Arriving at CHIPSA
On Monday morning August 19th, a driver from CHIPSA came to pick us up at our hotel in San Diego, he drove us over the border which went a lot smoother than I anticipated. I guess the way into Mexico is easier than the way out…we shall see in three weeks. Things are definitely different here, we have never been where the majority of people do not speak our language and the food menus are mostly in Spanish, I never quite understood the difficulty of the language barrier until now and thank goodness for google translate! Kloey and I have ordered most of our meals from Uber Eats which has been convenient and a challenge at the same time.
The hotel, which is pretty nice, even though our view is out of the backside looking at a huge parking lot for the bullring. We can see the Walmart, KFC and Office Depot signs and that is a little comforting to see familiar logos. The shower is the best shower I have ever taken, and to our surprise has hot water.
Once we got checked in we made our way across the street to the outpatient center where we all got to sit and talk with one of the doctors there. He took his time and went through all of Todd’s medical history thoroughly and wanted to make sure he did not miss anything. He then explained again some of the treatments that will be offered for Todd. And while I made the payment, they got Todd set up in the treatment room.
They took a bunch of blood work and inserted a pic line in his arm that will need to be changed out every three days, then he was started on the IV vitamin C. It was a short orientation kind of day and before he was released they gave his 2 sprays of the GCMaf that goes under his tongue. I posted about this in the previous blog but the GCMaf is CHIPSA’s proprietary blend of protein that triggers the macrophages to eat parts of the tumors is how this doctor described it.
The hospital delivers Todd’s Gerson meals to the restaurant here at the hotel and he picks them up along with his juices. They also deliver his coffee enema’s already mixed ready for him to do. This is a relief to not have to worry about these things constantly. Todd has taken over preparing his juices and coffee at home, which has been a great relief for me. Although I feel very guilty not contributing to that as much anymore, he has a little more availability than me now and I appreciate that so much!
I realized I have not posted a picture of Todd’s armpit and while we know there are multiple tumors, there is one pretruding that is very visible, and what better time to share than now…
We are curious and hopeful to see some changes to this tumor, although we were warned, with some of the treatments he could see some redness and even inflammation.
The beds were pretty comfortable and we slept pretty well until about 1:30 in the morning when Todd and I both woke up with upset stomachs. Thankfully, Todd’s went away rather quickly but mine lasted all day yesterday, keeping me in bed (my apologies for not updating sooner) I was fortunate enough to have some select dōTERRA essentials with me to get me through, OnGuard in my diffuser to keep my germs clear from Todd and Kloey, my DigestZen roller bottle, and DigestTabs which I have carried into my routine today, but I also found some ginger kombucha that I had delivered with my breakfast.
Monday through Friday Todd is to arrive at the outpatient center at 9:00 am with his lunch/enema break around 1-2 then report back until 5:00 or until he is done for the day.
Tuesday August 20th (day 2), he arrived at the center and received all his blood work results, which were all good and in the normal range 😊 even the eosinophils that are usually high. Then he was given an IV of B17, after that they drove him to the main CHIPSA hospital to insert an external port in his chest under local anesthesia, he was nervous about the procedure, but the whole trip only took about 45 minutes there and back. The chest port will be helpful for accessibility the three weeks that he is here rather than having the pick line in his arm redone every three days. Once he was back at the outpatient clinic he was given the GCMaf sprays, his first Coley’s injection (which can have some feverish symptoms since it is a dead bacteria and is suppose to stimulate the immune response the same way a fever does), and another IV vitamin C.
During the infusion they did an ultrasound of his tumors, the radiologist explained it all to Todd that there is a smaller tumor feeding the larger ones. Right now the goal is to stop that large vessel from feeding the tumors by shrinking it and therefore shrinking the tumors. This was the first time he had seen an actual picture of them and I wish I could have seen it too. This has been the most difficult part I think, for me to not be right by his side taking my notes while he is receiving treatments and results. They gave him some RSO’s and sent him over here for lunch. That day he only had to return for an X-ray to make sure the chest port is attached correctly, he should find out today if that looks alright.
He is still at the hospital today, should be “home” soon as it’s almost 5:00 our time. I will try to make a post every other day or so to keep everyone updated.
We are so thankful that we made it here with the support of everyone and the ability to barrow the remaining amount to pay CHIPSA. We still need funding while we are here and when we return from the trip as Todd will need to continue the treatments that are offered in the U.S. as he can. Please keep sharing our story 🙏 ❤️
