Day#6

            Today started out nicely. I awoke at 6:00, looked out the window and it was looking to me that the weather is going to be cold. I took my time getting out of bed, as I was dreading riding my bike in the cold. 6:35 I got out of bed, threw on some warm clothing, and went out to my bike. The weather wasn't  as frigid as it looked. I hopped on the bike and rode to the klinik. when I got there, I was greeted by the Buzzard. She was going to get me going on the hyperthermia. I laid down and started the treatment.

             8:00, I finished my hyperthermia without the buzzard lurking too much! I went down to breakfast where i was greeted by Liz! Fuck!! She was complaining to some other patients about every little EFFing thing that she could possibly complain about. I am hoping that I can avoid her like the plague for the time that she is here. She approached me to ask if I have been given a certain type of chemo therapy called Xeloda. This is the same chemo that I have been on since I came here last time. I, trying to be nice told her that I have been on it and that my results are great and that I think my positive attitude helps. She looked at me with a sideways glance like "Ohh, he is still on this positivity trip?" My stomach started to get upset in the two minutes of talking to her and i almost didn't want to eat my breakfast. Luckily, she got the clue that I wasn't really wanting to converse with her, and walked away. Thank god! 

             I finished my breakfast in peace. After breakfast, I went into the lobby so that I could start to chip away at my blog. A man from England was sitting in the lobby too. He and his wife had just arrived yesterday. His name is John, and his wife has cervical cancer. She received surgery in february and the Surgeons removed 22 lymph nodes, and the tumor. They found that cancer had only traveled to one of the lymph nodes. John said that they had a scan two weeks ago and she is still in remission. They are here just to make sure that they take care of all of the cancer once and for all. I told John that I believed they made the right decision in coming to Germany before taking radiation, and chemo.

             John, and I continued to talk for a good twenty minutes about our careers. He is also in the construction industry. He is in demolition, and deals a lot with asbestos. Yikes!  We also talked about the positive and negative effects that the mind can create in the body. He said that the past couple of months have been really tough, but that he thinks him and his wife had been able to accept a lot and it has been easier since they have done this. I, of course gave my opinion, which I always tend to do. He seemed to be very accepting of what I had to say. He is a nice man.

             After my conversation with John, I went up to the nurses station for some shots and to get rolling on my treatments. First, I had my magnetic field. The buzzard pointed the applicators at my stomach instead of my liver, which I had to fix. I don't think she really pays attention to what she's doing. Next, I had the adulating massage. This is really relaxing to me. I can get a massage and read at the same time. After the massage, I did the biomat treatment. The last treatment before lunch was the foot bath. They usually finish this treatment with a foot rub, but the buzzard was the one doing it so I had to pass. I really get a negative feeling from this nurse, and I hope that it changes. Some people just rub me the wrong way and she is a pro at it.

             I went back down to the lobby for a while and sat across from a little Italian girl. She was drawing pictures of all sorts of little people. I really enjoyed watching her draw, it reminded me a lot of Camille when she is drawing. This brought the positive feelings back into my body. I was in a very happy place at this particular moment. 12:00 and it is time for lunch. I went to my table and there was an older woman and her son-in-law sitting there. The woman comes here every six months for maintenance. She had an operation three years ago on her breast and did treatment only at the klinik. She has been in remission since the surgery. This is great news to hear. I think it would have been really good news to hear for Liz, but she wasn't at lunch. Anyways, we talked about this and that. She had lots of questions for me and i answered to the best of my abilities. The lunch was yummy, I had ratatouille, and some yoghurt style dessert.

              After the lunch, I went to meet with Dr. Weber. He wanted to talk blood work, and of course all of mine is looking better. My liver tests, which are the most important right now are all looking great. My white blood cells are higher then normal range, which means that they are perfect for fighting cancer. Dr. Weber is very happy with these results, as am I. I went back to the dining area where it was time for tea and cake. Normally I skip this, but today I have to stick around the klinik for my massage at 3:30. I grabbed some coffee, and a slice of strawberry, custard, and angel food cake. It was like heaven!

