November 7, 2016: Day 1 at Clinical Ruiz

With Angelo awaiting chest x-ray

We started the day meeting Angelo at the van we are assigned to at 8:30.  There are 6 patients and 6 carers in our group.  We are Group 1. Everyone is filled with a mixture of excitement and anxiety.  While we have a booklet telling us exactly what is going to happen today we still don't know exactly what it will be like..

Getting on the van everyone is of good humor.  I love the fact hat our driver's name is Angelo.  There

are so many people praying for us, and I think Angelo is one of the angels sent to care for us.  He is so thoughtful and helpful.  There are 2 people getting on the van that have even more disability than Doug.  Angelo picks up Kari and carries her on to the van.  She is from Paris.  A young 25 year old man from Norway cannot walk at all. His legs shake when he stands.  Another patient from Australia has a bad cold and is wearing a mask. She got sick  while traveling. Another woman from Norway is cared for by her twenty-something son.  He is very sweet and tender. Another woman from West Virginia has hired a caregiver to care for her while in Mexico.  Her husband has to leave on Monday to be with their teenage daughter and will return at the end of the treatment. We are a diverse group, but already bonding.  We are all in this together, with the same hope, the same dream of ending this ugly disease.

In the conference room with Dr. Ruiz and staff

We arrived at the clinic at around 9:00 a.m. and were helped into a conference room.  The doctors, administrators, and outpatient support group surround us as information is presented to us on the treatment.  All of the staff are introduced.  You really feel like everyone here is totally committed to our care and making the patients well.  Dr. Ruiz, the founder of the clinic, sits by Doug and tells him that his sons are working here with him now taking on major roles in the clinic. He is very sweet. Doug tells him that it is not often that you get a chance to meet a living legend.  Dr. Ruiz is well known in the HSCT world community. We are then given bags with a blanket, water bottle and medication.  And then we are sent off  to a day filled with tests.

First, all the patients went to the lab for blood tests, then urine samples and lung capacity testing. After a busy morning and fasting we are allowed to go to lunch.  As a group we all crossed a very busy city street with no walk/don't walk signs, with wheelchairs, walkers and canes.  That was a sight!  The one thing about traveling as a rather uncanny group, people stopped!  Then back to the clinic for chest x-rays.  After which, Angelo took us home to rest for an hour before going to the hospital for more tests.  The hospital is beautiful and modern with a Starbucks. We were all longing for a latte!  Turns out people from all over the world love Starbucks.  Then on to our neurology appointment.  I really liked the neurologist.  He was very smart and kind.  He had reviewed the MRI reports we sent and looked at the MRI while we were there.  He also tested Doug and shared some thoughts and insights with us that were very helpful, with recommendations for the future.  Then off to cardiology, where Doug had an EKG and met with the cardiologist.  Luckily no problems there. This doctor was again extremely likable and personable.  As a side bar, he wanted to talk just a little about the presidential election. Everyone with our group is talking about the Presidential elections. The world is apparently watching us carefully.

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Finally we got to our apartment at about 7:30 p.m..  A long day, but the journey is officially started.  We have finished day 1. Tomorrow we have more consultations with doctors in the morning and then the first dose of chemo in the afternoon. This will be a 5 hour infusion.  It will be another big day.

This morning, I began the day by reading a chapter in a book called The Soul of a Pilgrim.  The chapter talks about Adam and Eve being pushed out of the Garden of Eden. The author makes the point that often times in life when we go on pilgrimage it is not our first choice. It may not be our choice to seek the Holy. We may be happy with our life or comfortable. But then our life shifts.  Doug and I had our life shift some years ago.

Here are a few quotes from his first chapter.
"Pilgrimage in this sense, can mean the life journeys we take in response to unwelcome circumstances"
"We honor that even unbidden journeys can take us to places where we encounter God more closely"
"They (pilgrims) take the next step".
"Their biggest hurdle, though is heeding the call. But hearing and accepting are two different things."

As we end this day, I remember, what I am calling this great endeavor, it is our pilgrimage, our Mexican Camino.  We are seeking God, and God's healing power, in a "strange" land.  While we did not choose this journey of MS, or the life it has set before us, here we are, seekers of the holy, seeking health.

And so we pray,

Holy Lord, powerful and merciful, guide us on this pilgrimage.  Give us eyes to see you in all that we encounter.  In the midst of fear, worry and concern strengthen our faith and our hope in all that is possible in you.  And Lord, help us to be a beacon of light to others walking this path with us. Where there is fear, let us bring hope.  Amen.