Mexico Trip

So there we were, on our way to Mexico. My mom wasn't really able to walk good, so we had a wheelchair ready for her when we got to the airport. My mom also couldn't talk very good, so through all of the grunts and facial expressions, we could pretty much figure out what she meant. Although, not all of the time. My mom at this point, knew she was getting on a plane, but didn't know where she was going, or who was going with her. She kept to David, my stepdad, and asking if he was going with her. We then would assure her, he was going, and Mandy and I would be there with her too. That would make her happy everytime we would tell her.

The plane ride went pretty good. I never actually sat with my mom, but from what I was told she tried talking the entire time. My mom was scared that she had been out of it for over a month. You see, she usually keeps her fingernails short, and so when she would look down at her nails, she thought she must have been sick for a long time, since her nails were so long. Actually, her nails just grew fast, because there was only 1 week that she really couldn't remember. We all tried drawing timelines for her from the time she was diagnosed to the day on the plane. This sort of helped...I think. We then finally arrived in San Diego, and there was a man from the Hospital in Mexico waiting for us to take us across the border.

When we loaded the van, there was already another lady in the front seat, that he had picked up earlier from the airport. She ended up being one of our greatest friends from down there. Her name is Carmela, she is from Illinois and this was her second time going down. She was really an encouragement to talk with, since she had already been down there, and was healed.

Okay, I better not give so much detail, because this is a long story! Arriving at the hospital was great. We came right at lunch time, so we got to meet everyone pretty quickly. There were many patients that first week. It was so strange for me to see everyone though. No one there looked sick. I expected to see REALLY sick people, and older people. It was nothing like that. Everyone was smiling, talking with everyone, and just looked so happy to be there. No one looked sick! There were two guys there that were introduced that day also, David and Brandon. They are college students from CA that came down to make a documentary of the hospital. I am very interested in film making, so this caught my attention. Before they were introduced I noticed the cameras and made a comment to my mom. So anyway, the second day we were down there, Brandon asked me if it would be alright if they followed our family around the rest of the week. So the rest of the week, we did many interviews and just talked with both guys. In the morning and at night a lot I would get my guitar out and we would sing all together. For some reason, they wanted to get that on film? They said they would take the sound out though. I sure do hope!

Through out the first week, my mom improved a lot. She could walk on her own, get her own food, and talk...sort of. By Friday, she was talking a lot more. Our first weekend down there, family from CA came down to visit us. We went shopping in Puerto Nuevo and went out to eat. Since my mom is on a very strict diet she couldn't get anything out, but she did enjoy everyone's company.

While my mom was in Mexico, she received various types of treatments. Almost all of the treatments included heat. Cancer cannot survive if it gets too hot. Also, something very important that everyone should know! Cancer lives off of sugar! Sugar is absolutely the worst thing to have if you have cancer. Some names of the treatments my mom did were, Magna Ray, Hyperthermia, Hyperbaric Chamber, Far Infared Ray, Water Massage, and a Spinalator. My mom also received very low doses of chemo-therapy 3 times a week. There is a name for the way they administer the chemo, it is called IPT which means Insulin Potentiation Therapy. Since cancer thrives on the sugar, they inject you with insulin to drop your blood sugar level. Then when they get you down around 30 to 50, they have an IV dripping with a 5% solution of chemo. Since the cancer is very weak at this point, it is eager to take the chemo. After you IV is done dripping, they give you another bag full of glucose and a sugar filled juice. This is to get the cancer back up, but is actually is taking in all the chemo, which tears it down. I guess it is tricking the cancer cells.

I was really scared when I found out she would be going through this. I thought of her being sick, losing her hair, and just not feeling good. Was I shocked when, they told us that almost every patient there, was taking IPT, and everyone was feeling great and had their hair. And so my mom did receive these treatments, and never once felt sick. She kept a great appetite and was always feeling good.

While down at the hospital, many people asked about my necklace. It was a great witnessing opportunity for me to tell them about the passage my necklace came from. Even though, not everyone was a christian down there, they did believe we have to have some faith. David and Brandon, the one's interviewing, also asked my sister and I many questions about our mustard seeds. They both are christians so it was much easier to explain to them, they understood what I meant. Most people look at me funny, when I say, If I had faith just this size, I could move mountains. It's amazing. I tell people, I must not have very much faith, because I can't do that. I just need faith to believe that God can and will heal my mom. And that is tough sometimes. When bad days come, I think nothing can help, but then God is faithful to show me that he is in control and even though, I can't see any good coming from the situation, there will be some.

By the second weekend we were there my mom was great! David and Brandon came back down just for the weekend to see my mom and interview again. They were amazed to see my mom talking and just completely different. Her face features were back to normal and she was feeling great.

By now we had one week left. My mom was getting homesick for our dogs and the rest of the family. I wanted to be home, but I knew I would miss everyone at the hospital so much. My mom's doctor, Dr. Quintana, was one of our favorite people. He played guitar, so late at night he would give me guitar lessons. He knew lots of mexican songs, so he tried teaching me some of them. The one song we really worked on was Cielito Lindo. He taught me to sing and play it. Well, our last day was so sad for me, not knowing when or if I'd ever see these people again. So as I was saying good-bye I started crying. Dr. Quintana was the last one to see and when he saw that I was crying he said, "canta y no llores" which means sing don't cry. Those are part of the lyrics from Cielito Lindo. That was the one thing that would put a smile on my face. It applied so much. :)

Well, you all should know that my mom was 100% better when we left the hospital. We believe that my mom's healing began Sunday night after we prayed, but we do also believe that God uses Hospital Santa Monica for his glory.

Well, that's all for now. I will post more about different events in Mexico. Hope I didn't ramble on too much! :) Did I?