             Just as I finished my cake, John entered the room. We started to chat and then were joined by a lady for whom I haven't got her name. Then Richard, another patient entered the room, and we all started to chat. We shared experiences, and treatments we were offered. It was a really good conversation, that lasted almost an hour before I had to leave for Marcus. 3:30 massage with Marcus. we worked on my feet today, and talked about the united States. He said that he would love to visit there one day, but that he thinks that he needs a couple of months. He really wants to soak in all the different sights. I thought this was really cool. He was also interested in the native american culture, which was a little surprising to me, but I'm all for it.

              When I was done with my reflexology, I went back to the hotel to regroup before dinner. I took a shower and shaved. I didn't have a bunch of time so I got dressed and headed back to the klinik. When I got in the dining room, one of the servers was still setting up. I went to grab some fruit a little early and she snapped at me. Well I snapped back and said that Im a patient and Im hungry. She didn't come back out of the kitchen the rest of the evening. I kinda felt bad, but If Im hungry, I should be able to eat. I talked to a man from australia named Doug. He was a miner for many years, and has lung cancer that metastasized to the brain. He's a real nice guy, and I enjoy talking with him also. Dinner was good, It was a vegetable quiche. When dinner was over, I rode back to the klinik to finish the blog.

I'm going to leave you today, and catch some sleep. I am really tired. I hope you enjoyed the blog. Tune in tomorrow. Love Lucas 

              

  

              

day#5

Good morning to me and Good night to you! ha ha, 6:00A.M. and I'm getting up for a 7:00A.M. appointment at the klinik. I slowly arose with some water and half of a sandwich so that I could take my medications without bombing my stomach. I went to get my bike and pump up the tire for the trip to the klinik. I will be asking the secretary today if she can get the tire fixed for me or a different bike. 7:00A.M. and I'm at the klinik to get hyperthermia. the nurse who is here this morning is newer to the klinik and doesn't speak very good english at all. She is actually quite a snarly nurse and she hovers too. This is so annoying to me when people hover over you, I just want to push them when they do this. This nurse is not starting her relationship out with me good at all.
I was hoping to get my infusions while I got my hyperthermia but this didn't happen today. Maybe tomorrow I will be able to get them at the same time. I asked for the earliest appointments as possible, that is why this week I have to come in at 7:00A.M. So after my hyperthermia appointment, I went down to breakfast at the klinik. This week they are going to feed me since i have to come in so early. I had two eggs, soft boiled and some bread and coffee. I was talking to a poet named Ron Bankley from Canada about my exciting weekend in Munich.
I realized at 8:30 that i had an appointment with Marcus for a back massage. I rushed to his office and we started. He felt that i have been carrying a lot of tension in my shoulders and neck. I told him that for the past couple of days I have been having a lot of pain in this area. He told me that he was very excited for the weekend because his three best friends and him have a mens weekend that one of his friends organized and its a surprise. He said that they go by train to wherever it is and just be men for the weekend. This sounds really fun to me.
9:00 I wandered up to the nurses station and got a shot in my butt cheek, then I went to have my magnetic field treatment. Again the hovering nurse was standing over me like a buzzard in the desert waiting for me to drop from heat exhaustion. In fact, from now on she will be known as the buzzard. When my magnetic field was over I decided to do an Adulating Massage which is a table that vibrates and adds heat to the body as it massages. Its kinda weird at first but then its really nice. Im reading a book called "Words Fail Me" and it is about how to write. Its all about the common errors that people make when writing and also helps you to realize the audience to whom you are writing for. Its very interesting. Every time that I look up from this book though the Buzzard is circling around.
I had only one last treatment in the buzzards room and that was the biomat so I sucked it up and knocked it out. When i was finished it was 10:30 and I only had one more appointment and that was with Melanie one of my favorites and she would take my blood and return it and also give me my vitamins. I had to sit in the lobby though because this appointment wasn't until 11:00. When I got to the lobby Liz was there and she was asking me all sorts of questions to which I had really short responses. I went into the Infusion room to see if Melanie could get me in ASAP so I didn't have to sit with Liz. She  got me in so, thank god.
I laid there getting these infusions and Melanie and i talked a lot about our children and life struggles and what not. She is a very nice person with a lot of good advice. I really enjoy talking to her. After my infusions she offered me a hot pack for my liver and I took it. I laid there for another twenty minutes and Ron came in and was holding a book. He said that he had something for me and handed me this book that was signed by him and it was a collection of all his poetry. I thought this was a very nice gesture. I thanked him and said that I would take a look at it later.
12:00 lunch time at the klinik. I had some soup, creamy herb and mushroom ragout. It was pretty good. Not the best meal I've had though. I talked a long while with the woman from the U.K. and her mother, also a man from Austrailia. These are all nice people. We talked about british television and comedy. I enjoyed that part of lunch time. After lunch I went back to the hotel where I laid down for a couple minutes and woke up at eight. I was pretty tired I think. I decided to go get something to eat at the Italian place around the corner. I had gnocchi, and bruschetta. It was delicious.
After dinner, I came back to the hotel and thought that i might as well get this blog out to all of you so thats what I did. I hope that you all enjoy it. Love from Germany. Lucas

