Day Four: It Feels Like Cheating

Today was a pretty slow. The calm before the storm if you will. With only one short treatment of laetrile this morning we had the rest of the day free to do... pretty much nothing. It was nice though. Krissy was able to catch up on some of the cards she brought to sign and I caught up on some movies and TV shows I've been sitting on. Then we decided to get out of the hospital and had a nice lunch down at the yogurt place. Today we tried the chicken burritos. They were very good, but more like a big taquito than a burrito, as here they only had sauteed green peppers and onions inside. Krissy also indulged on a scoop of their home made sugar free frozen yogurt. It was quite good, full of whole strawberries and covered in almonds, sunflower seeds and raisins. For those of you that know me and my crazy food allergies, I of course had to avoid most of this treat but did sneak a taste from the middle of the scoop. It was really more fun for me to watch Krissy eat something "naughty".

Our friends Sharon and Jenny decided to take their light treatment day and visit San Diego. They were able to take cabs and the trolley to get into the city and had a nice day of shopping and sight seeing. You'd never know Sharon has cancer by her attitude and determination, that girl was adamant about marching out of here and seeing San Diego and damn it if they didn't do it. It makes me happy to see someone like her, who has received such negativity from her "Western" doctors, to tell them all to screw off and come to Oasis and then find the strength to get out and enjoy her time here. There are so many fighters in this hospital, including our amazing Krissy, it makes me humbled and thankful to able to experience this with them.

Tonight we got a chance to speak with Manuel and is wife Chindi from a few rooms down the hall. She has stage four colon cancer and had already done 2 years of chemo before coming here. Before she came to Oasis she had many of the same symptoms as Krissy: indigestion, vomiting and then the same nightmare of stomach decompression and surgery before her cancer was discovered. Her cancer causes her to have intense pain in her lower back, to the point that Manuel has to put scalding hot water bottles on her skin to alleviate it. However, after just one of her full treatments here at Oasis the pain subsided. Just like that. She's gone a full day and a half with no pain medication and was up and out of her room for the first time in a couple of days. Truly amazing. Think the doctors back home will want to know how it's done? Nah, me either.

When we returned from lunch there was a notice in the cafeteria that dinner would be at 6:00 tonight and would be "Very Special". Ok, cool, maybe it'll be brown AND black rice tonight. Woohoo! But boy, did they have a surprise ready for us. We walked downstairs and were greeted by a completely redecorated cafeteria, fully decked out with glowing crystal chandeliers, a huge dinner table with gold trimmed china, crystal centerpieces, new years masks and drapery on the walls and jamming holiday music. Last but not least, there were three huge platters of food. Oh, the food, it was absolutely delicious. We were served oven roasted turkey with tofu glaze and mixed veggies, fish and spinach egg rolls, apple and tofu salad, and a special hot fruit cider. Nearly the entire 3rd floor (our floor of cancer patients) were able to attend and a great time was had by all. I'm going to have my bro Josh, a.k.a. Sensei Egg Roll, try his hand at those fish egg rolls sometime, they were super fantastic. For desert we reveled in bunuelos with honey. It felt like cheating but the staff swears it wasn't. We all toasted to a new year full of happiness and health, shared hugs and a few tears of joy, and then said our goodnights. It was really a great time and an uplifting experience. Sometimes food and laughter is the best medicine.

Tomorrow Krissy moves into the meaty part of the treatment schedule. She'll receive the first transfusion of 70 million donor lymphocytes to bolster her immune system. These will start attacking the cancer cells that have been getting steadily weakened by the laetrile/genoxal/nutraceutical therapy from the past four days. Basically, her immune system will be jumpstarted and then it'll begin eating at the tumors, like it should in a regular healthy person.

This also relates to a funny observation I made about the hospital. There is a very high ratio of young staff working here, much moreso than you'd see in our hospitals. From the admin staff to the patient representatives to the nurses, they are all probably 30 years old and younger. One of our nurses looks like she's 14! However, there is a reason for this. They are all donors for the lymphocyte transfusions. The therapy requires lymphocytes from young, healthy and non-genetically related donors. The hospital employs these types of people and has a pool of 27 donors to cull these cells from. It's slightly strange at first, but then you think about how these people are donating their cells to help the very people they are working with to cure cancer and it adds another layer of appreciation for the treatment program here. At every level the Oasis is dedicated to saving your life. Pretty amazing stuff maynard.

