Our Weekend

I didn't get around to posting last night. I was tired. I seem to blog that a lot, huh?

Yesterday, I woke up at 5:30 to "rack them up" as Mike states. Rack them up means to prepare the medicine and line them up in the bathroom. The morning is around 8-9 three oz cups, a cream, a homeopathic for his elbow, another one for under his tongue, a drinking water and a rinse out the mouth bottle of water. Then I leave him to do what he needs to do.

We were at the IV clinic by 8:00 am. Dr. John Mulhoun, met us there to give Mike his IV. Again, someone who is giving of himself and his family time for us. (Praise God!) Now, MY plan for the day was to have breakfast with Elizabeth and then go back to the condo for a nap, pick Mike up at 11:00, fix his lunch time medicines and then take Elizabeth shark tooth hunting again. That is not how the day turned out.

It still amazes me that this journey is not only about Mike, but how God is using it to refine me as well. Here is something about me that you may not know: I love schedules. I love organization. I hate to be late. I am stressed when things don't go according to plan. I plan in advance to avoid the stress of the unplanned. When Mike was diagnosed, I planned. I planned option A and option B. I formulated the plans pretty quick too. That is how I dealt with it. I felt like I needed all my bases covered to avoid the stress if something happened to Mike both good and bad. I needed to know all the options that the AF might throw at us, because secretly, I made plans for every option. Now, planning is a good thing, but when it takes on a life of it's own (as in my case) and doesn't allow for God to show his amazing, awesome, intimate, and personal power to move, that is not good. That is what God is showing me how to work on right now.

Back to yesterday, after a few minutes Bill arrives. It is really the first time in a few weeks that we have talked to Bill for an extended period of time. After the IV, we are then supposed to go back to the Wellness Center for the LBG treatment and the infared sauna. Bill will be doing the treatments. My first thought, "OK. Plan A is out the window. Lord give me the energy to go without a nap today."

(below is paraphrasing the best I could. I may not have names and places right)

The joy in scrapping plan A was the fact that we got to sit around and really talk to Bill yesterday as he continued to reveal himself to us. Do you know that Singapore has adopted Bill's cancer treatments? Also, Dubai and Saudi Arabia? Of course, Havana too. That is where he has another clinic. People fly from all over to see him. Next week, someone with stage 4 melanoma is coming in from Mexico. He and Dr. John talked about someone who is coming in from NC next week as well. Both of these new clients will be in town for at least 10 days and they will be doing the IV treatment like Mike. The person coming in from NC has a recurrence of cancer. Bill said that this person had cancer and had surgery and got MSRA so of course the cancer came back. Dr. John said, "Really, why?" Bill said when a cancer patient gets MSRA (the bacteria you get from being at a hospital) that 100% of the time that patient will see a recurrence of cancer. That is because your immune system fights the MSRA and it is weak and it allows the cancer to survive and bloom. So I had to ask him what is MSRA and what can you do about it? He told me what it was and he said he has developed a product to eliminate it called Micro-dine(?). It is a surgical scrub that cleans and coats the hands with a barrier that kills any bacteria and the MSRA. This barrier lasts 6 hours and it is not toxic to the body if hands go in the mouth. He said it would eliminate it. He has a patent for it. His company also sells this stuff called Healthy Hands that I am in love with. It is a lotion/antibacterial barrier for you hands. It is made of completely healthy things like Vitamins and NO alcohol, but it does the same thing for the average Joe. It kills things on your hands, but then creates a barrier on your hands to repeal germs for 4 hours. You can wash your hands and get them wet during that 4 hour window and it still works. That is so cool! We use it everyday.

Bill also talked about how we need to start getting food into Mike to get his digestive system working. He ordered Mike... Yes, ordered, Bill is a General in South Korea (more on that later)...to go to Simon's and eat soup for lunch. He also told me to go get dried organic prunes and organic yogurt and start feeding it to Mike 3 times a day to start getting bacteria back into his intestines. So off Elizabeth and I go to buy dried prunes, yogurt, and a few other staples. We land back at the condo, I rehydrate the prunes, prepare Mike's lunch and afternoon medicines and head to the clinic. We arrive 3 hours after Mike started and he is not done yet. As you know, I have already planned Plan B, based on the conversation. But I roll with it and make Plan C. Elizabeth and I hop in the car and go to Barnes and Nobles to buy the book, "The Shack" by William Young. (I am 100 pages into it and it is a MUST read!). Then we head to Simon's and get Mike soup and a wheat grass shot.