Days 3&4

5:00a.m. Woke up with a good amount of energy. Breakfast isn't served until seven so I needed to kill sometime. I started streaming a new show called "modern family". This show is hilarious! I watched a few episodes before I went to breakfast. After breakfast I had to go to the Klinik to do a hyperthermia treatment and magnetic field. I fell asleep on the hyperthermia table and that was good because the treatment went fast.

10:00a.m. I'm back at the hotel thinking I might go to Munich and walk around to see what I can get myself into. I also needed to get a charger for my phone because the one I brought doesn't work. The trip into Munich was pretty straight forward. I had a transfer in rosenheim and then a straight shot to Munich. 

When I arrived in Munich my plans were to go to the apple store down in marienplatz and then get some lunch. When I got to the apple store the lady working there. Let me know that one of my charger pins broke out and I had to either replace the phone or find a repair store. I am not getting a new phone in Europe and paying almost double so I decided to look around for a repair store.

I walked the a resturaunt first so I could fill my stomach, I got a sausage and some mashed potatoes at a little underground resturaunt called " jean Claude bistro". The food was really good and the atmosphere was nice too. After lunch I wandered around the streets aimlessly looking of a shop that repairs iPhones.

When I was  just about to give up and take the next train back to brannenburg I stumbled upon a little hole in the wall store in the main train station. I was so happy. The guy in the shop was really nice and told me that it would take one day so I needed to come back tomorrow and pick it up. I then hopped on the next train back to brannenburg. I was pretty tired so I slept on the train ride.  When I returned, the bicycle that I rode had a flat tire and I was lucky that Dr. Weber had a pump in the bicycle. I thought that maybe some kids let the air out because when I pumped it up it was holding air. I rode back to the hotel to regroup before it was time to go to dinner at the Klinik.

5:15 I went down to my bike and the tire was flat again. This is really annoying to me. I pumped it up and made it to the Klinik with out an issue. The dinner was good. I had creamy marjoram soup and a caprese salad. I was full when I left and the tire had enough air that I just topped it off and headed back to the hotel. I was awake for maybe twenty minutes in my room before dozing off.  

12:30 a.m. I awoke starving, luckily I grabbed some fruit from the Klinik at dinner time and brought it with me. I ate 2 kiwis, 1 apple, 1 bannana, and some grapes. It just didn't fully satisfy my hunger pangs. I laid awake until 3:30 before I dozed back off. I awoke at 8:00 and couldn't get to breakfast quick enough. I ate a huge bowl of cereal and a sandwich. I also had a soft boiled egg and some orange juice. I asked the owner if they possibly had a room with a tub and he said no but that they do have a tub and no one ever uses it. My body has been really achy, and I needed a good soak. I went back to my room after breakfast and fell asleep for another three hours before I was awoken by the owner asking if I wanted to see where the tub was. I took this opportunity to bathe my aches away. It really helped, I stayed in the tub for a good hour.

