Ow, This Thing Really Works!!

Here's the ultrasound machine that I have at home -- it's the same one that I was using at the Hope4Cancer clinic in Mexico.

Every week I dissolve three chlorophyll capsules in my mouth and wait 24 hours. Then I smear myself with olive oil and baste for 30 minutes...no, wait, I smear myself with olive oil and then jump in the bathtub! I then slowly rub the wand over the areas where there are tumors.

While I'm using the ultrasound wand, it's absolutely painless -- I actually can't feel a thing. Within four hours, though, it kicks up an inflammatory reaction in the areas where there are tumors -- my femur, pelvis, and spine. I feel some pain, depending on how long I applied the wand. I definitely have to work on my timing so that I do it for long enough to make a difference, but not too long to make the pain too intense!

Despite the pain, it's really good to know that the treatment actually has an effect, and that I can see such a quick feedback loop between something I do and the effect it has. For so many of the treatments (like the supplements I take, for instance), there's really no way to directly know if I'm having any kind of impact. With the sonodynamic treatment -- oh, you better believe I can feel when I've undergone the treatment!

The next step is to find a helper to use the wand on places I can't reach on my back, and to set up the bank of lights that will complement the ultrasound treatment in activating the chlorophyll inside the body.

A Bit of Science

Here's a couple of great articles about the effectiveness of the sonodynamic treatment. One of them has an exhaustive chronicle of what happened to each of the 116 patients that have been treated with this therapy at a clinic in the UK. (PDF files)

Photodynamic and Sonodynamic Therapy

Next Generation Photodynamic Therapy (PDT) and Sonodynamic Therapy (SDT)

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.

Bad Pain -- it's a Good Thing!

Sorry for the slow posting about my stay here at the clinic. A lot of times the days are long here: I have six separate treatments every day, and then there's our three vegetarian sit-down meals, and the three juices in between meals.

But honestly, most of my time the last few days has been taken up with dealing with the pain of the therapies. Each one of them is intended to produce an inflammatory response in order to attack the tumors. And believe me, I am getting these inflammatory responses in spades! Unpredictably throughout the day, I'm getting intense pain in one of several areas around the tumors -- but mostly in my pelvis, where my tumors are concentrated. These waves of pain knock my socks off for a few hours at a time, and I have to stop whatever I'm doing and lie in bed. (although it's difficult to take weight off of my pelvis no matter how I twist and turn!)

This is actually a very good sign, as it means that the treatments are being effective against the cancer. I can stop the pain completely for a day by not doing any treatments for that day -- but then, that defeats the whole purpose of why I'm down here, doesn't it? So since I want to keep moving ahead with the treatments, the clinic has several (non-opiate) painkillers that I can use. The best has been a treatment that Dr. Tony has administered the past few days: pulsed light flashes to the acupuncture points for pain relief in my ear. The last few nights I've been able to sleep soundly, without intense pain. It's made the whole treatment process much more manageable, even allowing me to make a few blog posts!

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.