Knowledge is Power

During the last few days we are aware that the pain is getting progressively worse. What Vicadin could handle last week, the Percocet is only adequate this week. Jon has trouble stretching doses the required hours before taking more. We have a referral for acupuncture in conjunction with herbs for pain management.

We had a new option presented to us on Thursday and it has been in our thoughts every hour. There is a procedure called hyperthermia which heats the liver to kill the cancer cells. The liver will live up to 112 degrees but cancer cells will die at 105. Since the body will die at 107-108, there is a small window in which to work at killing the cancer cells. This is done by computer with microwaves to any specific area. After talking about the current liver condition, the doctor thought Jon would need about 10 heat treatments over a period of 3 weeks in the hospital. This would be in addition to infusions of other chemicals to clean and rid the body of the dead cells, up to 6 hours a day.

This procedure is only at a clinical study phase here in the U.S. and has been for the last 5-8 years BUT we have found an American doctor that practices the procedure in hospitals around the world and the closest one is in Mexico. Of course, this would not be covered by insurance but at this point, money is not the issue. If we had more time, we could probably get a referral to an American medical center (30 universities currently are studying hyperthermia) but time is of the essence. We haven't even heard from UCSF yet for an appointment and the referral was sent in last Monday. We will call them tomorrow.

There is a woman here in Concord we will be talking to that has been through the treatment in Mexico. She had already given up with cancer throughout her body but her brother insisted she give this a try. That was several years ago. It gives us hope!

On a good note, we did spend the afternoon at the beach yesterday with Tessa, Cory and Macade. It was a beautiful day and refreshing to body and spirit. Jon enjoyed the time out of the house and we didn't have to walk far at all to enjoy the water and sand.