Update on mom

[patti]

Hi,

It’s been a bit of a rough ride this week but I wanted to share it with folks as a chronicalling of the ups and downs of natural medicine – just as with traditional medicine.

Mom was exactly 4 weeks from her last transfusion today. At her regular doctor’s appt. yesterday we discovered her HGB was 5.9 and her HCT was 18.2! Those numbers absolutely hit me like a ton of bricks. I had to catch my breath before I could even tell her. And she felt terrible! Those numbers are lower than when she was diagnosed two years ago.

Mom transfused 3 units today at the 4 week mark. I took the time to make an appt. with Dr.Kou at his private office (vs. the college). He and I got to talking and I told him about mom. He told me not to be discouraged. He had put 3 detoxifying herbs in mom’s last formula and he said it’s very common when the toxins get into the blood stream to leave the body for a person to get a little sicker. Having done this myself I understood what he meant. I just hadn’t connected mom’s low counts to detoxifying. Dr.Kou then had his wife whip up a small herbal formula for mom to take in addition to her current one. I made an appt. for 11:30 next Thursday and he told me when we’re done that he and his wife will take us to lunch and teach mom how to cook for herself healthy. I think she does a pretty good job but he’s talking about foods that heal the body. I was in shock. I know of no other doctor who takes his wife and patients to lunch for a teaching session. But Dr.Kou is just like this with everything. And his wife is just as peachy as he is. I wish there were the two of them in every state. What sweet people.

So, like traditional medicine, we experience set backs. And hopefully the next three weeks will be a little better than this week.

Patti

[eve]

hi patti

i can’t believe that with a hgb of 5.9 your mother in law was even able to stand up let alone get to a doctors appointment – she must be a really strong women

good luck
eve

[patti]

Hi Eve,

She was standing, but barely walking. I kept ahold of her arm because I figured she was going down at any moment. I begged her to use a wheelchair and she refused. Stubborn! By the end of our 8hr day at doctor’s offices she could barely walk. I even wanted her to go to the hospital and get blood Tuesday night because she was so low and she would not budge. It takes a long time at the hospital and they tend to “forget” you because they’re dealing with other cancer patients. Oh well. All is well now. She’s feeling much better. I was trying to explain to her that these 3 units were not going to bring her up to her “normal” so her next transfusion might be a little sooner and she was mad! Oh well. There’s an age factor too. I keep forgetting the woman is almost 80yrs old! But you are so right when you say she’s strong. She’s one of the strongest women I’ve ever met both physically and emotionally.

Patti

[maueenh]

Patti

I’m glad that Dr Kou had a possible explanation for your mil’s setback. She sounds like quite a woman. You are both in my thoughts.

Maureen

[frank]

patti,

i used the herbal medicine, sometimes it works for me, but it then doesn’t work. Seems your mom may have the same responce. they told me it needs to wait a long time, then the medicine may cure the disease, i asked for how long(1 year or 2 ???), but it seems to me the result is not that kind of welcome, so i am just stop doing it. i still use the drug, since it doesn’t harm me either, but i don’t expect too much from it.

so never anticipate too much from Dr. Kou, it may not work for your mom…

Chinese Herbal medicine have a theory on curing people, the main thing is to balance the “Yin” and “Yong” in human body, but it may not show-up for MDS in “yin-Yang”, since we always got other’s blood. That part is most difficult for the doctor.

i have been visited a famous doctor in Beijing on my way home, and it seem his solution on me is not working, too. so you have to make a jurgement on your own.

Frank.

[patti]

Frank,

Dr. Kou told us if mom is going to heal with the herbs it will take one to two years. If it works we will be thrilled. If it doesn’t, we are not out anything and he’s added years to her life where she is feeling well and functioning on her own. Dr. Kou told us that some people don’t respond to the herbs but it’s almost always dependent on their willingness to follow his protocol. For now, for us, we fully believe that the chinese medicine Dr.Kou is doing is working. Part of the reason I chronicle our walk through this for people is because there is almost nothing “out there” about natural treatments that people can draw on. The good, the bad, the ugly, I think it’s helpful for people to be able to see that over a long period of time. That’s also why I posted about mom’s setback this week. It’s not all up, just like what people experience with traditional medicine.

I understand the yin/yang thing but Dr.Kou seems to focus more on the chi and blood stagnation then he does balancing yin and yang.

Take care. It’s good to see you posting again. We missed you for awhile.

Patti

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