Coming home soon

YES!  Being excited is okay!  This is GREAT stuff, here!  Based on her tumor markers, she has improved a lot. The very bad part is that she just can't get that pain under control.  I'm happy she will be coming home soon.  Hopefully, nerve blockers or SOMETHING can help her. 

She says that if she can figure out how to continue her treatments at home, she should be able to keep the cancer from metastasizing and if the IGRT was successful, the tumors in her lung should shrink like crazy. It takes a long time for adenocarcinoma to react to radiation so it could be months before we can tell if it was successful.


She is flying home next Saturday, February 13th. 

Uwe and Cristal, I think I accidentally deleted your message.  Thank you for your well wishes.  You can read Jackie's posts at:  www.caringbridge.org/visit/jackiewilks. 

Until next time...
 
 
 
 
 
 

She's not a cancer patient but she plays one on TV

Mom, you are doing great.  Keep putting one foot in front of the other.  An additional week or so is not so bad.  It gives you some extra time to learn more Korean than just "hello".  Speaking of which, I have given your second-oldest granddaughter all of my remaining won and coins.  She actually has two piggy banks completely full of big cash and says she is going to use it for college.  Any leftover and she'll buy college books.  See how it works when you tell a child, from newborn to ten years-old, that they ARE going to college?  Now she says she wants to be a politician... oh and fashion designer.  I can just see the White House now in thirty years.

The person I was having that "conversation" with (as noted in my last post) seems to have backed-off.  Why anyone would think that South Korea is a third world country is beyond me.  After listing each un and ill informed question from that person with facts seems to have helped.  I truly hope that this all will end up in medical history someday.  That doctor from Korea who found the way to cure disease and illness. 

Let me change my self-questioning and any past doubt to:  THIS WILL WORK.

This should not be because we couldn't find a reason not to go to Korea for this treatment.  This should be because THE FIND A CURE FOR CANCER WORLD TOUR - SOUTH KOREA 2010 means something.  It means that there was enough information we could sink our teeth into and make an informed decision.  It means that after you keep putting one foot in front of the other... you move... you get somewhere.  And after all that you have been through (and are still going through), you haven't stopped.  You know the destination and that's why you keep going.  A lot of mountains have been climbed and a lot of journeys traveled down unknown paths. The difference between those who have the courage to do those things and you? 

Nothing.

Well...

I am reading the CaringBridge updates from Dawn, Jackie, James and John everyday.  So wishing the best for everyone there.  Please give Jackie a hug from me.

Have you finished watching all of your Boston Legal DVD's yet? 

Much love from your family in California!! 

Here is the Tshirt you will have to wear when you get back...   

Day Twelve

It's Saturday here so it was to the clinic at 8:30 am.  As it was snowing, getting into the building was interesting but we made it.  Mom got the 45 minute protein drip and one of those rump shots (she had it out of my view so I didn't ask) but it had to have been either the CK or the vaccine. 

For lunch, we decided to have real Korean food for a change, so we ventured downstains to Yura.  I really wish I had taken my camera.  We both ordered the Bulgogi Kettle (which is a marinated beef mixed with mushrooms, bean sprouts, carrots, etc.).  It was really very good.  They start you off with a salad, which had some kind of super cold relishy dressing.  Then they bring out the kimchi, cold bean sprouts, some kind of fish, what looked like small oysters and some kind of slimy mushroom sprouts (all in separate little bowls).  I tried everything except the small oysters.  It was all pretty good except the fish thing.  Ugh.  Mom only tried the cold bean sprouts and a piece of kimchi.  Then they brought out the Bulgogi with a side of (I think it was Jasmine) rice. This was obviously a lot of food for just two people but we did the best we could to eat what we could.                                               

This wasn't our table but lunch sort of looked something like this (the Bulgogi is in the middle).

Then they brought out a cold plum tea after the meal.  Mind you, all this they brought when all we ordered from the menu were "two Bulgogi Kettles, please".

