Days 9 and 10 of Treatment and then some....

It's the weekend!  Everyone here enjoys this time without treatments and nurses/doctors poking and prodding (usually needles) into you.  Although we have some treatments we can administer ourselves each day, the down time on the weekend is to use as we choose and it does really help.  I find, just as when I am home, that by Friday night, I just want to "veg".   A good night's rest allows me to enjoy Saturday.  Here I have gone to Kassel the past two Saturday's and on Sunday go to the local gym and read and write and watch a movie, etc.

The 9th and 10th days of treatment, October 14 and 15, 2021, were pretty typical in the cycle of what has become normal.  I had another IPT treatment along with local hyperthermia plus botanical infusions and intravenous oxygen therapy on Thursday and botanical infusions, intravenous oxygen therapy, a liver poultice treatment, and a singing bowl massage on Friday.  At the end of the week, it is terrific to have the latter as it is super relaxing and most people often fall asleep.  The massage is just like it sounds...the therapist has a series of bowls that emit different sounds with a "mallet" used to strike the bowl.  The bowl is placed on different areas of the body and the vibration has a healing effect.  This is, of course, the very simplified version.  I had some experience with this as a friend had used me as a "practice client" as she was learning how to use this same treatment in Columbus.  

Speaking of infusions...I'm finding that it is usual in most European (and the US) countries that traditional western medical doctors don't support the use of botanical infusions of any kind.  Fortunately, I have received MANY vitamin C infusions over the past two years as my naturopathic doctor suggested it to support my already depleted immune system (from all the chemotherapy).  At first, I didn't know who or where I could get someone to infuse the vitamin C.  So, it took a bit of searching but I found a capable and trusted doctor who provides such a service for many of his Columbus, OH patients (not the case for most of these patients from other countries).  

My hope is that I can take a supply of botanicals like EGCG (green tea extract), curcumin, artesunate, and maybe sodium bicarbonate home with me for infusions with this same doctor.  He already has the vitamin C and the glutathione so I won't need to carry these home in my suitcase.  Speaking of suitcases...I wish I had brought a bigger second bag.  Since the airlines charges $100 per bag per "leg" of the trip (2 for me) AFTER the first FREE bag you check, I decided to bring a small carry-on but wished it was a bigger one to accommodate all the supplements I will return with.

Without a healthy immune system you can get cancer and it can return.  So, my goal has been to improve my immune system to help me prevent reoccurrence of the cancer.  Unfortunately, the regular vitamin C infusions were not enough to prevent the second return of my cancer in March 2020.  It was from this perspective that I decided I needed to do more to support my healing once I got the cancer under control (this is where Seattle Integrative Cancer Center came in from July 23, 2020 through June 17, 2021).  Because my Seattle doc wanted me to continue getting low dose chemotherapy although less frequently (about every 5 weeks), I still thought I needed to explore other options to boost my immune system and to detox so that my body might be better able to defend me from cancer cell growth.  That's how I ended up in Germany at the Arcadia Clinic and mentioning all the infusions that I will have to bring home with me to support the efforts of the vitamin C.  



Both of these pictures are views just outside one side or the other of the clinic.  It is definitely fall here and the colors have been vibrant.  I noticed today that some of the leaves are falling and the trees will be bare soon, just like fall in Ohio.


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