DAY 13 OF TREATMENT 09/07/13

Saturday, September 7th

10:00 AM

Just literally had a tearful goodbye with Taz Mike.   He is a very emotional guy so we were both crying. Again, everyone individually came to say goodbye to him or Taz Mike sought them out.  He gave a hat to Mike that he wrote a personal message to Mike on the inside.  Last night after dinner, I gave him my FIGHT FOR MIKE bracelet to remind him of Mike and also for his fight against his cancer.   He will have a testing in a couple of weeks after he gets home and have the results sent to Dr. Weber.  From here he is heading to Turkey to meet up with his brothers.   Tazie, we wish you the best in your journey.   I know that each goodbye will be just as hard.

While I on the 2nd floor, Dr. Weber came out of the treatment area and held up 9 fingers.  I looked at him and said 9,000?   He said yes and said I will show you the results.  He was talking about Mike's WBC. When I went downstairs to wait with Taz Mike, Dr. Weber came by with Mike's chart and showed me the lab values.   He is not sure why there was such a dramatic change in Mike's WBCs.   He said maybe the 2.5 value from earlier were wrong.  He asked  if Mike still had any of the redness or itching from the other day, which he does not.   Dr. Weber is just amazing how he can come out of his office and see you and just be able to give you your specific result without having the chart in front of him.

Today Christy, Mike, and I are planning on going into Rosenheim to walk around town and do some shopping.  Ivan has a car and has told us before if we needed a ride, he would take us to the train station.

9:30 PM

Ivan had a treatment today at the time we decided to go to Rosenheim.   We walked to the train station and Christy and I managed to purchase our ticket.   I think the Germans behind us were not too happy that we took so long to figure it out.   The train was again packed with young adults in their costumes heading to the beer festival there.   We walked around town and went into some clothing stores.  The prices here in most cases is really reasonable, however we did not make any purchases.  We got the return train back to Brannenburg at 4:35 and got back to the clinic in time for dinner.

Dinner tonight was sliced salmon with horseradish and toast.  I gave my salmon to Mike but he then gave it
to Leah.  Along with the fruit they sat our for dessert, they put out yogurt.   So my dinner was yogurt and toast.  The soup for both meals was creamy leek. Lunch for Mike was duck with potato patties and brussel sprouts.   He could only mange about  5 of those, and then he had enough.   I had a bowl that had 3 small potato patties in it with a little arrangement of a slice pepper,  a sliced tomato, some cauliflower, some asparagus with cheese melted on top.   Dessert was some sort of Italian thing - I forgot to pick up a menu and bring it back with me.   It was some sort of custard that tasted like it had champagne in it and then was heated.  I just had a taste and then gave it to Chris from France.

After dinner Lindy, Christy, Mike, Leah, Zoe, and Chris T. headed up to the 2nd floor landing and had our usual conversation time,   Chris from France backed out stating he was going to bed,  He leaves tomorrow to meat his wife in France.

DAY 12 OF TREATMENT 09/06/13

Friday, September 6, 2013

11:00 AM
Mike stated he did not sleep last night due to the time he slept yesterday afternoon.   We stayed in the clinic yesterday and just took it easy.  It was a beautiful day.  Mike and I both tried the pumpkin soup at dinner and it was very good.   The cheese buffet was actually just that - various cheeses on plates with a sign in Germany stating what they were, a basket of bread, and a bowl of small baked potatoes.   I had two of the small potatoes and Mike had a sampling of two of the cheeses and some fruit.   It was a different kind of meal.  He must have been starving by the time he got up this morning.

Chris T. and Zoe just came out from meeting with Dr. Weber.  Chris  T stated they were given a high 5 with Zoe's ultrasound results.  Then Chris from France met with Dr. Weber.  He came out of the office giving the thumbs up sign.    The word about both Zoe and Chris spread like wildfire throughout the clinic.  Chris was sitting with Lindy and me in the one sitting area, and people were seeking him out to congratulate him.   Everyone is genuinely happy for each of them.  Lindy just came out from meeting with Dr. Weber, and the tumors in her lymph nodes are completely gone, and the ones in her breasts have shrunk to just mms.
Then it was Dave's turn.  He came out stating the tumors in his pancreas have shrunk.  They are not gone, but they have shrunk.   This is his first week.