Well that's enough rambling for one Near Year's Eve. I doubt we'll really stay up until midnight but if so we'll toast with some filtered water and maybe high five a nurse or two. I wish you all a Happy New Year, and pray for health and happiness for everyone here at Oasis and back home. G'night!

Day Three: Darn You Starbucks!

Our third day here was full of fun little revelations. The first being that Krissy can and should drink coffee and alcohol. I know, hard to believe right? We had our second class today on the ins and outs of the Oasis treatment regimen and it's truly amazing how ignorant American doctors are when it comes to treating cancer. Many of you know that the only cancer options you have from Western doctors are: surgery, radiation and chemo. That's it. They won't tell you to improve your diet, take vitamins, go to church, or do naked rain dances. If it doesn't involve cutting or chemicals it's off the table. Not so here at Oasis. They use a truly incredible approach to fighting cancer that involves some cutting edge science, old fashion common sense and regular love and faith.

So what are some easy things that Krissy can do to not only combat her cancer but improve her every day health? Well, cut out the red meat, which we knew. Our country is #1 in the world for 5-6 types of cancer simply because our diets suck monkey butt. She can also start drinking 1-2 cups of coffee every day, as the antioxidant effects of coffee are counterproductive to cancer growth. Also, drinking coffee after a meal heals to counteract the amino acid interactions after eating cooked meat. She should also drink 1-2 glasses of wine each day with a meal for the same reasons. Nice huh? Of course this doesn't mean grande carmel frappaccinos, but some latte with low fat creme and a smidgen of sugar is just fine. I think I literally saw Krissy floating above her chair when she heard this news. Suffice to say we learned a lot today and have complete faith in the program here.

Today I got to do something a little special for myself too. The volunteer ministers, Bruce and Vicky, took myself and Jenny (Sharon's sister from yesterday) out for lunch. We walked down the street to a local place called Yogurt Plaza. I wasn't immediately ecstatic but hey it would be a change from brown rice and steamed turnips. Turns out it's a pretty traditional Mexican place that happens to specialize in yogurty stuff, including yogurt sauce for your enchiladas if you want. I decided to pass and had chicken enchiladas with a tasty sweet tomato sauce. They also serve toast with jam and salsa instead of chips. Different, but good. The four of us had a good lunch and good conversation, where I learned that Jenny and her husband own their own eco friendly fireplace company. Their website is pretty cool, check it out if you want to see what they do.

We walked back to the hospital and I headed upstairs to see how Krissy's lunch was. Our door was locked, lights were off and she's no where to be found. I wandered around for a bit, thinking maybe she was meeting with a doctor or chatting with our patient rep, but couldn't find her. I decided to see if she was down in Sharon and Jenny's room only to find that Jenny was also locked out of her room with no sign of her sister. Hmm, very suspicious! A few minutes later they come around the corner with big grins. Apparently while we were at lunch they decided to put the Oasis diet into action and walked to Starbucks for a latte. I had to laugh a little, but you could tell they were just so excited to be able to do something "normal". I'm glad Kris was able to get out and to do this for herself. After all, recovery is 90% mental and if this is good for her body as well then I guess the return of Starbucks to our lives is a welcome one.

Is tomorrow really New Year's Eve? Really doesn't feel like it from here. I doubt there will be any celebrating going on in the hospital, although I hear the sports bar across the street will be partying. Maybe Kris and I can share a sip of wine at midnight to ring in the new year. I'm looking forward to 2010 and the good things it will bring us.

We talked to the kids again tonight which was good except I think Cam is mad at me. She chatted it up with Kris but wouldn't respond to me at all. I guess Daddy is in trouble for leaving his little girl for so long. I can see where she's coming from, I'm bummed too. At least Cori was nice to me :)

I'm kinda tired tonight, more so than usual. I think this is because I'm not getting my usual overdose of carbs. My body is composed of 83% potatoes and I've only had one serving since we left Colorado. I may have to sneak offsite and find a baked potato or some fries soon before I lapse into a starchless induced coma. So on this note I'm signing off to watch some shows on the laptop or read until I crash. Tomorrow is Krissy's last easy treatment day until they start the big Vitamin C/Oxidation transfusions on Friday. I'm praying all goes well, and I know it will, just another step to getting her healed.