After I was feeling re-energized, I walked to the train station so I could go pick up my phone and  do a little grocery shopping so I don't starve anymore in the middle of the night. I got to the train station with about twenty minutes to spare so I sat and people watched for a little while. I watched these two girls and a guy talking and one of the girls I think was giving the other one a hard time because she jumped up really defensively, even though she was laughing you could tell she was embarrassed. 

It's funny how you can pick up so much just by body language. I have been paying attention a lot since I can't understand a lick of what people are saying. I arrived in Munich around 2:20 and went to the repair shop. On my way I was stopped by the police in a "random" passport check. They wanted to know what my business was at the train station and If I had any drugs, or weapons on me. I did have pain killers in an unmarked container which was freaking great because they were all suspicious of me at this point. I calmly explained my business in Germany and they let me go after about ten minutes of questions and pat downs. I finally got to the repair shop and the dude at the counter who told me yesterday to be back at two thirty, said that my phone wasn't ready yet and to come back at six. Now I had to kill 3 1/2 hours.

I walked through Munich again, to marienplatz again. I went into a back alley resturaunt and got some food. I ate slowly because I had so much time to kill. The food was delicious, I had slices of pork knuckle, with sourkraut, and mashed potatoes. As I slowly made my way back to the main station, I saw my favorite street performer. He was just finishing up and I had a chance to talk to him for a minute. I ended up buying his CD this time. 

I walked into a church, and took some pictures. The ceilings had to of been eighty feet high. This place was so extravagant. All the detail in the finishes of these old buildings is just so fascinating to me. I left the church and kept on slowly making my way back to the station. When I got there it was quarter to five and I was hoping that they maybe finished my phone early. No dice! I had to kill more time. I went to the food court and got some breads and sandwiches for incase I wake up starving again. 

I was planning to possibly meet Sandra in strousbourg on Friday so I went to the travel agency and looked at prices and travel times. I ended up getting a round trip ticket for Friday thru Sunday. This should be a fun time. A family friend named Chantal lives there and we will stay with her for two nights. 

So, 5:30 and I'm still waiting. I sat at a table right outside the shop and was approached by some drunk homeless dude named Ronnie of rabbit hill. This crazy dude was telling me all sorts of weird shit. He reeked of booze and kept trying to light up his cigarette in the building. I was stuck talking to him for about twenty minutes before I finally escaped to get my phone.

6:25 I got my phone and I'm on my way back to brannenburg. There were some high school kids on the train that were in the back getting drunk and really loud. This was annoying to me because there were some older women sitting by me and I felt the kids were being disrespectful. Had I been in the u.s.a I probably would have said something.  I don't know what little German punks are capable of. I got back to brannenburg and walked back to the hotel. I took a log bath and then had some FaceTime with my kiddos. They seem so happy. I miss them a lot but this will be over in the blink of an eye and then I won't have to leave them anymore. 

I hope that everyone enjoyed this blog. I will be back on daily's tomorrow. Thanks for the support. With love from Germany. Lucas

day#2

Guten Morgen from Germany. Another beautiful day to get some treatments.  I awoke at 6:00 with horrible pains in my shoulder. I think that I slept on it wrong. I took some medication and laid back down for a little while to allow it to kick in. I must have been tired because I went back to sleep for another two hours. 8:00 I heard a knocking on the door and it was Sandra, she was ready to go down to breakfast and wanted to know if I was going to join her. I told her that I would meet her down stairs in ten minutes. My shoulder was still not feeling all that well but I sucked it up and went down to eat.

Breakfast was pleasant, we talked about the stock market and what stocks we are watching. I haven’t bought any yet but I am definitely watching some with eager eyes. Sandra left me today and head to France for her vacation. I might join her in France next weekend if everything goes smoothly. 10:30 I said my goodbyes to Sandra and left her to go to the klinik to start my treatments for the day. I arrived at the klinik and was instantly getting poked by the nurse Stephie. I think that she likes to stick me with needles. I met a nice woman from the United Kingdom who was diagnosed in January with stomach cancer. Her doctors gave her no options so she came here to get the German treatments. So far she is feeling good about the treatments it seems. She’s got an eight-month-old baby at home and you can tell that there is some fear around that. I assured her that she’s in good hands with the crew here and I think she was already in agreement. She seems to be pretty positive.

