A General Report on our Boston Stay (For our English Speaking Friends)–January 2009-
Many of our English speaking friends have requested more postings in English on this Blog. We are gladly conceding to their wishes and desires. In this present posting there are no links, or videos or pictures, most of them except one or two throughout the Blog, are in English anyhow and the pictures posted speak for themselves. So please bear with us those phrases that are wrongly constructed, it is due to our Spanish background, the odd thing, maybe due to old age, is that many of our phrases in Spanish carry an English construction; sorry it is an inevitable phenomenon!
The underlying reason for our Boston stay is, as you know, that Marilu was diagnosed with a Mantel Cell Non-Hodgkin’s Indolent Lymphoma about 30 months ago. She undertook the first phase of chemotherapy in Mexico City. She was infused with the CHOP-R chemo. Everything went well and she was declared in total remission by Dr. Arnold Freedman Head Hematologist of the highly reputed Dana-Farber Cancer Institute a Harvard Medicine University Affiliate, on one side and on the other by Dr. Alberto Villalobos Hematologist of the ABC Medical Center in Mexico City. Both Doctors worked in coordination treating Marilu, and were very enthusiastic by the excellent results and general health condition of Marilu throughout the treatment.
On a latter visit in April 2008, with our Primary Care Physician in Boston, Dr. Ronda Rockett of Wellesley Massachusetts ordered a colonoscopy for both of us, which is a routine procedure for patients our age. Victor was surprised to be found in good shape, for years he had suffered stress colitis, which left no lasting effect; but the Gastroenterologists and Pathologists of the Wellesley-Newton Hospital, re-discovered lymphatic cells in Marilu’s intestine. This meant that the cancer was back or perhaps that the CT Scans performed originally were not as accurate as a colonoscopy. We were shaken by this second rude awakening…
The new facts forced us to rethink our strategy. The Chemotherapy infused in Mexico could not have been better applied. We were gratified by the diligent work performed by Dr. Alberto Villalobos at the ABC Medical Center in Mexico City, who kept the Dana-Farber team in Boston in the loop. Dr. Villalobos, and generally all cancer medicine in Mexico follows closely those experiences in South Western USA Medical Centers; Baylor, the Anderson Clinic in Houston, Texas, and very recently the cancer joint venture clinic, to be opened in Mexico City, of the ABC and the Methodist International Network. So we had choices to make.
One approach was to wait and see how the returned indolent lymphoma developed. The other opinion, was to act now, when Marilu is in top condition and in excellent general health, not to wait for any further developments that nobody knew if and how these would show up. One consideration was also her age and the health and age of the potential compatible donors and less important morally but in need of reflection was the financing involved.
We are inevitably under the influence of Andy’s miracle. A fantastic successful scientific achievement of the Harvard University related Hospitals. The Children’s Hospital Boston diagnostic and care capabilities, the Dana-Farber stem cell transplant teams that perhaps have the most advanced experience in the world in the field. The state of the art medical installations in the Longwood Harvard Medicine Campus in Boston persuaded our choice.
On the other hand we knew that the ABC Medical Center –a general hospital- was the best we could get in Mexico, under the umbrella of the mediocre insurance services backing up our case. Carmina’s -Marilu’s sister- experience at the Mexican Nutritional National Institute and other hospitals were of no encouragement either.
While Dr. Alberto Villalobos, had all our confidence, he stood really alone against teams of experts at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston Massachusetts. The different philosophies in the application of cancer medicine and perhaps in every other medical field had a lot of weight in our decision process. We felt with better insurance cover in the US and had experienced that the general organizational systems in Boston were far much better than those in Mexico.
We had Andres our son and Ana Paulina his wife, established in Boston that proved to be of invaluable help. Victor Antonio and Veronica were also in favor of their mother receiving the best possible treatment available in the world, within our reach.
We arrived in Boston on August 10th 2008. Victor our son is carrying alone the full weight of the business in his shoulders. We pray that the present difficult world-wide economic and business conditions do not hamper his success; but somehow have the opposite certainty, a deeply rooted knowledge that he will come out better with the crisis than without it!
Veronica in a moment of inspired decision, convinced Juan her husband, to take the sabbatical they were contemplating for some time and started organizing their affairs to carry out this somewhat long desired wish in Boston.
