Latest Adventure - Mark flies from Bangkok to Austin for "Last trip home."

When I last posted I (The Mom) was in Bangkok with Mark. I left Bangkok at 6 am on the 27th of Oct to come back to Austin, Texas. Mark had been saying that he was too sick to make the trip to Austin, but on the day before I left, he suddenly insisted that I get him a ticket to Austin after his next chemotherapy in two weeks. He had not walked more than a couple of blocks at any time, but he insisted on walking 12 blocks to the travel agent to pick up the ticket. He had to climb a lot of stairs to an overpass, rest at the top, then cross and go down stairs on the other side. I was urging him to take a taxi but he decided to build up his strength for upcoming trip to Austin. He also walked the 12 blocks back to the condo. I was certainly amazed. He passed the next two weeks getting ready to come home, getting copies of his records and images and packing enough medicine, etc. He went to get chemo and spiked a temp of 103 during chemo. The infection control doc hospitalized him and wanted to keep him for observation for days...After a couple of days of no fever, I called the doc in Bangkok and asked him to turn Mark loose since he was only getting his temp checked every three hours and it was normal...but in the end he had to sign out AMA.

Mark arrived in Austin on the 8th of Nov. after a long long trip of about 22 hours. He looked great but reminded me he is sick on the inside. He had 3 plus pitting edema of his legs and feet. His eyesight is now fine after surgeries and procedures by specialist in Bangkok so he immediately borrowed my car after not having driven for 10 months. He still has a current drivers license from the Northern Marianas Islands. He immediately started visiting friends he used to work with at the local hospitals and elsewhere. He has gotten together with Bruce and Frank and Steve. He has talked on the phone or gotten calls from Randy and Dave and Paul and others.

He is only home two weeks unless he extends his stay so he has had a terrible sense of urgency about getting things done and people seen. Some of the guys facilitated him getting to see a pain specialist here. My workplace (Dr. Brown's CCRI) got his CBC done.

He has an appointment next wednesday to be evaluated for cyberknife. He realizes his cancer may be too advanced for cyberknife to help. It is not a cure for liver cancer but could give him some more time and less pain if he is a candidate. Cyberknife is more expensive than the plastic surgery I was thinking of getting to make me look better on the outside....I could have my whole body redone for what we will have to pay out of pocket for cyberknife...but guess what they say is true...It is what is on the inside that counts. Mark's insides are more important than my outsides.

Medicare does pay for cyberknife, but ironically Mark has to wait two years after being disabled with cancer to get Medicare. If he had kidney dialysis or Lou Gherig's Disease the two year wait would be waived...says a lot for the renal dialysis and Lou Gherig's Disease lobbies..but it somehow feels like discrimination in health care coverage by the government. I am writing a letter to Lance Armstrong asking him to work on this and put a word in for cancer patients when he sees Pres. Bush later this month. When I taught nursing one of my male students took a week off from school to help take care of Lance Armstrong early on in his treatment for cancer. Most students could not do this and still pass but this guy was very bright and motivated so it worked out ok.

I will keep you posted about Mark's adventures in the states before he returns to Bangkok. He thinks about moving back to Austin...but access to health care is a challenge and it is very costly compared to Thailand. Public transportation on a scale from very poor to very great, finds Austin at the very poor end and Bangkok Thailand at the very great end. Many people in Bangkok don't have a car even if they can afford one. You can get where you are going easier and quicker and cheaper by the sky train and/or subway or in nonpeak hours by taxi. Sometimes when I am on one of Austin's major roadways (like MoPac) and it is like a parking lot with traffic moving at 5 miles an hour or slower, I long for the skytrain or subway of Bangkok. Austin will never have great public transportation as our decision makers prefer to have tollroads which are the answer for the affluent and people who make money on toll roads rather than the answer for the homeless, the poor, the sick, and those who don't drive or can't drive.
Tune in for the continuing adventures of Mark Richardson and his mom's soap box discourses.