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!

oops, a little blood leak...

The last week or so has been pretty interesting...in the sense of seeing new phenomena in my body that I'd rather not see.

I started losing some blood through my urine...not painful, but I'm really not used to seeing something the color of Hawaiian Punch in that neck of the woods!  At the same time, I started becoming noticeably weaker -- by mid-afternoon every day, I really needed a nap.

Blood tests showed that my red blood cell count was dangerously low (10.2) -- I was suffering from anemia.  The doctors originally thought it was due to a urinary tract infection, and gave me a round of antibiotics to combat it.  This did nothing.  I came up with a more likely cause when I noticed a bruise developing at the bottom of my ribs. My hypothesis (admittedly nothing more than the opinion of a *very* interested layperson) is that the metastases growing on my ribs were causing some internal bleeding, which was being siphoned off by my kidneys into my urine.

I got a blood transfusion last week at Alta Bates, which helped my strength somewhat. And fortunately, the (external) bleeding has completely stopped.  I never was in any pain -- but it was a definite (and STRONG) reminder that I need to get myself into a powerful treatment program ASAP!

a third possible treatment: IPT

I spoke with Dr. Dean at the Euro-Med Center in Scottsdale today about a treatment that I've become interested in checking out: insulin potentiation therapy (IPT).

Here's a great description of it:
http://www.euro-med.us/cancer-treatment/insulin-potentiation-therapy.cfm

short version: cancer cells LOVE glucose. In IPT therapy, you're given insulin, which lowers your blood sugar...all your cancer cells start crying out for more glucose! At that point you get a lot of glucose COMBINED with low-dose chemotherapy. The great advantage of this technique over standard chemotherapy is that it's a small enough dose that it does no harm to your immune system.

I'm trying to find someone that will give me a valid comparison between this treatment and the Chinese sonodynamic treatment I'm also investigating. Both treatments can often (though not always) take patients all the way to remission -- but even with remissions, you have to go back in for periodic re-treatments. I'm prepared for that; my understanding is that cancer is a chronic condition that I'll live with for the rest of my life. It would be a lot easier to return frequently to an IPT clinic in the States than the SDT clinic in China!

Update 3/8:

After researching the IPT therapy further, it looks like it's much more appropriate for early stage cancers. I'm going to keep looking for another multi-therapy clinic in the US so that it will be easy to travel to. I'll be investigating the various Mexican clinics -- Ralph Moss has written a report evaluating the various treatments in the major clinics there, which will be helpful.

uh-oh, problems are advancing

I had a visit with Dr. Sunkara's team today, and it reinforced my sense of urgency to find (and start!) another treatment plan very soon.

My PSA has jumped to 659. That doesn't have an impact on me by itself -- it just means I have a lot of cancer floating around my system. What worries me is my low (and dropping) red blood cell and platelet counts. I'm coming in to the doctor's office to have them tested every week or so; when they drop below a specified level, I'll need to get a blood transfusion to boost my red blood cells. This will actually be great, as I am starting to feel very weak in the afternoons because of the anemia.

I definitely want my next treatment to get started before I get stuck in some hospital hooked up to a machine. As long as I'm ambulatory and independent, there are things I can do to put the cancer in check.