DAY 6 OF TREATMENT

Saturday, August 31st

Today started early with breakfast at 7:00.    Mike wanted to get his treatments in early and out of the way so we would have the rest of the day to do something.  He had his usual Thimus injection, the bio mat, oxygen therapy, magnetic field therapy, localized hyperthermia, and some sort of vibrating bed treatment.

We then had lunch which was chicken breast in a yellow creamy sauce with celery, paprika vegetables, and potatoes,  The dessert was ice cream "Vienna".  It was a slice of vanilla ice cream with a thin chocolate coating layer in between the ice cream layers.

After lunch Lindy, Christy, Chris, Mike, and I walked 25 minutes to Flintsbach to catch the train to go to Rosenheim for the Beer Festival.   There we met a woman who was born and lived in the states for 14 years who helped us with our ticket purchase from the machine.  We had to stand on the train as it was packed with a lot of  late teens to young adults headed to the festival as well.  Chris decided that with all the young people, he was going to be a party pooper and get back on the train to come back to Flintsbach where he could go to the pub and have a beer or two in quite.  The girls were all dressed in very colorful Bavarian dresses with low cut tops that had their cleavage pushed up and basically falling out of the top of their dresses.  The boys were dressed in the Bavarian shorts with suspenders and the socks.  Some wore the German hats.   After we got off the train, we wanted to hail a taxi.   We had been told by the masseuse here at the clinic that the taxi ride should be no more than 4 euros.  When we asked the driver how much the fee would be to take us about a mile, he told us 55 euros.  Needless to say, we decided to walk.   We then ran into the same woman from the train station.   We asked her about the 55 euro charge, and she told us the driver was trying to rip us off.  We were not quite sure where we were going so we just followed the masses of people dressed up in their Bavarian outfits.

We were told that the beer tent here is the largest beer tent in the world.   We went insidr.  It was filled with rows of tables.  It was completely filled.  We just walked in to see what it looked like and what was going on inside.   It was very warm and noisy.   We left the tent and started walking around.   It seemed like the Bloomsburg Fair.  There were many, many rides for the kids and grownups and food stands.   We stopped at one of the stands and Christy and Lindy got a glass of champagne and Mike got a German beer.   These drinks were put into actual glassware, and they had to pay 2 euros as a deposit for the glass.  Once they were done, they turned in their tickets and got their 2 euros back.    I purchased a German soft pretzel and a glass bottle of lite Pepsi.

We made our way back to the train station.   We weren't sure if the train that was waiting at the platform was the correct one to bring us back to Brannenburg. Luckily we had a woman who spoke English tell us that this was the train we needed to get on,  She was headed back to Brannenberg as well.  

We got back to the clinic just in time for dinner which consisted of potato pancakes with apple sauce.  The potato pancakes seemed to me to just be like hashbrowns.   The applesauce had a different consistency than back home.   They also had fresh fruit available,   We had a new arrival today from Tasmania.  His name is Mike and he was originally from Rhode Island,   He has prostate cancer just recently diagnosed on July 30th.   He is scheduled to only be here for a week.   Currently there are more English speaking people here having treatment than any other foreign language.   We are now back in our room for the night just taking it easy before bed.   I needed to get this blog in before handing this notebook over to Mike so he can play games on the computer.    And he said we did not need to have this with us!  I only wish I had thought to bring the cord for my camera to see if I could upload pictures .  Oh well, will post them when we get home.

Good Night

 

 

DAY 5 OF TREATMENT

Friday, August 30th

It will seem strange not being home for the Labor Day weekend, but we are doing something better here, Today Mike had his first breakfast of green juice.  He actually was able to get  most of the bottle down. What he did not finish, he gave to Leah.   The one thing he does not particularly like is the pulp texture to the juice, but he did a good job with it.