I had my magnetic field treatment, and then went to lunch early. The lunch was creamy kohlrabi soup and pasta with an Alfredo sauce and asparagus. I didn’t have time for dessert. I had to go and do my hyperthermia treatment while everyone else had lunch. Melanie who is one of the nurses sat and talked to me for a good portion of my hyperthermia because I was the only patient during that time. It was really nice to have someone to talk to. After the hyperthermia, I had a footbath detox and it was great. My body let out so many toxins into the water. I used this time to start on my blog. When I was finished the nurse rubbed my feet dry, then she put lotion on them, which made them all silky and smooth.

2:00 I had my bio mat treatment with a nasal cannula (cannula is the nose piece that they give you oxygen in the hospital with). I almost fell asleep during this treatment. When I was done, I went down to see the secretary about borrowing a bicycle to make it a little easier to get around. After I got the bicycle, I went on a cruise into town and to the train station where I got a ticket and went to Rosenheim to exchange American cash for Euros. Rosenheim was a lot of fun on a bicycle, I rode all over the streets looking for a bank that was still open and was willing to exchange money. There were lots of people out today because the weather is really nice plus it is Friday. A lot of kids hang out at the train station and smoke cigarettes thinking that they are so cool. I remember when I was that age and how cool I was smoking my cigs and being a little shit. I caught the train back to brannenburg and rode my bike back to the hotel to regroup before I went to dinner at the klinik. 5:30 I went back to the klinik for dinner and they were serving Fajitas. The fajitas were good but the kohlrabi soup was better. I ate too much though because I got a huge stomachache after I finished and had to sit at the table for a little while before making the ride back to the hotel.

As I sat at the table, I was listened to the people behind me talk about all their material bull crap and it made my stomach hurt even more. The people here right now all seem very superficial. This isn’t the kind of people that I like to be around. I prefer people who are tangible, people who aren’t afraid to open up and let you get to know the real them. These are the people that I am going to surround myself with from now on. I’m done with all the fake people in the world. They are just boring, so normal. Blah, it leaves a bad taste in my mouth. Anyways, the one lady from the U.K. seemed cool so I will try and continue to conversate with her, and Gunther whenever I get a chance. He spends a lot of time in his room because he is really weak.

I rode back to hotel and it took only about five minutes. When I got to my room I took a shower and shaved because i'm starting to look all scruffy. Ohh yeah I forgot to tell you yesterday that my favorite person in the whole world will be back on Monday for a four-day stay before she returns home for possible surgery. Can anyone guess who it is? It’s Liz!! Yay I’m so excited for this train wreck of a person. Dr. Weber told me that he cannot stand her either. He said that she is the biggest complainer he has ever encountered I told him that I agreed. Anyways, I will let you know how this all pans out. Be ready for some fun blogs next week. I’m about to go get an ice cream and then stream some TV. Hope that you all enjoyed my blog today, as much as I enjoyed writing it. Stay tuned for the next episode. Love you all Lucas 