Earlier I was sitting in this same area when Kate and Ivan came up to the 2nd floor.  Ivan has prostate, kidney, and now bone cancer.  Kate and I spent time talking as the spouses of husband's who have cancer. It was really good to talk to her, someone who is going through the same thing.  We could compare so many of the same feelings.  Kate is so nice.  I connected with her right away.   It is amazing how quickly everyone comes together and becomes friends.  It is just such a warm atmosphere to be in.

10:00 PM  I am back.
Lunch today was orange ruffy with parsley potatoes.   I gave my fish to Mike and I took his potatoes.  I had a scoop of vanilla  ice cream in plum sauce for dessert.  After lunch Lindy, Mike, and I walked to the store. It was very hot, and we ran into Stefan from the clinic.  He gave us a ride back.  We are lucky that we did this.  Little did we know then the extent of the walk we would be doing when we got back to the clinicc.

Tazmania Mike  (I will call him Taz Mike from here on to make the distinction between him and Mike), Christy, Mike, and I decided to walk into Flintsbach and climb the mountain to St. Petersburg church.   Marcus, the masseuse, told Mike that it takes an hour to walk up the mountain.  The church is there as well as a restaurant/bar.  We left the clinic around 3:00.  Once we got over to the village of Flintsbach, we were trying to find the path that went up the mountain.  We saw a man standing on his roof.  Taz Mike was our interpreter as he knows some German words.   A older lady then came out the door to try to help with what we were asking.  She said she would show us the way.  She got her bike,  and we followed her probably about 3/4 of a mile.   We started climbing and climbing and climbing.  I don't know how many times we had to stop and take a break,   As we were climbing, we would occasionally ask people who were coming down the hill how much further we had to go.  Mike kept asking whose idea this was to climb to the top - it was his.   We figured we got this far so we could not turn around and go back down without getting to the top.   Along the way, we came to a beautiful waterfall with cascading rocks with moss and ferns surrounding them.  People had made rock pyramids (balanced rocks one on top of the other) all throughout the falls.   We all made our own little pyramids.   We said it was to create balance in our lives. With breaks, it took up about an hour and a half to get to the top.   The view from this point was amazing.   It was just beautiful.   Can you believe, me who always has a camera, did not bring my it along.? Neither did Mike.   Luckily Taz Mike had his camera and took some pictures which he said he would email to me.  We all went into the church and lit candles.  We got to the top around 5:00.

We knew we had to get back to the clinic for dinner which is served at 5:30.  We knew there would be no way we would make it at that time, but figured that Mike's hyperthemia usually lasts until 6:00 when he has it late in the day so we should still manage to get back before it was too late.  Our decent down the mountain was not any easier than the climb up.  The path had such an incline that it was difficult holding yourself back with weak, tired muscles.  Taz Mike took off ahead of us, and we did not know where he had gotten to.   On the way up the mountain we noticed a "shortcut" to Brannenburg.   Mike, Christy, and I decided to take that trail back to the clinic.  Well....this trail was a lot worse than the one we climbed.  We weren't exactly sure where we would end up but we knew it had to get to the bottom.   We surfaced at an area we have frequently walked to.  We kept hoping Taz Mike realized we had gone the other way and was not waiting for us.  It took us about an hour to get back.

We got back to the clinic to find out that the kitchen staff was worried about us.  We were still there in time to get supper which was spaghetti.   We actually beat Taz Mike back by about 5 minutes.  He had met up with a group of German hikers and came down the mountain with them.

After our meal, everyone gathered upstairs on the 2nd floor to talk and to celebrate Chris and Dave's wonderful news.  We were laughing and having a good time.   It iss so nice to have bonded so closely with everyone that we could have such a good time together.  Taz Mike leaves tomorrow morning and Chris leaves on Sunday.   It is not going to be the same without those two.  Lindy leaves on Tuesday so I guess there will be a new group of people coming in to meet and hear their stories.

Hope I have not bored anyone, but this was just such a unbelievable day that I had to share it.

 

The group:  Dave Roberts, Mike Lizottes, Mike, Leah Rosenberg, Chris Van Clef, Christy Dion, and Zoe Brannigan.

 

Chris T.and I, two of the supportive spouses/partners.