While Mike went to start off his treatment, I stayed behind and sat in on the conversation on the dinning room.  There is a gentleman here  Chris T. with his partner, Zoe Brannigan (from the UK) who has a rare cancer, Synovial sarcoma.  She is here now with pain in her side.  Chris T. feels stress brought this on. He has done a lot of research and is a wealth of information.  He mentioned two things that sound good for Mike to be using - Cucumin which is derived from tumeric and EGCG which can be obtained in a supplement and in green tea.  Mike has been drinking green tea while we have been here.  I looked these both up on the internet.  The cucumin can be added to food, i.e. rice, and also boiled into water to drink. These should both be good for the colon cancer, and we will have to get these when we get back home.

Mike had some sort of reaction on the skin to the Thimus.   He has broken out with red spots on his arms, chest, and legs.   When he went down for his hyperthemia on Tuesday, the technician noticed this and brought in the nurse.   He has been given medicine to take care of this.    He  is having the hot liver pack done now.  

This afternoon, I am going to go into town with Lindy.  Mike will be in his hyperthermia treatment.  I asked to tag along so I will know how to get there and then can take Mike into town.  Lindy said there is a Bavarian Festival in Rosenheim this weekend.  I am not sure if this is different from what Dr. Weber mentioned to us the other day.  Lindy said that you have to take the train and then get a taxi.  So we will see who all is going and tag along with them.  It should be nice to see this side of the German culture.

As mentioned yesterday, here is what we have eaten while here:

Breakfast  - variety of breads, eggs made to order, a cottage cheese that has been whipped up and then Mike puts flax seed on it and cut up fruit, yogurt.   The also have some thinly sliced meats and cheeses out. Mike either has green tea or a cup of coffee.   I have had the eggs, bread, fruit, or yogurt.

Sunday:         Lunch    Salad, broth soup.   Mike had some sort of meat with cheese on top and shredded   vegetables.  I had what they called baked potatoes with sour cream (actually small new potatoes) and shredded vegetables.  Dessert that I had was vanilla  cream with  berries.

                     Dinner   2 pieces of toast with a thin slice of ham, cheese, and pineapple on top.   Dessert was  fresh fruit,   This is the only dessert at dinner time.

Monday:       Lunch   Creamy garlic soup.  Mike then had venison roast with egg noddles and red cabbage. I had Spaghetti aglio e olio ( with garlic and  oil).  Mike did not complain of any garlic oozing out of my body.  Dessert was red berry compote with vanilla cream

                    Dinner  Same soup.   Spicy cheese salad with fresh ciabatta bread.

Tuesday:      Lunch   Creamy vegetable soup or consomme with noodles.   Mike had mixed fish with quino and fresh vegetables.  I had the vegetable wok with quinoa.   I had the banana milk shake for dessert.  That was not quite bad.   I usually only like to eat fresh bananas.

                    Dinner  Same soups.   Indian vegetable rice.   

Wednesday:  Lunch   Creamy leek soup.  Mike had wiener schnitzel with parsley potatoes and currants. I had spelt vegetable patties on broccoli sauce.  This was good.  Not sure what  what all was in it.   Dessert was ice coffee - Vienna.  It was like whipped topping with coffee in it.   

                    Dinner  Same soup.   Mixed salad vegetable plane with potato curd ravioli.

Thursday:     Lunch   Chicken consomme with vegetables.  Mike had duck breast on currant jus and potatoes au gratin.   I had the cheese souffle with tomatoes and basil.   Skipped dessert so we could leave for the train.

                    Dinner  I had creamy carrot ginger soup.   Miked had his portion and my portion of the smoked trout with grain bread.   I ate yogurt, fruit, and grain bread.

Today:          Lunch  Clear asparagus soup.   Mike had wild salmon with warm vegetable salad and Milo risotto.    I had the milo risotto with sauteed vegetables.   Dessert was King Roll neopolitan ice cream in 1/2 a log shape.

                    Dinner  Same option of soup.  Maccheroni gratin - not sure what that is.

Every day for lunch they give you the option of a meat based meal or vegetarian.  I am very thankful for that. However, there is no option for dinner.