G'night!

Day Two: Same as the First Verse

Kris and I are wrapping up our second day here at Oasis. Not a whole lot happened today on the treatment front. She received another round of Genoxal and Kemdalin, along with her cocktail of nutraceutical pills. These are designed to weaken any tumors and bolster her immune system before they hit her with the oxidative therapy later this week. We also attended a great lecture by one of the staff doctors about the Oasis treatments and how they work to fight cancer. Very interesting and enlightening stuff, I'm looking forward to part two tomorrow. Other than these few things we haven't done much else today. We should meet with her doctor again tomorrow to cover any new treatments and tests she'll receive.

Our medical records still haven't arrived from the Irvine Oasis site. This is starting to irritate me. We wasted too much time with that place in November and again they're wasting our time by not having transferred our records ahead of our arrival. They better hope everything arrives tomorrow because I really don't want to have to arrange to get this stuff from home while here in Mexico!

We met another of our fellow patients today, Sharon and her sister Jenny. They have traveled here from Australia. Sharon has stage four melanoma that has metastasized to nearly every part of her body, including her bones, putting her in quite a lot of pain on a daily basis. She is very strong though and very frank about what she's been through. She has a six month old son waiting for her back home and is hoping her stay at Oasis is what puts her on the path to healing. They also introduced us to more research and therapies I wasn't familiar with. It's amazing how much more we learn about cancer each day here. I hope our folks back home can put the other good people here into their prayers as well, every bit helps.

We also had a sad departure today. Nicole and her mother Tina had to leave the hospital and return home to get further tests for her brain cancer before the doctors can treat her here. She needs a surgical biopsy to determine the nature of her cancer and they just don't have the facilities to do it properly. I'm hoping they can get home and have their tests done quickly so they may return here to Oasis and get her the treatment she wants and needs. It's hard to see good people go through such hardship, but in the short time we have known them I can see they are a very strong family and will continue to fight no matter where the fight takes them. Good luck Nicole, we hope to see you back here soon!

The menu today wasn't as surprising since I knew to expect tasty selections. One new item was zucchini soup , it was really quite good. The broccoli soup, not so much. But I'm determined to at least try everything they put out for us so that I can take all the good ideas home with us :)

We were able to have a better Skype call to Cesa and our girls tonight. That really felt good to see and hear them for a few minutes. Of course, Cori was so sweet and Camryn was so wild, but that was exactly what I needed to see. Ten more days and we'll be home to have them run us ragged!

Well, I know it was a pretty boring update tonight, but that's all I've got. Before bed I'm going to try to brainstorm some fund raising ideas for Kris to help pay for the huge costs of this treatment. Sharon gave us some interesting ideas based on what has been done for her family back in Australia and I know there have to be plenty more creative things we can do. Maybe I'll do a live charity chest waxing event, and everyone can place bets on when I'll pass out from the pain. That ought to raise about $7.38.

Well that does it for me, check back tomorrow for more exciting updates from Playa de Tijuana. G'night!

Day One at Oasis

Well we're finally here! Today marked the first day of Krissy's cancer treatments at the Oasis of Hope. Krissy has really been doing great these past few weeks and I'm very happy we decided to come here at this time. She looks amazing, feels so much better and is in great spirits. In fact she's doing so well that when we arrived they had to ask which of us was the patient. I feel she's going to get miraculous results from her time here.

Things started off pretty quietly. We woke up freezing in our room because the heat never kicked on and then she had her blood drawn around 7:30. After that we headed down for breakfast. I was a bit nervous about eating here, since all the guests eat what the patients are served. We're not talking hospital food here, but "a healthy and nutritious menu" which I assumed would only consist of wheatgrass shakes and avocado sandwiches. I'd surely starve! Much to my surprise and pleasure, the food here has been healthy and very good. We've had tasty soups, poached eggs on wheat toast, yummy brown Spanish style rice and refried beans. We were even served pan fried potatoes with dinner tonight, I almost jumped for joy.

