Greetings to all the Nancy watchers! I'm a bit late getting to this this time. The owners of the house we are at came home for a few days and Jason said, "Norm, let's go for an overnight hike." So, that's what we did. Tuesday morning the kids and I and Jason went on a five and a half mile hike with about 35 lbs. of gear on our backs and 8 lbs. of gear on the kids' backs. The day was beautiful-72° and sunny. Even got some sunburn. We climbed to about 2500 feet and set up camp. We all had fun but were very beat. This morning was not as good a day. It was cold and rainy. We weren't expecting that. We got drenched and chilled to the bone. We finally made it back by middle afternoon. Nancy stayed home with Jason's wife, Sarah. Sarah helped Nancy through her daily routine. So, I guess this was a good break in the routine for everyone. Nancy is definitely getting better. She just finished day 12 in the 28-day program. She is getting a bit tired of having to do the routine every hour every day. She looks forward to getting back to normal life. One of the main indicators that we are also using to judge her progress is her swelling. Her tumor is inside her chest and therefore not visible from the outside, but it had affected her superior vena cava which is the main vein coming down from her head. By affecting this vein, her head juices were not allowed to drain thereby causing some swelling. The operation that put a stent in her vein coupled with the original chemo treatment reduced her tumor and allowed her swelling to go down. She was to receive the next chemo treatment three weeks later. Just prior to that appointed time, she began to swell a bit causing some worry in both Nancy and me. She then also decided to follow the Richard Schultze program. We have been watching very closely her swelling. Her swelling went down very quickly and at this point is gone. She is also not feeling any of the pain in her shoulder area that she had since November. So, it appears that all is going well. Last Friday evening was her first "cold sheet treatment". This is planned on the seventh day of each week. This is the culminating event of the entire week. The week works on detoxifying your system organs primarily your colon, liver, kidneys and blood as well as building up the immune system. Each day also includes some hydrotherapy which stimulates blood and lymphatic system flow concentrating on the tumor area. The cold sheet treatment properly done will induce an artificial fever. For every degree the body temperature goes up your white blood cells go twice as fast. The patient is first given a garlic and vinegar enema and then put in a hot cayenne/mustard/ginger bath followed by being wrapped in an ice cold cotton sheet. She then sleeps overnight hopefully with a fever. We did a few things wrong the first time which we hope to correct this next time. Needless to say, we didn't obtain a fever. It is this treatment that in most cases is what does the fixing of the patient. It is tough to do. She does a great job on the hot/cold showers, much better than I would do. I can't stand cold. She can't stand the hot so the cold sheet treatment is hard for her. It's tough assisting those tough times! Attached to the bottom of this note I've appended a typical daily schedule. Twice a week we add a high enema and on the seventh day of each week we do the cold sheet treatment at the end. Nancy says hi to everyone and that she appreciates everyone's prayers and thoughts. I echo that as well. Thanks so much to all who continue their concern regarding Nancy. Love, Norman P.S., Just as a repeat… for those who don't know and/or are reading this update as the first one, if anyone wishes to help in some way, prayers, cards and emails are always helpful. Emails can be sent to n432r1@juno.com. If anyone wishes to send anything via the US Post Office send them to: Nancy Brumm, Leflore, Oklahoma 74942. If anyone wishes to send anything via some other method, contact me for an alternate address. |