Mike is down having his biomat, and magnetic therapy now.  He has his massage at 2:00 and then his hypertermia at 4:40.  If he is not too tired, we will go for a walk.  However, the benadryl they gave him made his sleepy.  He actually slept the whole time here in the room while he had his hot liver treatment. So we will have to see if he needs to take another nap.   Until next time........

DAY 4 OF TREATMENT

Thursday, August 29th

Hello everyone!  Thanks for tuning in.  Today Mike had his usual around of treatment.  He had another massage which he states has left him pretty sore.   He had an added treatment which consisted of laying on a table with some sort of vibration.  I am not sure what that does.  Will have to find that out.   Dr. Weber has today and tomorrow off.  He said he has to give a speech  and is visiting his daughter.  However, his wife who has been on vacation was to be here today and tomorrow.  We did not see her at all today.  Dr, Weber said that one of them always has to be here.   I knew that his wife was also some sort of doctor, but I was not sure what she practiced.   We were told by another patient that she is an anesthesiologist.

There is a girl here from Phoenix (Lindy) for her 2nd visit.   She is here for breast cancer.  Leah is from Wales.  She has a tumor in her groin.  Leah is very outspoken in her beliefs of different supplements to take or not take.  Because she has been dealing with her cancer for 3 years and it has not metastasized, I think she may have incite to what works.

After lunch today, we had some time before Mike's hyperthemia treatment (that is where he is now) at 4:40 PM.  We got up from the table and hightailed it over to the train station that goes up the hill.   We left at 12:30 to walk over there by 1:00.  We had on jeans, long sleeve shirts, and took fleece jackets with us because we were told it would be cold at the top.   We were walking pretty fast trying to make it in time. Mike said you might as well slow down because we are never going to make it.   We did decrease our pace a little bit, and as we rounded the corner, we could see the train still sitting there.  We saw that there were other people still heading into the station so we  picked up the pace, bought our tickets, and were able to make the 1:00 departure.  The tickets cost 59 euros which would be $78.12.   The view up the mountain was beyond breathtaking.  Along the way, you could see trails up the mountain with people climbing up to the top.   We also saw a couple of shack looking buildings which appeared to be inhabited.  I guess if you don't want any neighbors that is the way to go.  We got to the top and had to go through a tunnel to get outside.   The highest point is 1,838 meters which is 6030 .184 feet.  It took about 20 minutes to get to the top.

We came out to a platform where there is a restaurant and various different stairways to take you to other sites.  As we were walking around this area, here comes our dinner mate Chris.   Chris is from France. He was still waiting for dessert and drinking a glass of wine when we left the clinic for our walk to the station.   We could not understand how he made the train when we left before him and just made the train.  We come to find out, he found a short cut to the train station and actually made it there a minute before we got there. We never saw him on the ride up the mountain.

We walked up to a lookout and the view was more than amazing.  At this point, we were at the lowest of all the possible viewing points.  We then walked up to another viewing area to the Wendelstein church.  This church was built in 1889.  It is considered to be Germany's highest consecrated church.   Services are held here in the summer every Sunday, and a lot of couples say "I do" here.  From there, we started our ascent up the mountain at 1724 meters toward the top.  There were rambling trails that had secure railings.   The trails were very rocky interspersed with sections of stairs.   We went through a tunnel and had many different viewing points along the way.   It was unbelievable as to how all this was created on the side of the Alp mountains.   The brochure states that The Wendelstein was formed 230 million years ago from a reef of mussels and other deposits and due to the natural movement of the earth's plates, it moved from the Mediterranian region to Bavaria.   Along the way we saw crow like birds, which of course Mike had to take a picture of. I don't understand what the fascination was there with them.  They were like seagulls at the shore with people feeding them,   We were almost to the top when we saw Chris coming down from the top. Unfortunately clouds had rolled in a a little while we were there, and Chris said you really could not see a lot more than we could already see.  At this point, Mike was ready to call it quits for the day.   I cannot tell you how many stairs we climbed to get that far.  I wanted to continue on, but then was afraid it would take too long to climb back down to get the 2:55 train so we could be back in time for Mike's 4:40 hyperthemia treatments.    We went into the restaurant to get something to drink. Mike wanted coffee but he could only find a machine with cappuccino and espresso and he did not want that.   I got something called a cola mixture.  I was hoping it was something like Coke.  It wasn't the same, but it was OK.   I had some sort of strawberry dessert here so I would have something in my stomach to carry me over since dinner is smoked trout.  Mike wants me to have them bring it out for me, and he can then have a 2nd helping of the trout.