We thought it would be nice to go the movie theatre across the street, just to do something different.  So, after we go back into the hotel room, I put my jacket back on and went across the bridge to buy tickets (it is reserved seating so wanted to be sure we pre-bought tickets).  I could not believe how crowded it was!  I actually had to take a number to buy the tickets.  Anyway, there were only two movies in English (with Korean subtitles)... Avatar and Sherlock Holmes.  After flipping a coin, we ended up with Sherlock Holmes.  Entertaining movie. 

Tomorrow, if mom is still up for it and it's not completely freezing outside, we'll take the shuttle over to Itaewon for a little shopping.  Will let you know how that goes!  How to ask "how much" in Korean:  Olma Imnika.

Day Eight

This is the front of Mario Tower, the building where Goodgene is located.  It is up on the 11th floor.

Today is Tuesday, so Mom got her protein drip (however, this one took two hours).  Then, she received her "gene vaccine" (gene drug specifically for lung cancer) and then an additional "CK" shot, which means "Cytokine" (gene complex which simulates anticancer immunity).  Those shots are, as mom says, butt shots and they hurt like the dickens.  She was finished today by noon.  Because a patient was already having his blood harvested, I needed to wait until 1:30pm to have mine done.   For lunch, mom and I went down to a Chinese restaurant in the lobby.  It was very unusual... Chinese food, Korean style.  They spoke no English so somehow, through drawing pictures in the air and my limited amount of Korean, we were able to get a fork for mom.

My blood harvesting took 2 hours and 15 minutes.  They said my blood was "slow" and the centrifuge kept clicking off.  After awhile of vein checks and trying to warm my very cold hand, they said that my blood was freezing and added "anti-freeze".  Yes, I freaked out a little when they said they added "anti-freeze" but alas, it was only an anti-coagulant.

Dr. Moon did stick his head into mom's room and mentioned that after the clinic visit tomorrow, she will need to see Dr. Cho at the Korean Cancer Center.  He wants to use a low toxicity chemo and is hoping the drug will come tomorrow.  I suppose we'll find out more once we speak to Dr. Cho.

Otherwise, mom has been eating well (peaches, apples, oranges, bananas, salad) and keeping strong.  The rib pain, however, is growing more pronounced and mom's medications are still in customs.  Mom had to get presciptions for them emailed to her this morning, then she forwarded them to FedEx along with her passport number and explanations for the medications.  This is a word to the wise... if you have to ship any meds from the US, include the prescriptions, passport # and explanations.  Another patient had his vitamins confiscated and told that sending them here was illegal.  So, we have our fingers crossed.

I do wish I could give more treatment information but we simply don't know any more information.  They hook her up, you try to ask questions and they try to explain but it's just a little and it's on the other side of a language barrier.  At this point it goes like this:  Monday, Wednesday and Friday is stem cells and protein.  Tuesdays and Thursdays is gene and/or CK shot(s) and protein.  Saturdays are unknown as Dr. Moon will call out whatever he deems necessary for the patient on that day.  And that's it, folks.

It's hard for someone like mom (and me) to not know exactly what's going on.  Mom needs to know the "who", "what", "why" and "where".  But, that's not what you get.  Heck, we just show up at the shuttle every morning, go to the clinic and hope for the best. 

The people that come here bring with them a lot of hope.  But those who come, come when they have been given very little hope at home.   Is this a cure, though?  Is there such thing as a cure for Parkinsons and cancer with Dr. Moon?  Before you come, do your homework.  Research.  Be wise, be smart and yes, have faith.  Don't just read blogs (including mine) and think you know all there is to know.  That's not smart.  You need to know that not everyone who has come here has survived, let alone been cured.  You will need to understand that you will be given a percentage of "cure" that Dr. Moon will give you when you meet him.

Mom is here because this is her only option right now.  She cannot keep going without any kind of cancer-fighting treatment.  If this works, I will shout it from every rooftop.  If this works, she will be his biggest advocate.  In the meantime, I will hold her hand and pray that this will, at the very least, help her.

Sure, I have faith.  I happen to have to have a lot of it.  I just prefer it not to be blind.  As for hope... there are rivers of it here.

This is a proverb that is quite appropriate:

As long as we have hope, we have direction, the energy to move, and the map to move by. We have a hundred alternatives, a thousand paths and an infinity of dreams. Hopeful, we are halfway to where we want to go; hopeless, we are lost forever.