By the time you read this Charlotte and I will be at a clinic in Mexico beginning a five-week, highly recommended alternative medicine cancer treatment program. These are therapies used successfully outside the USA and documented in medical literature but not yet approved by the FDA–therapies which will be selected and modulated to address Charlotte’s individual body chemistry and cancer.
Our Albuquerque doctors essentially sent Charlotte home to die on Friday. Home health visits were our option which transition into Hospice. The reason, I think, they’re done is the P.E.T. scan result was grim: cancer in liver and bones and lung. Truly a tough case and she is withering at an astonishing rate.
On Saturday, after two days of intensive deliberation and collaboration with colleagues over Charlotte’s full medical records, Dr. Muñoz, head of the San Diego Clinic, contacted us with his proposed multi-faceted treatment protocol offering 30-40% chance of remission. I booked a flight to San Diego for Sunday so we could begin treatment Monday!
Are three, perhaps four, chances out of 10 worth getting our hopes up over? Yes, especially when I consider that the successes credited to the San Diego Clinic’s methods, the 3 out of 10, are drawn from the population of the ‘hopeless’ and only from that group. We’re going for it.
I know I’m expected to be biased in saying Charlotte deserves a break. But I do say it, and I know everyone who ever met her agrees. A response today from a Great Scots Magazine subscriber in Ely, MN., tells why in words better than mine:
Dr. Harvill and Charlotte, Please know that in this remote corner of NE Minnesota where I live with the only two Scotties within a 50 mile radius, some of us are thinking about the difficult time you and Charlotte are facing. I have only known Charlotte from a few phone conversations, but in each one she was clearly a person anyone would want to know. What a joy to call Great Scots and not be connected to an impersonal telephone tree and instead to hear Charlotte’s wonderful voice and know that here was someone who cared about your Scotties. David Kess (who is kept by Sherloch and Harry and who greatly misses Lexi) Ely, MN
Char and I are scared and overwhelmed. All I know to do is keep fighting for the one who is the light of my life. Impossible dream given her pathology? Jousting at windmills? Perhaps. But I know this: love is stronger than medicine’s mechanics, stronger even than death because love remains to grieve after medicine’s machines and death have quit.
I’ll have my laptop with me in Mexico so I can post blog updates on this site. Stay tuned. We’re unlikely dragon slayers, off to engage an impossible foe armed with love and a Diehard spirit–and a great host of supporters who will us to succeed.
Joseph Harvill, publisher Great Scots Magazine
You bet you have supporters. I have been waiting on tenterhooks for this post to appear. I’m so glad you and Charlotte chose this clinic. And David Kess could not be more accurate in his description of the warmth Charlotte’s voice conveys. I always tell people I feel I have known her for years, even though we’ve never met. This venture is unquestionably scary, but you know what you are doing and have acted expeditiously, choosing the best course open to you. Gammill and Munoz wonderful reputations, and I know they will do everything in their power to help Charlotte help herself. That’s just what such treatments are intended to do: give a patient the tools her body needs to overcome the disease process. You have taken an affirmative step. Keep on thinking of your course in this way. Eyes on the prize, my friend.
Godspeed, dear Harvills! The fact that I’m at my computer first thing this morning to check MacBlog is testament to how dear you and Charlotte are to so very many. After having spent a long, magical evening with both of you in Baileys Harbor, WI, Jim and I can agree without reservation that Charlotte indeed is a person anyone would want to know, as are you, so joust away! Your loyal readers are all with you, that you can believe. We’ll hold onto hope and will be watching eagerly for updates. Let the Christmas miracles begin! And do remember to take special care of yourself, Joseph. You are Charlotte’s lifeline, her love manifest.
Yes dear Charlotte and Joe, fight those windmills with all your might together, dream the impossible dream and fight that “beatable” foe. We are the wind beneath your wings for now and will keep you both afloat in our prayers and hopes and inspirations for a true miracle. We know not what tomorrow holds for any of us but we do know that the love we hold for each other is there whether we are physically together or not. Know that you both are very, very close in prayers and thoughts and many, many special scottie angels to surround you. We love you both very dearly and are with you in this quest
Dear Joseph and Charlotte, You must do whatever is necessary to keep your family intact. Doctors are not God. They cannot quash the human spirit. Miracles happen every day, and you must hang onto that hope. We are praying out here for you, and reaching over the cyberspace to hold out our hands to hold you up! Love from all of the Biggs clan.
Dearest Charlotte and Joseph, may all of God’s angels ad saints guard and guide you on this journey.
You are in my thoughts each day, and especially my prayers.
God bless you and may He keep you close in His protecting and gentle arms,
Anita and her 2 wee bonnies, ‘Biscuit and Baci’