As I watched Lennie walk out of the airport I felt a pain in my heart as the tears welled in my eyes. I was finally leaving to go back to Canada and I was going without him.
Last week Lennie got more blood tests. His iron count is still way too low and his CEA marker has gone up almost 3 points to 20.9. We were of course hoping that it had gone down, although I tell him that a slight rise makes sense. The oral forms of the Laetrile are a lot less potent (only about 25%) than the IV form which was being ‘mainlined’ directly into his veins and bypassing his digestive tract. It stands to reason that the steep drop in numbers would taper off – and even rise a bit – before leveling off and then gradually start a slower decline in the numbers. I hope that I am right about this.
The diet that I have him on is for the most part macrobiotic – mainly fresh vegetables and fruit, nuts, seeds and whole grains with a bit of fish and yogurt, but without any soy as it contains phytoestrogens which are usually conta-indicated with cancer. I have just started to add some Ezekiel bread back into his diet since his weight had dropped to 2o9; it is now steady at 212. I told him that I wanted him to lose 30 pounds last year, but never thought that it would be like this. His total weight loss since Christmas has been 55 lbs. He is currently at his perfect weight. He jokes that he now looks better than he feels due to fatigue.
MALIA
He is in good hands right now. A week ago his daughter Malia arrived with her boyfriend to look after him for a couple of weeks. It’s at times like this that you realize how important it is to have family or a social network of friends that you can count on in times of crisis. It was time for me to ‘pass the flag’ as I need a break from all of the hats that I have been wearing: friend, protector, nurse, nutritionist, property manager, housekeeper to name a few. My friends here say I have aged in the past few months. I need some time for rejuvenating both my body and my spirit.
Since Christmas is only about 6 weeks away here is a thought for any of you who know someone who is the main caregiver of an unwell or elderly person. Give them the gift of your time. There are many things that you can give to them that don’t cost a fortune. Offer them some home made food items; some chores that you do for yourself, even something so simple as grocery shopping, you could perhaps also do for them at the same time. Or maybe even something festive and time-consuming such as offering to help with their Christmas decorating both inside and out. These thoughtful gifts will be well received and will give these over burdened people something even more precious – the gift of time to just be able to relax for a little while.
Me ka ‘oia’i’o,
Kathryn