The hospital itself is a very restful and positive place. All of the staff have been excellent, but not overbearing in that typical Western hospital fashion. It's a fairly small building with just a few floors, and there is a nice chapel at one end and a conference/activity room at the other. So far we've attended a few classes and a prayer session. After spending so much time in hospitals and being in such a sterile environment, it's refreshing to get out of the room and simply talk to folks about life and healing. There's also a little Catholic church down the street that we plan to visit and a small gym I might try out.

The most amazing aspect of our short stay thus far have been the people we have met. There are obviously other people here with various stages of cancer, some doing ok and others not so well. But, all have been willing to talk and share their experiences, and all are moving about the hospital unencumbered by tubes and machines. They're simply here to receive healing.

There is an incredible family across the hall from us. Nicole, who is only 24, was diagnosed with brain cancer two weeks ago. Her parents, Terry and Tina, immediately decided Oasis was the best option for her and she agreed, and I have to say I'm glad they were brought here at the same time as Krissy and I. They have such great attitudes and are just good people. I've done my homework on cancer over the past two months, but Nicole's father Terry taught me a few new things just this morning. We've had all our meals with them and I feel that we've made friends for life by sharing this experience with them. Nicole is a very energetic young woman, and watching her talk to Krissy about their cancer is a bit surreal. Neither of them look like what you'd expect a cancer patient to look like, but I guess that in itself is a good thing.

Tomorrow the doctors will meet to discuss Krissy's case and determine what other tests and treatments she might receive. We don't expect any changes, possibly more scans or x-rays. I'm not really concerned anymore about what they show, Krissy is doing exactly what she needs to do in order to cure her cancer and I've put my complete faith in her.

We miss the kids like hell. They are the one thing that keeps going and also makes these 12 days seem so much longer than it really is. But, they are in the excellent hands of our family and I know they'll be fine until we get home. Still doesn't fix the hurt in my heart that I can't hug them every night but we'll get by with the webcams and Skype until I can. But for now we have to be focused on Krissy and getting her healed.

Well, our room is now warm and toasty since they've cranked the heat on for us and I'm getting sleepy. Kris is comfy in her bed across from me, and we're watching Two and a Half Men on some channel that rebroadcasts American shows. Earlier it was Rachel Ray and Entertainment Tonight. Just like home! With that I'm signing off, I'll have more updates tomorrow. G'night!

For Those Who Wish To Do So...

I haven't written here in quite some time, real life has been sneaking free time away from me lately. However, my post today isn't about my random thoughts but rather to notify anyone who may be interested in donating to my wife Krissy's cancer treatment fund that you can now do so via Paypal. Simply click on the link to the right and enter your dollar amount. Please remember a credit card is required to donate through Paypal.

For those that prefer brick & mortar, we also have an account set up at Wells Fargo. You can visit a branch and ask to donate to the Kristen Lanza Donation account under Lucas Sanchez.

Thank you to everyone for your love and support, and God bless!

Frank

Save the Date: Free Comic Book Day is May 2nd

That's right, this Saturday is Free Comic Book Day all over this great nation of ours. If you're out and about this weekend make sure to swing by your local comic book shop and pick up some awesome free books. This is a great opportunity to not only check out some new comics but rediscover your local comic shop and see all great things they have to offer.

For more information on Free Comic Book Day, head over to their website. You'll find a list of the free books available this year and how the event got started.

Not sure if you even have a local comic book shop? Swing by Comic Shop Locator and find the closest store.

Even if you're not a huge comics fan, it's free stuff for you and the kids and is a good excuse to get out of the house. You can even bring the wife! I know I'll be dragging mine down to Bargain Comics after work to snag my stack of freebies and see what they have for my girls. Good times!

Don't Leave Daddy Home Alone....

Things get a little crazy after daddy gives Camryn an unsupervised bath:


Yes, I was using the blow dryer to full effect. She's just got way too much hair to dry before bedtime rolls around. And besides, she loves it!

Snack Hack

I tend to bring the same crap to eat at work each day, more out of economy than lack of wanting more variety. However, the same old shit does tend to get old after a while so anything to mix up the monotony is a good thing. Recently I stumbled upon a tasty enhancement to my old snack staple of pretzels. I usually buy a big bag of them and pack a sandwich bag full every day. Boring right? Well a few weeks ago I brought some leftover pasta and packed extra garlic powder in my lunch bag for added seasoning. Forgetting that sandwich bags are pretty permeable, the garlic's flavor seeped into everything I brought, including my pretzels. And you know what? They transformed into Kick-Ass Super Fantastic Garlic Pretzels! I was pleasantly surprised and scarfed the whole bag.