flight.. Day#1

Hello everyone! Did you miss me? Im guessing yes. ok so, I obviously already back in Germany for another round of treatments. I flew out on Tuesday night at 9 p.m. The flight was pretty straight forward, I slept for about three quarters of it. The rest of the time was spent watching movies, eating, and listening to crying babies. Sandra, my soon to be ex-mother-in-law came with me to see the klinik and then she will continue onto france for a vacation of her own. We didn't get to sit together on the flight but it is nice to have someone to travel with.
We arrived in Germany at 5 p.m. and were greeted with a wheelchair service. I have trouble walking really long distances still and with a wheelchair you don't have to wait in any lines ;)  so we made it through customs and to baggage claim without any trouble. When we went out to the customs our transport service was waiting for us with a big sign that said "Kukus Brooks" Sandy started laughing at me and said that this would be my new nickname. I better not hear anyone refer to me as "Kukus"  Just kidding! anyways, we got in the transport and on our way to brannenburg.
The transport dropped us at the hotel that we are staying at around 630 and we got all checked in, settled and went to dinner. We decide that Italian would be a good dinner. We sat and ate and talked until nearly 10 before Sandra noticed that I could barely keep my eyes open and we went back to the hotel to sleep. I had no problem falling asleep.
Thursday
At breakfast I found out that Sandra stayed awake most of the night. We will see how she lasts  after the full day that we have in store. the breakfast was really good, nothing like the klinik though. I had the traditional bread and meats with some jams and a bowl of cereal. We sat and talked for an hour and a half before we went out to find a bank to do a money transfer. The weather here is amazing right now, Its warm, sunny, everything is green, and the air smells really fresh too. We got to the bank and the transfer rate that they were going to give us wasn't as good as the internet said we should expect so we are going to hold off a day.
We got to the klinik around 10 and it was so nice to see everyone. All the nurses were so happy to see me( or at least it seemed that way). They immediately started me in on the treatments with blood work, followed by ozone therapy, and vitamins. I talked a lot with one of the nurses while I was getting my infusions. She was asking about my time back at home and also if I had a chance to see Chad, who was one of the patients that was here with me before. He talked a lot about me after I left supposedly so that was pretty cool to hear. I felt very welcomed and somewhat missed ;)..
After the infusions we went to lunch in the dining area and there were all new faces except for my buddy Gunther who was back again. He has had a hell of a battle in the past couple of months and i'm not sure how he is going to recover. Its really sad to see him back because he was just about to go home when I left the last trip. He said that he was home for three week and then started getting too weak again. I didn't have a lot of time to talk to him today but i'm sure that by the time I leave i will have his whole story. The lunch as always was Delicious. We both had creamy rosemary soup and a cheese soufflé followed by vanilla custard with cherries.
We sat at lunch talking with a lady at the table we were at named Susan. She was in for an ultrasound and an infusion that she gets every four weeks. She was treated for breast cancer last fall and has been coming every month for an infusion for maintenance. She was a little nervous about the ultra sound because she hasn't had one since january but the last one was clear so I just assured her that she was more then likely all good. She smiled and agreed with me. She seems like a really positive person. I love that quality in people.
After lunch I went to meet with Dr. Weber.  He was very interested in seeing how everything has been going with me in the past month. We sat and laid out a treatment plan for me while i'm here. He is going to overload my body with treatments. We tweaked my treatments this time to focus on two spots where there is cancer (tumors) present. He is going to give me hyperthermia every day switching between the Liver and the other spot that we will call the "hernia spot". He's also going to only charge me for half of the Hyperthermia treatments. I'm really happy that I decided to come back and knock this out.
When we were done talking, Dr. Weber took me into the room with the ultrasound, where he had his female Dr. scan my body for cancer. The findings were that all the liver metastasis's were greatly reduced but still present, and that the big tumor in my side, the hernia spot had shrunk by over half. The look on his face was priceless. He's like an excited little kid on christmas, just so passionate about his work. I think that he didn't expect these good of results so quickly. I am ecstatic right now, just floating on cloud nine. Maybe this is the turn of events that I have been waiting for my whole life. coming to Germany was the single most greatest choice that i have ever made. I know that I'm not in the clear yet, but I'm going to put a big emphasis on the word YET! 
All my friends, my warriors, my family. You are all a big help in this outcome too. I am forever and eternally grateful for all the love and support that has been shown to me through this battle. All the continued prayers from individuals and big groups are proving right now that there is a higher power and that he has definitely got my back. I don't really know what else to say. I got to talk to Liam and Camille for a few minutes and got to share the news with them as well. Liam has been having a rough time since I left again. This news really put a big smile on his face.
 I'm going to close out this blog on that note. It cant get any better then this. I am happy to be writing this again, I know that I kept everyone hanging while I was back in the states but life happens and mine got really hectic, but I handled it without too much drama and my health didn't suffer obviously so I guess it wasn't all that bad. Expect blogs every one to two days. I don't want to promise everyday but, i will probably be writing them everyday. Just don't want everyone worrying if I miss a day here and there.   Lucas