DAY 11 OF TREATMENT

Thursday, September 5, 2013

Hello to all.   Quite day today. Mike had his usual treatments.  This morning we met with Dr. Weber to get the results of his blood testing from Monday.  We missed him yesterday due to us going up on the mountain. As I mentioned last week, two of Mike's  liver tests that show up in the blood were normal and the third one was high.    He told us all three of these things are now within the normal level.  His platelets are good.  However, his WBC have gone down to (I think) 2.5.  He said this was not dangerous.  He said he would give him some magnesium which increases the efficiency of the white blood cells.  He is going to test the WBCs tomorrow.  

Today's lunch was Turkey kebob with ginger rice for Mike.  He did not eat the white rice.  Mine was spinach pasta in 4 cheese sauce.  Dessert was Bavarian curd cream which was very good.  I had the clear tomato zucchini soup.  The other option for soup was creamy pumpkin soup with oil. I may try that one tonight. Supper's menu is  French cheese buffet with potatoes.

While we were sitting at the dining table after we were done eating, Mike excused himself and went up to the room. When he did not come right back, I went up to see what he was doing.  I found him laying on his bed. When I asked what was wrong, he stated that he had a couple of red bumps pop up on his arm and that his head felt really warm and it was red  He did not want me to get a nurse or Dr. Weber.   Mike from Tazmania was meeting with Dr. Weber and told him about Mike's breakout.  He came right to the room to check on Mike.  He asked Mike why he did not come see him.  Any way, Dr. Weber checked his arm and looked at and felt his head.   He then grabbed him by the arm and told him he was going to take him downstairs now and give him an infusion with calcium and magnesium.  By the time they got downstairs, Dr. Weber checked him again. The spots on his arm and head were not so red.  Dr. Weber joked that it was his healing hand that cured this condition.   Mrs. Dr. Weber had advised Dr. Weber of Mike's similar symptoms last week.  The only thing Mike had different today was the Thimus injection.   We are thinking that is when he had the reaction last week.   Because this calmed down, Dr. Weber only had the nurse give him 1/2 of the calcium/magnesium cocktail.   Mike stayed in that room and tried to sleep but it was too noisy so he came up to our room,   He probably slept 2 hours.   He woke up about a 1/2 hour before his hyperthermia treatment.

Mike states he was absolutely fine before lunch.   Leah had Mike eat a tablespoon of her coconut oil.  That is what Mike thinks caused his head to get red and hot. So I doubt he will eat or use that any more. Hopefully that is the last of that.   He states he is feeling better.

Today has been gorgeous again.  We are talking about taking the train into Rosenheim on Saturday.
I just went and checked some statistics on this blog.     This blog was been seen in China - 1 view, Russia - 2 views, Serbia - 9 views, Canada -11 views, Germany - 16 views, the United Kingdom - 17 views, and the United States at the top with 503 views.  That is interesting.  I bet the ones in Canada are by our friend, Tammy.  The other ones from other countries are probably just from people coming across them on the blog site.

 

 

 

 

DAY 10 OF TREATMENT

Wednesday, September 4, 2013

Good evening here from Brannenburg!

Today was an absolutely beautiful day here in Germany.  Mike finished most of his treatments today by lunch time.   They were the usual treatments.    When we came and met with the Dr. Weber, Mike was given a blue treatment book that has all the types of treatments available.  They mark the types of treatment that Mike is to have each day and the time for each.  The patient has to carry this book with them to each treatment.  If you do not have it, they are asking where it is.  They document that each treatment was done. There are a few things he can have done in between the scheduled treatments such as his injections  and biomat therapy.

Christy, Mike from Tazmania, Mike, and I took the train up the mountain again after lunch.   It was Christy and Mike's first time.  The skies were so much clearer today than it had been last week.  We wore shorts and sleeveless tops.   Mike took along a long sleeve shirt,  and I took a jacket but we did not need them.  It had been chilly last week when we were here.  We all managed to climb to the top of the mountain. It took about 20 minutes to climb.   There were 120 actual steps plus all the inclines to get up to the top.  It's funny, it actually seemed like a lot more steps than that. The 360 degree view was absolutely magnificent.   I don't know how well my camera pictures will do it justice,   I have taken a lot of  pictures just so I get all the beauty that is here.  I may have to delete some which is easy.   If I missed taking something, I would regret it. I also took some video while we were on the train.    We enjoyed the scenery and a beverage while we were waiting for the train to take us back down the mountain.   It was a very nice afternoon.

