The 3 weeks of Hell that I last wrote about have stretched into 5 as Lennie was now in less pain, but too weak to do much of anything in the way of caring for himself.\u00a0 He has slept a lot which in itself is restorative.<\/p>\n
Lennie and I arrived back in Mexico on Wednesday night and got an MRI on Thursday.\u00a0 Because his CEA had gone up to 53 while in Hawai’i, Dr Alvarez here ordered an MRI on his liver as well.\u00a0 Everything came back clear, with the exception of his colon of course, which was measured to be 1\/2 centimetre smaller than the last MRI\u00a0that we had in February.\u00a0 Not a huge difference, but still getting smaller all the time.\u00a0\u00a0No \u00a0lymph nodes were mentioned in the MRI so I am hoping that was because they were also clear – that would make Lennie now stage 2!!!<\/p>\n
When we got to the clinic the little 14 year old girl was there again.\u00a0 She looked sooooo much better than the last time that I saw her.\u00a0 Her doctors had given up on her several months ago and said to her parents that there was nothing more that they could do.\u00a0 The parents have not told the oncologist about the treatments in Mexico and they said that the doctor can’t understand why her cancer seems to be going away.\u00a0 The parents don’t want any trouble.\u00a0 Their family doctor knows but also keeps quiet.\u00a0 Is that the kind of society that we live in here in North America – where the medical institutions would rather let a little girl die (that they had given up on) rather than let her parents find a cure for her in Mexico?<\/p>\n
It was hell in Hawai’i.\u00a0 Everything was going well for the first couple of days and then\u00a0Lennie went out without me and ate 3\/4 of a pineapple.\u00a0 Diarrhea – constipation and HEMORRHOIDS.\u00a0 Major hemorrhoids for several weeks.\u00a0 He lost a fair bit of blood from the hemorrhoids.\u00a0 The bleeding stopped about 2 weeks ago and he had his first completely normal bowel movement\u00a09 days\u00a0ago.
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\nLennie was left very weak – his hemoglobin count yesterday was 7.\u00a0\u00a0-Hemoglobin is the protein molecule in red blood cells that carries oxygen from the lungs to all of the body’s tissues.\u00a0 A normal hemoglobin count for a middle aged man should be between 12 and 15.- \u00a0Dr. Alvarez\u00a0sent him to a blood clinic for a transfusion of 2 units of red blood cells (red paks).\u00a0 His color and his energy improved just a little, but the doc said that it should improve some more over the next few days.\u00a0 He is A- (negative) which is less common than my A+ and we paid $450 US for the 2 units.
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\nThe good news is that the proctologist that we saw said that the hemorrhoids are going down and he does not want to do surgery or laser coagulation (what we were considering) on them.\u00a0 He said to leave them alone and is making Len use cotton instead of toilet paper and and wants him to squeeze in 1 or 2 cups of COLD water with some creams dissolved in (antibacterial\/anti-inflamatory\/antibiotic and a very low cortisone).\u00a0 We have bought the creams, but haven’t started yet as he is supposed to do it every day and I am a little hesitant about the COLD (he said keep it in the fridge and use it cold).\u00a0 He said that it was both healing and soothing because of the cold.\u00a0 I am afraid of shocking his\u00a0colon with the extreme temperature.
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\nWhile in the office the proctologist let me look into the small scope inserted into Lennie’s rectum (one was very long with a light) and showed me what he said was a thrombosis, but similar to a cyst as it was white and only about the size of a small pea.\u00a0 He said that THIS is what was and is causing most of Lennie’s pain.\u00a0 He said that visually the tumor\u00a0looks smaller than it was before and said that it is a lot more flat against the colon wall, which would explain his much improved BMs.
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\nLennie has lost a lot of muscle mass, but I think that he is looking good for what he has been through.\u00a0 Luckily he had a lot to begin with.\u00a0 We are planning on coming home to Canada next weekend.\u00a0 Yea!!!
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\n\u00a0I am trying to get a lot of rest while here in Tijuana as I was completely worn out\u00a0from looking after Lennie 24\/7 for the past 2 months.\u00a0 No treatment on Sunday, so we spent the entire day at the hotel, mostly lounging around the pool, playing scrabble (I won).<\/p>\n