We talked with the doctor this morning and he was pleased with Mark's progress. We are wishing it would be quicker because it seems terribly slow. He is in a much better place with regard to how much he can eat than when we got here. His sodium level is up, which is very important because he is no longer dehydrated, his blood work looks good and the indicators regarding his immune function continue to look good. There is still room for improvement but it is showing a good trajectory. Mark is still only doing two coffee breaks a day and we have developed the strategy of doing each one in stages. We infuse half of the liquid which he holds for about five minutes before expelling and then doing the other half immediately and holding for about five minutes or a little longer if possible. He seems to be getting a lot of sleep each day, not always at night, which is probably a healing reaction and that is a very good sign! They have been giving Mark injections to help his peristaltic motions with the hope that they will more quickly expel the gas that has been troubling him for so long. Mark is still in a lot of pain with the swelling in his abdomen and is spending a lot of time hooked up to an IV tube. They will also be doing a couple of protein IVs to get his blood proteins in a little better place; they are not bad but could simply use improvement. He has found that the oatmeal gruel is one of the best things for him to consume. It is easy to swallow, being a liquid, and is loaded with fiber, minerals and calories. Right now, the more calories we can get into him the better! We continue to be very optimistic for his long-term recovery and look forward to spreading the good news about the Gerson Therapy.
We continue to be impressed with the diversity of people who are here for therapy. In the past couple of days, two sisters, probably in their early twenties, arrived here from Columbia . One is the care-giver and the other is here for treatment of adeno-carsinoma (sic?). A mother and her daughter arrived yesterday from Norway. The mom has metastasized pancreatic cancer the same as Mark. She was diagnosed before the symptoms got too bad because she had surgery about 18 months ago to remove a tumor. It was probably caught on a routine follow-up exam. A mom and her son also arrive yesterday from Washington State. The mom is the care-giver for a week and he may be on his own for the following week. He is about thirty five years old and has rheumatoid arthritis. He was completely debilitated by it ten years ago but brought himself back to a completely functional state of being using a technique similar to Gerson but slacked off last summer to get a project done knowing he was coming here this winter anyway and is now in pretty bad shape again. Gerson therapy will complete what the other therapy did not have the ability to finish.
We continue to appreciate your prayers, thoughts of concern and healing energy sent Mark's way.
Thank You Always
Mark and Rodger
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