It's the People That Count!

(more Tijuana photos by Liz here)

I'm completely loving the scene here in Tijuana! (or "TJ", as everyone here refers to it*) We're actually in Playas de Tijuana, separated from the rest of the city by a major highway and a mountain range -- so there's no problem with drug violence anywhere near here.

The scene at the beach across the street is wonderful. On nice days, it's filled with people -- all Mexicans, and all completely relaxed and having fun. We're only four blocks from San Diego, but it's an utterly different universe. The fresh air and the happy giggling is completely invigorating, and endlessly entertaining. We were lucky enough to be invited into a local home for Easter, and we had a blast.

Inside the clinic, I am thanking my lucky stars several times a day that I ended up here after all my searching. The difference is the people! Besides being complete sweethearts, both the doctors and nurses have plenty of time to be attentive and caring, as there are only four patients staying in the clinic at any one time. Both of the other sonodynamic therapy options that I investigated (in China and the UK) were outpatient, so I wouldn't have received anywhere near this level of care. On my first day here, the doctors discovered a urinary tract infection that I hadn't even known about, and it's now completely gone.

The nurses take my vital signs and check in on me round the clock. They've also been helping train Liz to administre the two shots (Goldenseal + vitamins, and antigen vaccine) that I'll continue once I return home. Most importantly, we've been well-trained in what will be necessary to continue the therapies (both sonodynamic + supplements) once we return to Berkeley. No other place I checked into has such a well-planned approach to follow-up care.

I'll put myself through eight more weeks of treatment at home, and then get a bone scan on schedule in mid-July (which I do every six months). That will give me a progress report on how I'm doing, and let me know how well the therapies have worked.

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* Given that the reference to Tijuana as "TJ" is universal...and considering how sleazy a reputation Tijuana has...I can't believe that anyone actually ended up naming a television show "T.J. Hooker"! Somewhere in Hollywood, an executive producer is still chuckling to themselves.

Day 3 -- Everything Under Way

The routine here is well underway. I waited 48 hours for the RaphaChlor chlorophyll capsules to lodge in my system, and now I am receiving all of the therapies:

• full-body hyperthermia (pictured above -- how do you like the pig-in-the-blanket look?)

• Indiba hyperthermia: one heated metal pad is underneath my body, and a heated meta disc is rubbed slowly over all the areas where I have tumors.

The main treatment that I've come for is the sonodynamic therapy, which comes in three parts:

• photodynamic therapy: part of the chlorophyll is activated near the surface of my body by a bed of daylight fluorescent bulbs hanging six inches above me -- I stay under these for an hour.

• laser therapy: a small laser wand is slowly rubbed over all affected areas of my body, and inserted rectally to activate my prostate (oooh!). This reaches more deeply than the visible light lengths can reach on their own and lasts about half an hour.

• ultrasound therapy: I lie in a tub of water, and an ultrasound wand is slowly passed over the affected areas of body for about 45 minutes. (pictured above with one of the great nurses here helping out.)
  

We also get three square meals a day of lovingly-prepared vegetarian food, and fruit & vegetable juices three times a day in between meals. But the most healing part of the routine so far are the doctors and nurses here -- I feel so completely taken care of! Everyone is a complete sweetheart, and they are extremely patient with my rudimentary Spanish.

¡Bienvenidos a México!

Today we arrived at the US border, 3 hours late after hitting tons of traffic in LA. I am always excited by that moment when the endless streatch of interstate (+ malls + suburbs + stores + restaurants) actually DOES come to an end and we have finally run out of US land to drive through.

Jesus (the driver) is there to take us across the border, and we cruise through Immigration and head across the mountains, away from the main part of Tijuana, toward Playas de Tijuana. On the way we chat with another couple from the clinic, he has prostate cancer as well. After 15 minutes of driving parallel to the border fence, we pull off by the bullfighting ring, and turn left to land at our little clinic -- it's directly across the street from the Pacific, and the view from our room is gorgeous! We can hear the crashing surf from our window, and our view is a riot of people and color and shops. From the instant I arrive I'm swarmed by doctors and nurses (there's a staff of 10 of them here, for only four patients! I give my medical history, hand over my records to be copied, and get checked out from head to toe. I already feel VERY taken care of here!

That night the nurse brings me 12 of the RaphaChlor capsules -- the special chlorophyll formulation that I will take which will be the center piece of the sonodynamic therapy. I'm instructed to let each one dissolve slowly underneath my tongue...in ABSOLUTE darkness so that the photosynthesis of each capsule isn't triggered. Sounds easy, but it takes an hour and a half of cowering underneath the covers, sucking on the capsules!

Going To Mexico!

OK, everything's set -- Liz and I are Going to Mexico next week!

I investigated the sonodynamic therapy (SDT) that Ralph Moss suggested at the clinic in Xi'an, China. It's an offshoot of photodynamic therapy, which is a fairly standard American therapy for surface cancers (like melanoma). SDT is a relatively new treatment that shows good results for prostate cancer (and bone metastases) that can't be reached very well with surface treatments. (See my earlier post for more details and a description of how it works; the link above is the best scientific description I've seen, and has case studies of 116 different patients that have been treated with SDT.)

Further investigation revealed that there are three places in the world that currently offer this treatment: the clinic in China (which moved over from Australia), the Dove Clinic in London, and the Hope4Cancer Institute in Tijuana.

They all use exactly the same sensitizing agent and treatment technique for sonodynamic therapy.

And I can *drive* to Tijuana!

What really sealed the deal was my conversation a couple of days ago with Dr. Tony Jimenez, the head doctor and researcher at the Institute. He's a nice guy from New Jersey who's intimately familiar with a lot of the best therapies that I've been researching, and has a great approach to the combination of treatments that I'll be receiving at the Institute. I liked him a lot, and you'll be hearing a lot more details of the treatment once we arrive.

I want to take this opportunity to express my deep gratitude for all of you that have helped to make this trip possible. I'm not fooling myself that this is any kind of "miracle cure", but it's a darned good shot at getting substantially better, and I couldn't be doing this without your incredibly generous help. Thank you so much!