The First Weekend AND Days 6-8 of Treatment

 It's Wednesday already and I have been negligent in writing anything about what's happening in Germany!  The weather has been cool, usually about 50's during the day and even into the 30's at night.  There is usually an overcast sky with a fews sprinkles of rain most every day at some point but it usually clears and you get some blue and sun for part of each day.  All in all, it is totally do-able so I'm enjoying the long walks around Bad Emstal especially now that I can actually go in stores or gyms.  

Over the weekend (Saturday), a van load of us went to explore Kassel, the biggest city nearby.  I wasn't into the shopping but it was fun to enjoy lunch on a patio (a pizza and a diet coke!) and walk around and people watch.  They actually have a T.K. Max (not TJ Max) like we are used to at home.  The store was packed with people when we ventured in and there was the usual rack upon rack of clothing and other items to pick through to find things you might want.  Of course, I don't want/need anything so I didn't purchase anything even though I had the Euros to do so.  On Sunday, I just needed some down time away from people and without a schedule.  Nicholas, who owns three restaurants in Stockholm, had found a gym earlier in the week and I was anxious to walk into town to use the gym equipment.  It was nice to workout with weights even though I am somewhat restricted as a result of the limited range of motion in my left elbow because of the PICC line.  Thankfully I wasn't sore a day or two after.  

Monday started with a bang!  The most dreaded of all treatments, fully body hyperthermia, was the first thing on my schedule.  I was determined to have an easier experience than the first one when they almost had to carry me out of the room after the 3.5 hours.  

Every patient shares their tips on how to last for two hours while they keep cranking the heat up in the enclosure where only your head sticks out.  The nurse who monitored the two different rooms with the two patients receiving this hot stuff, was a different one than the previous week.  She was a Vietnamese immigrant to Germany and had been in the country for 21 years.  Her English was broken but she was willing to learn and I did find that she knew who Neil Diamond was when I asked her to turn on the tunes in my Apple library.  We were singing the songs together as I passed the time.  The only other way to get through the two hours is to watch the fluids that are being pumped into you.  After the 50 minutes of enjoying Diamond, I had her start the Sound of Music soundtrack.  She wasn't familiar with that so wasn't able to sing along.  It didn't stop me!😆 

After two hours in the tent, my body temperature was almost to 104 degree F.  She then wrapped me in blankets and I laid on a bed that was adjacent only to "stew" in the body heat for another hour.  

The goal is to stay as hot as possible (in a fevered state) for as long as possible since a fever stimulates the immune system.  You are asked to take a shower at the end of the day as opposed to right after treatment and to stay as covered with shirts, jackets, etc. to maintain your body heat.  Heck, I was even hot with flushed cheeks when I went to bed Monday night.  

Yesterday, I received insulin potentiation therapy (IPT) again.  I had it last Friday so I knew what to expect.  I didn't eat breakfast and my glucose level was still too high when I arrived for treatment so they gave me insulin to try to reduce it in order for the vitamin B17, vitamin C, curcumin, and artesunate to have a greater effect on the cancer cells (glucose gets "gobbled up" by the cancer cells and so the membrane is open to these botanicals which basically act as non-toxic forms of chemotherapy).

The difficult part of this treatment is that it is followed up with local hyperthermia with another infusion.  Most every day I get some form of hyperthermia.  In this case, the"heat" is applied to my abdomen, I breathe oxygen during it, and receive an infusion of glutathione or one of the other already mentioned botanicals.  Believe it or not (bless these nurses!), the local hyperthermia treatment (lasts about an hour) is followed up with a BIG syringe filled with ozone into your rectum.  They ask if you want to administer it yourself but I always opt for their help because the syringe is so big that I couldn't possibly manage it.  

Now, of course, if you do the research you will find all kinds of conflicting information about the benefits of most all of these therapies.  I remind myself that, like anything, you will always find most traditional western medical information "poo-poohing" the idea that ozone (or hyperthermia or IPT or...) can be beneficial for anything!  But, my understanding from the complementary side of medicine (doctors and nurses here and through research) is that the ozone (O3) will drop an oxygen atom as it travels into your colon so that it oxygenates the tissue in this area.  In cancer, there is a lack of oxygen in the body so the effort is to introduce as much oxygen either through the rectum, the respiratory system (breathing it), or into the veins (intravenous oxygen therapy).  

Part of the testing the first day that I was here was determining my heart rate variability (HRV).  To give the shortened explanation for this...it is an indicator of how much time is spent sympathetically vs. para- sympathetically stimulated.  I admit that I was surprised to find that my HRV was in the sympathetic range.  Having a bit of background knowledge in the autonomic nervous system (ANS), I know that the sympathetic branch of the ANS is that part of the nervous system that is stimulated when frightened, angry, anxious/fear, STRESSED (as most of us would understand).  To be in this "heightened" nervous state is trouble for the body, especially for the immune system for instance, because it is depressed when this is the case.  Knowing that I am a type A personality, I have attempted to reduce my stress by using breathing techniques, meditation, relaxing more, taking life less seriously, using positive affirmations, reducing the "busyness), etc. since my diagnosis in 2017.  Thankfully, I am in the right place to identify this is something I need to work on and I'm being given the tools to support me in this effort.  Phew!

Today was a "treat" because I had a one hour Q and A with Dr. Saupe.  I had had two visits with Dr. Nour last week but Dr. Saupe just wanted to check in with me to determine how everything was going.  I am floored by how brilliant this man is (both an MD and a PhD) and he is so genuine in his interest for every patient that he has.  Actually the session was only supposed to be 30 minutes BUT he was so passionate about some of the topics he shared that he kept talking.  He forwarded the most recent research articles to support the information shared.  I LOVED it!!!  And, I was so "geeked" about this type of doctoring!  This is the way it should always be!!!!