We rode back down the mountain with Chris.  Again, we just got on the train with 1-2 minutes to spare. We forgot about the train going back down left at 5 minutes to the hour.  Chris showed us the short cut he took to get to the station.   Now we could see how he beat us there.   That was just too funny.

We just got back to the room from dinner.  Mike ate my trout.  He really liked it.  I had fruit, toast, and yogurt for my meal.  We then stayed and spent time talking with Leah, Chris, and Christy who is here from Charleston, SC.  Christy is here for her first time.  She is dealing with a 2nd  round of ovarian cancer.   Mike also heard she has some sort of cancer in her upper chest.   It is now 8:25 PM.

I had said I was going to speak about the food we have had thus far.   I will discuss that at another time. Hope all is well back in North America.

 

 

DAY 3 OF TREATMENT

Wednesday, August 28th  

It is now 05:45 PM or as they say here  17:45.

We were told it rained like crazy last night.  However, the rooms are very sound proof so we did not hear a thing.  It is dreary out again - it has rained every day since we have arrived, at least once a day.  Oh well, our main purpose here at Marinus am Stein is for Mike's treatment, and at least we can have that done whether it is rainy or sunny!

Today Mike had his usual  treatments that he has had the past couple of days.  But today, he got an added bonus of a massage.  He came back from that stating he was loose as creamed corn. I never heard that expression before.   We met with Dr. Weber to go over Mike's regular blood testing.  Everything was basically good.  He did have two things that were off. There were 3 parts to the blood testing that pertained to the liver.  Two of them were within the proper range.  One was  a little high so Dr. Weber is going to add a supplement to Mike's infusion to help with that. His magnesium was  low, which he said was from the chemotherapy that Mike had, so he gave him a powdered supplement to take every day.  His white blood cells are up to 4900. This is up from the 3400 from his last testing done August 12th, the date of his last chemo treatment.

We went for a walk after lunch on a gravel path that runs right next to the clinic and goes up into the hills.  Along the way, we came across cave-like statues in the side of the hill with religious figures in them.   The walk up the hill tested our strength as there were many steps up the side of the hill.   We could both feel the muscles in our upper legs being put to work and our lungs gasping for air.  At least it was a good work out.   When we got to the top, there was a church and beyond that more cave-like shrines I think depicting different parts of the bible.  I know there were at least 13 of them.  We walked a little further from there and got to a point where you could look out to the many houses below and the rolling farmland.  It was really pretty.   The houses all have clay tiles on the roofs and balconies with huge flowing flowers hanging down from them.   Some of the homes are just covered on many sides with these hanging flowers.  We have been graced by the smells of being amongst farmland.  There is no getting away from it.  Last night we were even subjected to it inside the clinic.   It reminded me of being back home and going through Amish country.

Mike should be back any minute from his hypethermia treatment, and then we will be heading down to dinner.   Will list the food that we have had to eat since arriving here.   Mike is being some what adventurous in trying some new things.

 

DAY 2 OF TREATMENT

Tuesday, August 27th

Hello everyone back in the states and in Canada!  It is now 10:00 PM here in Germany - 4:00  AM back home.  Mike just came back from having a bio mat therapy done. This is directed at the the whole body.  Earlier today he had Mistletoe and Thymus injections.  He also had localized hyperthemia to his liver.  He had an ultrasound done earlier today,  and Dr. Weber could not find any cancer.  He was very excited about this.  I did ask about seeing the colon, and he said that you really cannot see the colon with the ultrasound.    This afternoon Mike will have the whole body hyperthermia.

