Sunday, March 28, 2010

Deciding factor...

While I was wrestling with the decision to go to China, my college swim coach reached out to me with the following e-mail... (My interjections are italicized. - Thanks, Coach Anthony!!!)

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I was both sad and shocked to hear about Cheng's sickness from Ina because she was one of my hardworking swimmers before. I told Ina that she's such a work-horse and will never complain during a workout... I even told ina that she was the first "tri-athlete" i know even though that sport was not even invented yet when Cheng was with the Gators... She was so fit but medyo on the "healthy" side naman... (Yes, I was chunky.)
But the bright side is that Cheng is at the right place. At Fuda, they have a very good "healing rate" for individuals 50yrs. and under. Before you go to Fuda, be sure to stock-up on your toiletries(toilet paper, soap, etc.), towel, rice cooker, patis, toyo, (condiments) vinegar, etc.. It will be your 2nd home coz they will only provide for the room, bed, tv..just the basic amenities. Food is NOT INCLUDED even for the patient, but they have the contact nos. of the different restuarants(pizza hut, local chinese food restos, etc.) that will delivered to your room. Some are very cheap but some are a bit expensive. It really depends on the budget.

The first time we were there, we ordered our food from the restaurant which cooks only boiled food. Based on the literature that they had in our room, cancer is caused by the food that we eat that is why their method of preparing the food is cancer-free. Its even endorsed by Fuda. But as the days went by and we were able to learn how to ride the bus, we started to buy our food outside. This was much cheaper and had a lot of variety.. typical chinese cuisine-yumyum! They have a common kitchen per floor - but all it has was a wash basin and hot water dispenser. That's why we had to buy our own rice cooker which also doubles as our soup maker since we saw the chinese nurses using it this way. I don't know which Fuda you will be staying at. The "old" fuda is very near the "downtown" part of that area, and there are many eating places nearby. OR the "new fuda" where we stayed only had a few restos, but there is one which sells 2 viands plus rice for only 11rmb...

What we like about Fuda is that the patient to doctor ratio is very low. Unlike here in Manila where 1 doctor caters to hundreds of patients depending on how famous he is. There at Fuda, they have 5-7 doctors per floor! And each floor, I think, only hasw around 7-10 patients... Then every morning, the nurses and doctors make it a point to visit each patient as a group. I think daily at 8am we had 7 nurses in our room all reassuring my dad that he's gonna be fine. They even told jokes(in simple english) and this made my dad very happy. Then at around 9am, the doctors' group would arrive. Around 5 of them - it was like a "flag ceremony"...we can ask them anything about my dad's condition and they have the answers ready. Of course there will be a translator per floor just in case the doctors will have a hard time talking to us in english...our translator was an Indonesian married to a Chinese. She's very sweet and very helpful... Sometimes she would even get us what we need.

We also had to do our own laundry "by hand" as there was no washing machine available in our room. Only the suites had the washing machines available in the rooms. Since we were on a tight budget, we had to hand-wash our clothes. Do get a room which has a balcony where you could hang your clothes. I think we paid 360rmb/day for that room. They already have a place to hang your clothes there as they don't have machine-dryers there also...everything "air-dry" .
They have internet connection in the room at 10rmb per day but its not "high speed"...your Magic Jack will not work properly. The voice will be choppy and garbled because of the slow speed...no wi-fi also...i will email you (our nurse's) email ad so that you can already communicate with her even before you arrive...

Wednesday, March 24, 2010

xyzHopes

Hi, I'm xyz. I'm 35 years old, married, mother to a 7 year old daughter.

Feb 2006, I was diagnosed with Stage 3b Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer despite the fact that I never smoked. For four years now, I've been going through chemotherapy. I've tried all the FDA approved drugs. When this therapy looses effectivity, my next option is to re-use the drugs I've used before. It's less likely that they'll cure me since they didn't the first time.

Knowing this, I looked around for other options. I found a cancer hospital in China that has been quite effective in helping metastatic cancer. I did my research. I actually talked to a couple of patients who have been there. I also corresponded with the hospital via e-mail. I'd like to try their therapy.

Needless to say, my insurance will not cover this treatment. I need about $30,000 for this trip. Here are ways you could help:

1) Breathe T-shirts
I'm selling T-shirts that say "Breathe". To remind everyone what a privilege each breath is.

2) Ebay Auctions (still setting this up)

3) send paypal donations to: xyzHopes@gmail.com
If you want to send me a check directly, e-mail me and I'll consider giving you my address. :-)

4) Join my Facebook page (search for xyzHopes) or visit my webpage

5) Help me spread the word via Facebook, Twitter, e-mail and word of mouth.

Prayers (or good healing vibes sent my way) are also very much appreciated.

Thank you so much for your help. I pray that you may be blessed a hundred-fold for your generosity of spirit.