Andres helped and found them a house to rent in Sudbury, MA, near him. This house then provided the assurance for the children to enter Sudbury, MA, excellent public schools. Juan and Veronica travelled to Sudbury and arranged everything in a week including furniture they purchased in IKEA and assembled immediately, for their arrival together with their four children…
In the meantime Andres rented our Apartment in the Arborpoint complex in the Woodland Station in Auburndale, one of the 13 Villages of Newton, MA. As a welcoming present, Andres was kind enough to buy our beds in IKEA as well, during one of Veronica’s many visits to the store. So we were all set!
Our first week in Boston was spent furnishing our apartment. Andres assembled all of our IKEA purchased furniture, for which we thank him profusely. We informed the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute of our arrival but our appointments started until September once Dr. Freedman and Dr. Soiffer were back from vacations. Therefore we had time to settle in…
Andres and Paulina have opened many doors and paved many roads for us. Having them in Boston has made our life so much easier and better. Veronica’s move with her family has brought extraordinary joy to our stay. For the first time –not on vacations- we have our six grandchildren together. In April Ana Paulina will give birth to their third child our seventh grandchild. By that time, Marilu will be clean or well on her way to remission from her lymphoma and ready to receive with great joy our seventh! Victor comes and goes between Mexico City and Boston, so we have not had time to miss him.
We have been able to take advantage of the many things Boston has to offer. We have attended concerts; we have been at the Boston Ballet. We have gone to the circus, the theatre; we have visited museums, and have been in outdoor events like canoeing in the Charles River, skiing, bicycling, and picnicking. We have visited many restaurants. We have been shopping for Christmas. We have gone to the movies more than ever. We have visited some of the most important centers of higher learning in the region and we still have a lot to see and do!
We have been treated at the facilities of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, The Brigham and Woman’s Hospital in the Longwood Campus at Harvard Medical and The Wellesley-Newton Hospital across the street from our apartment.
It has been very gratifying to have so many friends calling us and emailing us. We have not felt lonely at any one moment. Being in touch, yet far away, is a modern present that we have been happy to receive.
We have been fortunate in being witness in the US during this 2008/2009 crisis, but more importantly during the historic Obama campaign and the transition from the Bush administration to a new era of inevitable change. Having survived past economic crisis in Mexico, the main two in 1982 and 1994, we know that many of the established things will necessarily have to change. The measures taken by the US government so far are very similar if not some identical, to those taken in Mexico during those mentioned years, the scale is different and the underlying main problem has mainly been excess government spending and mismanagement of public affairs of an outgoing administration that lost control of the situation.
Some difficult measures may still have to be taken; there has even been talk of nationalizing the American Banking Sector to end the banking crisis. Selling of banking and other corporations to foreign firms will gradually erode sovereignty in America; American firm’s decisions will be taken in foreign capitals without consideration to local needs. A new “Toxic Asset Receptor” organization will be created, so that banks are able to operate without the weight of nonperforming assets, leaving the recovery of whatever value remains and legal problems to the new organization. The Dollar will have to devalue steeply once other economies recuperate, interest rates will raise and inflation will be of two digits for some years to come. It will not happen now, as competition with other damaged economies is not immediate. The urgency is to get the world economies going!
The present war on terror on two fronts must come to an end soon. The US economy cannot afford to continue unless the USA figures out a way to receive compensation for its actions from the defended nations, compensations that those nations could afford. Can then Iraq and/or Afghanistan repay the US? Can the allied Arab countries pay for their share in the cost of having been relieved of Sadam Hussein? Can allied nations instead of contributing with men and arms, help pay for the burden? At this time these allies cannot pay for the burden but most likely will not and refuse any monetary collaboration, it would perhaps be considered an insult to attempt such a thing!
Much more can be said, once we get a feeling of the choices the present administration is most likely to make. The US must become competitive again; hopefully its work force will be able to understand that many of the privileges they had won in the past, are no longer viable and will be gracious enough to roll up their sleeves and put things right, otherwise anyhow, all will collapse without giving them a chance to regain their advantaged position in the future. Once more the regained strength of the local consumer market will show which way out of the crisis to take! Therefore local market strength must be enhanced and credit must be restored!
Now is one of the most interesting moments in history to witness and participate, while we tackle the other -at fearful moments- seemingly impossible task of recuperating health. We are the recipients of many good wishes and prayers. We are also under the influence of unconditional love from our children and grandchildren. We feel truly blessed and are thankful for being allowed to perform under the circumstances with the best of ourselves. We will be back to what we deserve, a life full of possibilities! After all, that is the primary reason why Marilu married Victor, for his possibilities…
Posts
