Jin January 2006 when Mark was getting chemo and radiation

Addendum 6/5/08 to note below: Mark is still staying in Chonburi which is half way between Bangkok and Pattaya. This is the city where the tiger zoo is located. The zoo has many live tigers and you can pet an adolescent tiger while it sucks on a baby bottle. These young tigers are a challenge to hold and as soon as the bottle is finished you want the zoo keeper to be taking the young tiger away. This is the zoo where the tiger moms will nurse the baby pigs in tiger suits and the momma pigs nurse baby tigers. Mark is spending his days taking care of Jin in intensive care. Yes Jin is still in intensive care. Mark may delay his June 17 trip home but will come soon after that as he has to get a checkup at the veteran's hospital in Houston, Texas.


Mark's Friend and Caregiver for a long time is in the hospital - Jin (Yuwanit) cared for Mark when he was at his sickest. Now Mark is caring for her. Jin had a cold which progressed into pneumonia. She saw a doctor who comes to see patients at a nearby pharmacy. He prescribed an antibiotic. She got worse and Mark took her to a government hospital and she got a different antibiotic. Within a couple of days, she suddenly got very short of breath and ashen and looked near death's door. Mark took her to Bangkok Hospital in Pattaya where she was admitted to ICU. She spent a few days in ICU and then on the regular floor. Jin has been moved to a government hospital in Chonburi which is about one half way between Pattaya and Bangkok. This hospital has a pulmonologist. Had Mark left Jin at the first hospital anymore days, the cost of care would be astronomical at this point. Jin is on a ventilator (5/24/08) She could use a lot of prayers. Mark was riding a motorbike back to the guest house to sleep but since Jin was moved to Chonburi, he is staying in an inexpensive hotel in Chonburi. One friend told Jin it was lucky she had Mark looking after her or otherwise she would be dead. Perhaps it is good Karma.
While Mark has cancer of the liver metastasized from esophageal cancer, he has lived long enough to care for his caregiver. Who would have thought it three years ago when he first called home and said he had been given three months or less to live. He has good karma too and is building karma with more with good deeds and thoughts everyday.
The Thailand Border With Cambodia. Click on picture above to enlarge it.

Before Jin got so sick, Mark recently went on a one day trip to Cambodia to get his visa renewed. Mark described being lucky that the visa run van he went in was not full so he could be comfortable. When he was very sick and getting chemo and radiation, Bumrungrad hospital staff went to the embassy and made arrangements for Mark's visa to be extended when it was expiring. Now he leaves the country and comes back and he gets 30 more days. He can physically do this now. He could not when he was the sickest.

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