So now when I bring my formerly boring-ass pretzels to work, I sprinkle about 1/2 teaspoon worth of garlic powder (not garlic salt!) into the plastic baggy and by mid morning they have once again transformed into Kick-Ass Super Fantastic Garlic Pretzels. I highly recommend this to anyone looking to spice up their standard snacks on the cheap!

Fun With Street Fighter IV

I've been playing around with Street Fighter IV for about two weeks now and can say I am very happy with how this game turned out. It's not Street Fighter II Turbo perfect, but it's pretty damn fun. The graphics and animations are stellar and the online play is much better than I expected. The new characters are creative, not as fun or endearing as the classic lineup but they are all very well done. I'm making an effort to learn some of them, namely Crimson Viper and Rufus in arcade mode.

Having played with all the modes in this game and feeling very comfortable with it now, I've noticed a few things I like very much and some that are just head-scratchers:

The Good

If you enable online requests, you can get pulled out of your single player arcade matches by an online challenger. Normally this would sound annoying, but the game pops a big "A New Challenger has entered the ring!" message, almost like someone has walked up and slapped a quarter in your machine. I think it's pretty cool and had me feeling a bit nostalgic for my old arcade days. I leave the online requests enabled most of the time unless I'm working on unlocking characters or practicing.

The gameplay is pretty basic if you've ever played Street Fighter II. Gone are the parries and insane combos of SF III and Marvel vs Capcom. Instead you have a straight up fighter with the classic move sets, along with simple Super and Ultra combo specials. They've added a Focus counter system that is easy to use but has more advanced features if you choose to master it. I'm still working on the timing of focus dash cancelling through fireballs, it's pretty neat when you get it down. But, if you could hadoukan or dragon punch 15 years ago, you can still do it today.

The online play is nearly flawless. For a game that requires precise timing, I'd say that 90% of my matches are indescernable from offline play. You'll get the occassional laggy match, but they are usually so bad you just disconnect and start over. The added bonus of online play is the Ranked bouts, where you go up against players of much better skill than standard Player fights. I get my ass kicked regularly in ranked play but I'm learning some techniques and strategies I might have never seen otherwise.

The Bad

The kids that play this game online need to branch out a bit. Expect heavy doses of Ken, Ryu and Akuma if you venture online. Just last night, I played 15 matches and faced Ryu 10 times, Ken twice, Akuma twice and Crimson Viper just once. I've yet to face anyone playing as Dhalsim, E. Honda, Vega, El Fuerte, etc. I understand Ken/Ryu are easy to play and very popular, but learn some new moves guys! Just to rebel I've been playing as Cammy or Rose in most of my online matches.

Unlocking all the characters is pretty difficult. I've unlocked them all except for Akuma, Gouken and Seth. I will probably never get Gouken unlocked due to the crazy requirements, and Akuma is looking like a longshot for me even on easy. You need a combination of perfect finishes, ultra combo finishes, no continues and beating the game with every other character to get them all. I'm not necessarily worried about never playing with these guys but it'd be fun to try them in arcade mode at least. I think the unlocks should apply to online only, so if you earn them it has more bearing on the game.

This is a small complaint, but the menu text is tiny. I play on a 27" CRT and I can't read the text on many of the custom profile titles, the profile icons are small and blurry as well. I know I'm behind the times but the game should be viewable even if you don't have an HDTV. I don't like having to stand 6" from the screen to figure out what button it's telling me to press to see my ranking in online matches.


I'm still waiting for my Mad Catz Fightstick to show up despite pre-ordering it two months ago, so I'm going at it with the standard PlayStation controller. Not the idea way to play this game, I'd prefer a SNES gamepad if I could use it, but I'm getting by. This is a very fun Street Fighter game and probably the only one I'd recommend over Marvel vs Capcom 2 (which is still my favorite fighter ever). I will now leave you so I can practice my Hooligan combo with Cammy while getting pummeled online by 14 year old kids.