Some day, I will blog on the amazing food down here.

We head back to the clinic, drop off Mike's lunch and medicine and Elizabeth and I head to Veggie Magic for lunch. www.veggiemagic.com We both have the most amazing lunch out of raw vegetables. Elizabeth had the pizza and I had the mock burrito. The food there is all vegetables or raw material like seeds, and it was the most delicious and filling lunch. We even had dessert - the black and white brownie and chocolate "ice cream". Pull up the web-site and look at what we ordered. I don't want to bore you with the ingredients. It was so good and tasted like a real burrito and real pizza.

We then head back to get Mike and meet Bill at the ANWC. Once we help get Mike all hooked up on the LBG. Bill and Mike are talking about everything from nutrition to what Mike does in the AF. Mike told him what he does now, what he did with the B-1, and that he was going to fly the Predator until he got sick. So Bill starts probing. Mike tells him about his seizure almost 3 years ago at work. Mike tells him about the spider bite theory. Remember, the day before Mike had the seizure, Mike was bitten by a spider repeatedly on the leg. Mike described the spider. Bill said either a brown recluse or a black widow. Mike said exactly, but we know it is not a brown recluse, because the bite didn't progress as it would. Bill was talking about the black widow and the nervous system and really agreed with Mike that it probably did cause the seizure. He then looked at me and said remind me to test for any residue of the venom in his body. He then turns back to Mike and says go on. Mike tells him about the MRI, CAT scan, the anti-seizure medication for two years ... Bill then interrupts. Now we know what caused the cancer to explode. Anti-seizure medication suppresses the immune system and allows the cancer to go unchecked for 2 years. At this point, I am just lost in thought. Is this true?

I am constantly dumbfounded in this walk with cancer. Literally rendered speechless. From the first diagnosis to now. I really have walked through this life not thinking that one thing has something to do with another. Food that we eat, medicine we take.. I mean I really thought our body was somewhat simple in it's function. Now I am learning about how certain foods create specific enzymes. How our fluid around our head and running down our spine has a balance and a rythmic flow and it can be out of balance. How everything that God created in our body has a purpose in keeping us healthy. I just didn't give it much thought other than what the media told me - you need to exercise, you need to eat fruits and veggies, the basic messages. I never knew WHY. HOW does everything interact. It really isn't about the number on the scale. You can be the thinnest person by the world's standards and "healthy", but literally be killing yourself on the inside. It is about how the systems within your body are functioning. ALL systems, not just your heart.

We talked a little bit about the cancer. Mike wanted to know what happens. Will we get it removed? Bill said something that really struck me and I think was a learning point for me in this battle. It is about living a healthy life. Right now he is trying to kill the cancer. So if he kills the cancer and the big tumor is dead and is the size of a softball, that is better than living with an active cancer tumor the size of a pea. So, if surgery is needed to remove it, what is the quality of life afterwards? He said when we get to that bridge we will cross it. If we need to remove it, he will find Mike the best qualified surgeon in the world to remove it.

He is right, you know. It is about living a healthy life. It is about living each day that the Lord gives us. It is about planning your options but allowing enough flexibility for God to move you and not about you moving God. I am wondering how many blessings and lessons I have lost over the years by not being flexible, by sticking to the plan I have created. When am I going to learn that this life is about allowing God to be glorified through me with HIS PLAN A!!!

So this is my blog for the weekend. After the IV therapy today at 2:00 we will be doing the LBG again. We will be gone until 7:30 or so. There won't be time tonight to blog. I will tell you this. I am doing the Liver/Gallbladder cleanse today and tonight. It is supposed to detox your liver and gallbladder and most people expel gall stones doing this. I will blog about it on Monday. May God bless your Sunday. Please continue to pray for Mike. That he can start fueling his body and have time to take the protocol. That he can have more and more energy. Pray for my learning in this battle and that I will continue to open up to God more and more. Pray for Elizabeth. It is almost 11:00 here and she is still asleep. Pray that God will allow her rest as well.