We had to briskly walk back to the clinic after getting off the train at 4:30 because Mike was scheduled for his hyperthermia treatment at 4:40.   He was a little late, but they flow very easily with it here.  While he was having that treatment, I sat out in the garden with Lindy, Christy, Ivan & his wife Kate (they are here from Canada).  It was a very nice setting to talk.   The temperature was perfect.  It was just very peaceful and calming.

Today's menu consisted of creamy thyme soup.   Mike had Mushroom ragout with dumplings.   The dumpling was in the center of a bowl with a mushroom type sauce around it.  He said it was very good.   I ordered the Tyrol goulash with dumpling.   This was the same dumpling on a plate with a brown gravy and pieces of beef off to the side.  I ate the dumpling and gave the beef to Mike.  Dessert was chocolate mousse.

For dinner tonight we had "Bavarian plate" with Brezn.   The Bavarian plate consisted of organic turkey sausage and a piece of meat that tasted like ham.   I ate a little bit of the ham and gave the rest of my meat to Mike.   It also had a medium sized potato that was prepared like a parsley potato.  The Brezn was actually a soft pretzel.   We had the same creamy thyme soup with dinner.  I think this is actually my favorite soup so far.

We were actually able to talk on the phone tonight to Mike's bosses, Gary and Clare.   To use the word bosses is only as an identifier .  They are actually very dear friends who consider us as family as do we.   We are so grateful to them (in more ways than one) as they were the ones who gave us the book that gave us the information about German Cancer Clinics.  Without that, we would have never known that such an opportunity was even available.  We are taking full advantage of this wonderful opportunity.  We just wish treatments like this were available in the United States.

 

 

 

 

 

DAY 9 OF TREATMENT

Tuesday, September 3, 2013

Today Mike was done early with his treatment.   He was finished before noon today.  He had wanted to take the train back up the mountain since it was warm and sunny today.   We tried to get everyone together but people had things scheduled that we just couldn't arrange it today.  Instead we took Christy for a walk up the hill behind the clinic.  This is a more gentle incline up the hill than the one we took last week where we had a lot of stairs up to the old church.   This time though we continued on the path that took us down the other side of the hill into Brannenburg.  The trail ended at someone's yard which turned into their driveway.  I was surprised that Mike did not figure out where we were coming off the trail.   I knew right away where we were.  He made fun of me earlier last week when I made a wrong turn on our walk back to the clinic.   That is why I have not gone out for any walks by myself.  We then went into the town of Brannenburg and looked around.  We went into some clothing stores.   The prices were really reasonable.   We ran into the very nice Germany lady who helped us get on the correct train to come back to the clinic on Saturday.   We said hello, and she recognized us and said hello to us.  Yesterday when we walked into town, Mike bought a pair of nice walking sandals since the ones he has here are on their last leg. They were only $19.99 on sale.   They originally were $79.99.

Dinner today was Plaice fillet fish) with saffron sauce and potatoes for Mike.  I had a Pasta in Cheese-Chilley sauce.   I had wine soup with croutons.   It was a creamy soup which I think was sprinkled with cinnamon.  Mike had a clear soup with potato and Caraway. Dessert was Truffle ice cream cake "Marinus" which was a two layer chocolate type cake with a thin layer of ice cream in between.  Tonight for supper, we had potato-vegetable gratin which also had scrambled eggs in it.

It has been pretty quite here today.   Nothing else to report.

 

 

 

DAY 8 OF TREATMENT

Monday, September 2nd     Labor Day

Happy Labor Day to everyone back in the states.  I am sure you will all be having the last BIG picnic of the season.  Someone eat some potato or macaroni salad for me.

Everyone is back to work here after the weekend so Mike got his usual treatment plus his infusions.   Dr. Weber showed Mike exactly where in his colon his cancer is.  It is right at the top of the ascending colon. Mike wanted to be sure that this spot was being addressed by his treatments.  Mike came back to the room just after his last treatment of the day and said that when he spoke to Dr. Weber, he told him that his CEA level was now down to 11.1.  We are moving in the right direction!

