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...
 
 
 
 
 
 

Cancer Marker Results

Mom had a tough go of it a few days ago.  She thinks it was probably the result of all the stuff they gave her Monday: "anti-nausea pill, hydration, antibiotic, antihistimine, diuretic, stem cells, cisplatin, allergic reaction test, a new vaccine, the old vaccine, and (as she says) the kitchen sink".


She met with Dr Cho a few days ago and at first he said she should come back and get a CT in 6 months. She asked if getting one in 10 days made any sense (what Dr Moon wants), and he said no it wouldn't show anything for 3 to 6 months. He believes all the pain is being caused by the tumor in the upper lobe pressing on the nerve fibers and it could take up to 6 months to get relief (she had gone to using 2 pain patches, but says it's not nearly enough). Then he came out to where they were sitting and asked how long she'd be in Korea. She said a week or 2 and he said she should stay and have a CT in a month. But mom is ready to come home and told Dr Moon that she wanted to talk to him about next steps. He said he wanted to wait until he sees the cancer markers so he had blood drawn.

Here are the tumor marker results:

CEA before 17 now 7 (normal <5)
CA72-4 was 4 now normal
CA15-3 was 33 now normal
NSE was 32 now normal

Whoa.  I feel... happy.  This is good, yes?  Really good, right?  Can I feel this?  Is it okay to? 

BFF Field Report for January 29 (edited to exclude other patient info)

Thank you for your report!!

This message is being sent from the roaming field reporter, not the patient.


Yesterday Jan 29 your Mom had stem cell and protein drip and she had her vaccine shot so she does not have to attend clinic session Saturday morning. Yahoo. After the clinic your Mom had radiation treatment number 13, 2 to go, big yippee. After radiation Mr Mok brought us to the hosptial to see Jackie. Joe and Erika leave tomorrow morning.

Today at noon Mr Mok is taking 8 of us to a buddhist temple..

This is the way it is signing out for today.

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...   

So.

I have found myself in a conversation with someone who (understandably) thoroughly questions this entire process with Dr. Moon.  Okay, actually is adamant that this process is a fraud. 

The last thing I want to do is be a commercial for Goodgene.  I will be one when mom has been helped.  There are moments while I was there that took me aback - like what happened with Jackie's fiducials.  But you know what?  Mom had surgery in the US that was profoundly terrible.  Can anybody say they have never experienced a problem with US healthcare, doctors or hospitals?  Like I said before, no one (and no country) has this healthcare business right.

I DON'T KNOW IF THIS WORKS!  God help me, I pray that it does.

What does success mean?  Does it mean that 100% have to be "cured" of cancer?  25%?  10%?

Dr. Moon is working on opening a lab in Houston.  Obviously, continued research is key.  Mom is getting IGRT treatments (along with other treatments) in South Korea.  So, I feel comfortable with her there.  She is being treated, at least, there. 

As I previously wrote, not all who have come have survived.  There are those, however, that have.  Why?  Why them and not others?  What if you only get an extra year before your cancer comes back?  Is the money and time worth it?   Here is some reality:

 I spoke to the wife of a patient who died.  She said this:
"I would suggest doing everything in your power to get your mother to Dr. Moon. I have met with two people who went there. However, they were very straight forward and said that of the 20 people being treated at the same time as them, they are the only 2 still alive. They did say, though, that even the people who died were so happy when they died. They weren't in pain, they didn't die of some drawn out disease, it was in their sleep. I wish that was how my husband had died. Just going along and then died in his sleep instead of the steady decrease in his ability to do things, including see. I know that this man's treatments are expensive, but he does a fantastic job. He does stem cells, dendritic cell therapy, cyberknife... What you need to know about dendritic cell therapy is that it uses your white blood cells to attack your cancer. So if you have a low white blood cell count, depleted bone marrow, etc... they can not do the treatment for you. That is another problem with Tye going there. He had so much chemo that his body just stopped creating white blood cells and his count was very low".

And the son of a patient who died:
"Dr. Moon's treatments went very well for my mom. It knocked the lung cancer down by 30~40% according to the before and after tests we did. Unfortunately we were unaware that the cancer had spread to her brain prior to us leaving for Korea & the treatments we did specifically targeted her lungs. When we got back to California they found the brain cancer and did a series of whole brain radiation treatments. She's resting comfortably now but the brain cancer seems to be pretty advanced and she's not responding much to the radiation.  I wish I had a better story for you but what we originally went to Korea for was accomplished and from what I hear from the other families that were out there with us they've been successful too".

I reached out to some folks and some have reached out to me.  I am keeping my eye on those who are still out there, living their lives... praying for them too. 

False hope and blind faith is not what should take anyone to a country they know nothing about.  Have informed hope and thoughtful faith. Do your research!

Right now, we'll have to wait and see.  Mom, myself and her doctors are anxious to see her results.  As promised, I will share them.

~