Everyone that is here is sharing their stories and the information that they have acquired in things to do to beat cancer.  You realize that you are not alone in this fight.  Everyone also has the same feeling that it is a shame that you cannot have this type of treatment where you live.

Dr. Weber said next week there is a small Bavarian Festival near here that he said he would take us to.   Our friend, Jay in California, who was here last went to a festival that Dr. and Frau Weber treated him too as well.

I am finding out that you are not able to make comments on the blog without signing up.  If you would like to respond to the blog or just want to leave a message for us, you can do so at my email address:   munuam@yahoo.com or on Facebook.

DAY 1 OF TREATMENT

Monday, August 26th


This morning we went downstairs prior to breakfast and met with Verena.  I have spoken to her through email when I made the arrangements for our stay.  Mike had some papers to fill out so that Verena could put together his chart with all the records I previously sent here.   At that time, we greeted Dr, Weber as he arrived at the clinic.  He told us to have breakfast, go for bloodwork, and then meet with him to go over Mike's treatment plan while here.  He told us that Mike would have the hyperthermia, hot packs to the liver, oxygen therapy, Mistletoe injections,  ozone therapy, bio mat therapy, magnetic field therapy,  Vitamin B injection He will have a massage three times a week.     He was given some supplements to take here besides the ones he has been taking at home.

We have dinner mates who are here from France, Chris and Marion.   Chris has lung cancer which he was diagnosed just 5 weeks ago.  He and his wife arrived here last Thursday, but she leaves tomorrow to go back home.   We met Lloyd who is here from Florida, but unfortunately he left around lunch time.  He had a tumor in his mid section the size of a grapefruit, but his recent MRI showed it the size of a  golf ball.             There is a young woman here with her husband from England who has breast cancer.  We have only said Hello to them in passing.    It seems we arrived when new patients were coming in and other had finished their treatment and were leaving,

After Mike's early afternoon treatment, we went downstairs where they were having tea, coffee, and some sort of bread.  They have this afternoon tea every day.  We then decided to go for a walk.  The scenery is beautiful.   The mountains are not like back at home where there are foothills and then they gradually go up.  These mountains take straight off from the ground. The weather here is chilly.  We did put shorts on today, but wore a jacket which you then have to take off when you become warm from walking.  Of course, Mike had to check out the stream that runs by the clinic to see if there were any fish in there.  He said he should have brought his fishing pole.  Dr. Weber told us to have someone show us how to get to the train that goes up the side of the mountain, but we are going to wait until we have clear, sunny skies so we can really take in the view.

When we got back from our walk and came up to our room, we saw Dr. Weber.  He stopped us and had one of his employees go get Mike's bloodwork.    Mike's CEA level is now 14.31!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!   This is amazing since Dr,Wyshock back home told us the toughest part would be to get Mike's level down from the 56.1 level than it had been for it to come down from 23,000 to 56.1.  He said Mike will have an ultrasound here at the clinic tomorrow morning.

Mike got back from his hour long hyperthermia treatment, and we went down for dinner which was a spicy cheese salad with ciabatta bread and fruit for dessert.

So today, the treatment consisted of bio mat therapy, magnetic field therapy, ozone drip, oxygen therapy, hyperthermia.  Tomorrow and Friday, he will have Mistletoe injections added to the above.  His massage this week will be Wednesday.

