Hoping

Results from Jakes MRI indicate to me that at minimum more treatment will need to be done with Cytotron. The main tumor Frank Sr. is stable and has not grown in 4 months. Other areas appear to be stable. There are however additional areas that need treatment. The hope is that Jake is still a candidate for more Cytotron and that Dr. Kumar feels that we can get this under control. I have sent the MRI to India electronically and it is being couriered today to Bangalore to Dr. Kumar's team. I hope to have information in the next couple of days. Christmas may slow this down. It has now been 4 months since Jake went off all chemo. On the positive side, it would seem to me that the tumors are not as agressive as a grade IV Glioblastoma as they typically would double in two months in size. However, the challenge seems to be to stop them completely and prevent any new formations. It is difficult to know at what point we are making a difference. For certain, the Hyperbaric Oxygen is helping to keep his energy up and overall health. There is no doubt there. The steroids make him tired, give him heartburn and make it more difficult for him to talk as well as make him weaker but are a necessary evil at this time. Jake at this moment is unable to walk mostly due to weakness and too much bed rest. Today they are delivering a hospital bed which will make it possible for him to sit up. This will hopefully improve the circulation and prevent him from getting weaker. We hope to have him walking again soon. With the combination of the loss of his left arm function and the weakness in his legs, Jake is obviously depressed and does not talk to anyone much. Still he does not complain. We have talked and he still wants to beat this and is ready to go back to India. He appears to feel more sorry for us then himself. We have set up a Tv and a Dvd player in his room along with his laptop and IPod. He sleeps a lot mostly due to boredom and sadness. I would expect that he is sick of hearing the standard positive comments given by all who see him such as "He looks so good" so he does not answer back much. He is however completely aware and still funny. Even though he does not say much he appears to be happy to see anyone who visits.
Jake is a fighter and we will go to the ends of the earth to stop this if it is possible. I feel like we are getting close to the end of a movie and I do not know what the ending will be. One ending seems incomprehensible, the other seems far away. Perhaps a third ending where we go to India once per year to keep things at bay may be realistic, perhaps not. We have always known that we are battling perhaps the worst type of brain tumor known and have always tried to stay ahead of the curve as new technologies develop. I believe in the power of technology and hope. I have tremendous faith in Dr. Kumar and Jakes will power. If Dr. Kumar feels we can help Jake, I will begin the next phase which is trying to get him physically fit for a trip to India, raising money for the trip and planning therapies on the trip to keep swelling down. (Perhaps Oxygen on the flight to help fight the decrease in atmosphere which causes the brain swelling) If Dr. Kumar feels they can help I will add to the blog a request for everyone to reach out to anyone they know to help me find information about keeping edema down and how to make a long distance trip tolerable. I will once again look for the power of many people via the Internet for answers. This worked when we wanted Jake to meet William Shatner. The power of the people is great.
Jake has made a significant change in the world of cancer. Several people have come to India for treatment and have had successes in stopping the growth of their tumors. They have said that they specifically came here because they saw Jake either on television or in the papers. A Google search of Jake Pastel or Cytotron now yields significantly higher results.
It is the Christmas season. The days melt from one day into the other. Most of the time, I do not even know what day it is. I walk blindly through the day not noticing the decorations around me and every once in a while I hear Christmas music while in a store and realize it is the Christmas season. I see the long lines of people purchasing gifts for one another and envy those that have that as a main worry. Health crisis and living in India has grounded me and kept me so aware of what matters and why there is the saying "If you have your health you have everything."