Detox

We're here safe and sound! We had a very easy drive and no hassles crossing the border.

I'll back up a little to Wednesday morning. We were a little concerned about leaving because Dave was really feeling crappy, and having difficulty keeping anything down. He went in to LRCP for his weekly blood tests and 5-FU bottle change and he told them he was doing much worse with nausea and vomiting. They said it was the Cisplatin chemo drug he was given last Wednesday and not surprising. They gave him some fluids and anti-nausea meds intravenously, and sent him home with some new anti-nausea pills. These seem to be working very well for him. He was able to eat some lunch when he got home and felt fine for the whole drive and was actually quite hungry again.

We arrived at about 6:30 pm last night and immediately felt welcomed. It has a camp like atmosphere. (I mean that in a good way.) There are 10 guests, 1 'leader', and quite a few interns behind the scene that do all the cleanup and cooking, juicing and growing of wheatgrass & sprouts etc. This is a non-profit organization and the people here are good and absolutely love what they're doing. (The price is very reasonable compared to other similar places because they have unpaid interns doing the work here.)

So we started detox. (The rest of the group had already started a day earlier.) Dave is feeling very good. (I can tell because he's being silly and trying to make me smile a lot. Lately it's been hard for him to be silly when he's feeling like crap.) So, Dave is feeling good, but I've been feeling awful as the day progressed. I usually have 3 small cups of coffee a day and only had one on Wednesday morning. So, by this afternoon I was feeling pretty bad. I've had a headache and am very sensitive to smells - which make me feel worse.

By dinner time I could barely bring myself to look at what they were serving let alone eat it. (Detox food is very unappealing unfortunately - 'Green Energy Soup' isn't cutting it for me.) Tomorrow everybody (except Dave & 1 other cancer patient here) will transition over to regular meals. I honestly felt so bad I was crying after dinner and the caffeine withdrawl just made me nauseous. (FYI. Dave and the other guests are doing well.) Dave spoke with the leader and then we both met with him and he said that it's the caffeine, but now isn't necessarily a good time for ME to detox. He said it's more important for me to to stay strong for Dave and said that I could carry on with the detox diet if I wanted, but not to feel obliged to. He got me a green tea (which has caffeine) and had one of the girls in the kitchen make me a gorgeous salad. (Unfortunately I was really feeling so crappy, that I ate 2 bites and couldn't eat any more.) The green tea did help a bit, and I'm feeling somewhat better now.

Anyway, enough about me. Dave & I are feeling very good about being here. (I was feeling pretty emotional a few hours ago, but that was from lack of caffeine.) There is another cancer patient seeking help here as well. It is very good to share experiences. (She's been fighting since 2004 and only recently heard about raw food diets to fight cancer. She said she really wishes she'd found out years ago. She is also only able to stay for 6 days.) Also our leader had stage 4 throat cancer 5 years ago and totally understands where Dave is at.  He didn't find out about this for a year and half later and wishes he'd started sooner.

Today we went out to the greenhouse where they grow their wheatgrass and bean sprouts. (Dave had to turn around and walk out as the smell made him nauseous. It did smell a little 'farm-like' because they do indoor composting with red wiggler worms in there as well.) We each started soaking some of our own 'sprouts' in a couple of jars. Tomorrow we have to go back a few times and rinse and drain them or something. This evening there was a 'Russian bayna' outside, which is some kind of sauna. I had initially planned on going, but just didn't feel up to it at the time. Dave didn't go as we didn't think it would be a good idea for him.

Well, I gotta get some sleep. The mornings start early around here - 6:30 they get you up to do exercises. Yikes!

Thank you everybody for your prayers, general concern and your comments. Thanks for checking in.

Val