OUR ARRIVAL IN GERMANY

Sunday, August 25th

We landed in Germany around 7:40 am to find it raining.  The flight was very good...Mike did fine.  He watched two movies which  I think kept his mind occupied. Neither of us were  able to sleep on the plane.   We were basically up about 21 hours. We had to go though customs which we did with no problem once we found the right area.  The next step was finding the area to claim our luggage and the way out of the airport,   We walked out to find our driver holding a sign with my name on it.   He was very nice, but unfortunately, he did not speak any English.   We did a lot of shaking our heads yes and smiling.   We had a slight detour on the way to the clinic, which the driver was not expecting.  We had to go some distance out of our way so that we could get turned around and back on the highway.   Due to the dreary weather and being tired, we both fell asleep on the drive to the clinic.  We made it to Marinus am Stein around 9:10 upon which we met Dr Weber as soon as we walked in the door.  Dr. Weber took care of our taxi fare  and spoke with us briefly.  He is very friendly and  most welcoming.  He told us that we needed to rest and that we would speak with him in the morning for Mike to have his blood drawn and to meet to go over his treatment plan. Danielle (RN) showed us around and found Richard who is here from Delaware.  We first spoke to Richard and his partner, Glen, when they were here in Germany in May for his first treatment.   We have been in contact with him by phone and email since he returned home.  He has given Mike good information about the things to do to help beat this cancer.   He has the same cancers that Mike has,   We then came up to our room and took a 1 hour nap.  Danielle had to wake us to tell us it was time for lunch, which is the big  meal of the day here.  As we were still very tired, we came back to our room and took a 3 hour nap.  Then it was time for dinner.  We were able to enjoy both lunch and dinner and have more conversation with Richard before his departure, Monday, 08/26.    After dinner we went for a walk.  Mike was in bed before 9:00 which is nothing new.

AND THE JOURNEY BEGINS....

Saturday, August 24th

Mike and I are sitting in Newark Airport waiting for our 5:30 flight.  We made it here thanks to Gary and Clare with plenty of time to spare.   We got through security without any problems.   The inspector asked me if I flew frequently because I had everything out in the bins as it was supposed to be .  Will post again, next time, will be in Germany.

 

This is Mike, me, Clare & Gary McWilliams (Mike's bosses and great friends) who drove us to Newark Airport for our flight to Germany.   Without their love, support, generosity, and hard work, this trip for Mike would not have been possible.   Gary is the person who made us aware of the possibility of alternative treatment.  

WHAT'S BEEN GOING ON SINCE 07/15/2013

Thursday, August 22nd

Immediately after having Mike's testing done, I sent the CT discs and reports as well as the CEA report to Dr. Weber in Germany for him to review.   We then heard back from him with the information we needed in order to book a 3 week stay in his clinic - Marinus am Stein Klinik.   We booked our stay for 08/25/13 through 09/14/13.     We fly out of Newark, NJ this coming Saturday, 08/24 at 5:30 PM and arrive in Munich, Germany on Sunday 08/25/13 at 7:40 AM.

This will be Mike's first flight.  He seems to be OK with this, although he never wanted to fly before, but you do what you have to do.  He will have treatment every day with a lighter schedule on the weekends.  Hopefully we will be able to get out and enjoy some of the scenery while we are there.     At the end of the 3 week stay, Mike will have testing done to see if he has had any improvement with the treatment methods that Dr. Weber uses.

We are both a little anxious about the flight and the unknown of going to another country so far from home, but we are excited as well  as hopeful for the possibility of complete healing.  This is what we have been hoping for and waiting for since we found out about this clinic back at the end of April/beginning of May.  It is now just about in our reach and becoming a reality.    Saturday is just around the corner.  Germany here we come.......... to Fight for Mike!

I know I have said this before in my postings on Facebook, but I want everyone to know how truly blessed we are to have so many great, supportive, and caring friends and family.  We want to thank everyone from the bottoms of our hearts for your donations in helping with the expenses involved with this trip and everything else you given and done for us - prayers, cards, well wishes, dinners, and for those of you who were there as a shoulder  to cry on.  G & C -we cannot thank you enough for presenting this opportunity to us and all your help in making this trip possible.

If you would like to leave any comment, you can do so by clicking on the red No Comment wording at the bottom of each posting.    Until my next post from Germany..............