Lunch today was carrot flan with vegetable rice for me and beef filet and vegetable rice for Mike.  The soup was zuppa pavese which is a chicken broth with a small piece of bread drizzled with oil oil which had been baked.  An egg is cracked into the bowl with the bread and then the hot broth is poured over the egg cooking it.    This is what I tried.   It was OK.  I could not eat all of the egg.   The other soup was a creamy black salsify soup.  I looked both of these soups up on line to see what they were.   The black salsify soup is made from something called oyster root and, therefore, has an oyster taste to it.   Our dinnermate, Mike, had this and said it did have a chowder taste to it.  Dessert which I had was fresh fruit salad with Mango-Apricot ice cream.  It was good.  Tonight for dinner we are having pizza breads, the same soups (which I think I will pass on), and fresh fruit.   I got a chewing out from Leah yesterday about drinking Coke so I guess I will not be having any more of that, at least, while I am here.

It has been a cloudy day with cooler temperatures but it is supposed to go up into the high 70s, low 80s the remainder of the week so we are looking forward to that.

We walked into the town to exchange the batteries I bought on Saturday.   The checkout girl spoke English so I asked her if I could return them.  She told me yes and gave me two stamps.  Not sure what that was about.  Will have to check with someone here to see what that means.  Mike bought an avocado to try at Leah's suggestion.   She also has him eating cold sauerkraut which he does not like but he has eaten it the last couple of days.   He said he could probably eat it hot, but she said no - that takes away all the enzymes that he needs.   She also had him try some coconut oil that she got.  She says she uses it for cooking, puts it on her skin, puts it on cuts.   She actually ate it out of the jar and had Mike do the same.   This trip sure has had a lot of "firsts".

DAY 7 OF TREATMENT

Sunday, September 1st

Well it's hard to believe that we have a week under our belts already.

Today Mike had basically all his daily treatments except the infusions as there is no nurse here to administer that.   It was been a really quite day here a the clinic.  After lunch everyone gathered to speak to and learn from Chris T. as he has done a lot of research on supplements, vitamins, and regimens to do to increase your chances of beating cancer.

Leah told Mike that today he should just rest and take it easy.   She says that we Americans are constantly doing something and that we don't take the time to just rest and take care of ourselves.  She states that each day, you awake with so much energy and if you spend it all on doing too much, then your body does not have the energy it needs to fight the cancer.  I guess Mike is taking her advice as he has been taking a nap for over an hour.

Mike is pretty sore in his hip today from all the walking we did yesterday.   We went for a 3 mile walk in the morning before lunch and then probably walked at least 5 miles walking to the train station, to the festival, at the festival, back to the train station, and then back to the clinic.  

It rained overnight here and then around noon, the sun came out of a little bit.  However, it is raining again and is to continue overnight.   The rest of the week looks pretty good with temperatures in the mid to upper 70s.   The weekend is looking to only be in the high 60s.   Just wish I would have packed some more longer sleeved shirts.

Today's lunch consisted of beef filet and vegetables for Mike and then a baked potato with a herb sour cream for me.   The potato was nicely presented with a flower on top.  I had cream of broccoli soup with flower petals in it.  Dessert was called heavenly apple foam.  It was the strangest consistency as it was actually apple flavored foam.  It had some sort of coated nuts on top.  The one thing they do here that really make a nice dining environment is the table setting.   The table has a white cloth that has a colored cloth on top to create a diamond pattern.   There are always different colorful napkins placed on each place setting. China is used with all the proper eating utensils - salad fork, soup spoon, dessert spoon, etc.   We have goblets to drink water from .  There is a carafe of water with crystals in it that have some sort of healing purpose to them,   There is a vase of flowers on the table that is changed every couple of days.  It is just a little vase with some greens and a rose bloom or two backeyed Susan flowers with some Veronica and greens, but it is just right. They also have a self serve table that has about 8 different bottles of water.   They are all different and again, all having some sort of healing quality to them.  You can just grab one and take it to your table or back up to your room.   If you want tea, they bring it to you in a little tea pot with a tea cup and saucer on a little silver serving tray.   The desserts are served on a separate plate with a dessert fork or in a glass type goblet.   The put a lot of thought and effort into their presentation which is nice.

We are ready to begin the 2nd week.