline was a bit disappointed not to get more sedation but it went well, the main problem seeming to be that she had healed so well that it took a while to loosen the stitches. She had the usual IVs this morning (see photo) and we've had two walks, one to the beach where there is a new boardwalk. I'll take the camera next time to show you.

The blood results came back this morning, and although the results were delivered very dead pan by the doctor, virtually everything was absolutely normal. Her uric acid levels were low, but that's because she eats no meat. So fantastic news.

We've not had cake for a day or two so it was a lovely treat to find it there at lunch although we saved it to have with a cup of tea later. I'm enjoying the food, but missing cake and cheese. No detox headaches yet.

The first full week is over for the children back home, they'll be happy it's Friday, time for a lie in. The weekend isn't going to be much different for us, although I'm planning to go on the market trip on Sunday.

It's great to see that we have acquired a few followers, I have tried to reply to Lesley's comments, but the site won't let me do it. I'll get Dave to send me your email address.

Good news also from home, Dad's had his hip pinned, Mum has seen him this afternoon after the surgery, and she hopes he will be transferred to Alnwick on Monday.

thursday - unexpected events continue

After 24 hours of Caroline having the chest valve put in (and sticking out of her clothes at odd angles) she is doing much better. The initial relief of being able to breathe again properly has passed and she just has to wait for the all the air to be expelled. This means that some treatment has been delayed, she has had some IVs but not the coley's vaccine.

We had a short walk this afternoon, which was her first time out of the hospital, but otherwise a quiet day. It was a shock to hear from home that Dad is in hospital in Ashington, having fallen and broken his hip while walking Ollie.