And We're Off!

The day is finally here. It hadn't truly hit me that we are actually leaving until today. Al came to see us off at Bibb's and brought a special gift for all of us, necklaces. He gave a cross to Mom and I, a heart for Ava, a half heart for Christina that said "Mom", and a half heart for Bibb that said "Daughter." He told us not to take them off until Mom was safe back at home. Plenty of tears were shed on both ends as we climbed into the limo and pulled out of the driveway.

I wanted to punch the security at the airport. They kept asking her if she could get up and walk through and she kept telling her no. Since she couldn't walk through, they had to pat her down in the wheelchair. She winced in pain the entire time. The guy who was helping to wheel mom to the gate saw the anxious look on my face and kept saying "Dont worry. It's just a routine pat down." Nothing is "routine" when you have RSD. We had plenty of time to kill, so we sat at Ecco and ate some mussels and salad. We may have had a little martini too.

We boarded the plane and took flight toward Mexico. The 3.5 hour flight was difficult for Mom. It hurts her so bad to sit with her legs bent for an extended period of time. On top of that it was FREEZING on the plane. When we finally landed they rolled mom to baggage claim and their eyes got bigger and bigger as I unloaded our luggage off the conveyor belt...all 6 of them. I don't know what they were saying in Spanish, but I imagine it was something along the lines of "I don't understand women." At least you couldn't accuse us of being unprepared.

Melchor, our driver, met us. When he pulled his tiny car up to the sidewalk our eyes got huge. How are we going to fit in this circus-sized car, WITH our 6 person-sized bags! It was the first (and hopefully not last) miracle of the trip, but we, and it, did!

Melchor didn't speak any English, so I butchered the little bit of Spanish I knew in order to attempt a conversation. I didn't do half bad, if I say so myself. I even made him laugh a few times (it may have been at me rather than with me, but I'll take what I can get).

The RH hotel is gorgeous and is attached to a very ritzy mall. I'm talkin' Georgio Armani, Hugo Boss, MAC ritzy. We didn't have time to walk around and get into trouble, which is probably a good thing. We were greeted by the man I assume was the manager of the hotel, who asks if we are Miss Sarah Stevens' friends. He welcomes us and tells us, if there is anything we need please don't hesitate to ask. Everyone here is so friendly.



Dr Cantu wanted to meet us at our hotel after he got off work to discuss the plan of action for Mom's treatment. So, as soon as we got to the room, Mom texts him and he says he is down in the lobby. We go down to retrieve him and escort him up to the room, since you need your room key to use the elevator.

THE PLAN:

Mom will undergo one week of high dose (twice the amount she gets at Dr. Rollins') boosters accompanied by low dow continuous ketamine. The low dose will start at 10mg and then be increased in increments of 5mg/day until they reach the sweet spot (the highest dose that still allows her to sleep at night). After that week, we will wait 3 days and assess her condition. If there is a visible improvement, he will do another week of boosters/continuous. Then, he will wait 3 weeks to do another 2 week booster/continuous session. After that he will send her home and she will continue under the care of Dr Rollins.
If after the 1st week there is no improvement with her condition, we will talk about moving right into the coma and not wasting anymore time and money on something that is not going to work.

After we discuss the plan, I ask Dr. Cantu if he has to go back to work or if he is done for the day, and, if he is done, would he like to grab some margaritas with Mom and I down at the bar. He says he IS done for the day and, although he's not a margarita kind of guy, he would love to grab some tequila with us while we drink our margaritas. We talked and talked about a little bit of everything. He kept ordering margaritas for us and then talking about Mom's condition...I cried...damn you tequila! Then he insisted on picking up the bill. He said we can treat him AFTER he treats Mom. "Fair enough," I agreed.

Back in our room, we get ready for bed and then notice that the lights didn't work. We went to plug in our phones to charge...the outlets didn't work either. I called down to the desk and tried explaining the situation in Spanish. I get put on hold....indefinitely. So, I tromp downstairs in my pajamas and bedroom slippers to find someone who speaks English. When I do and explain to him the strange occurrence with our electricity, he asks if we inserted our card in the slot next to the door. I had never heard of this before, but apparently they do this in certain hotels as an energy saving feature. When the card is inserted, the room comes to life and when you leave and take it out, everything shuts off....lovely. Sure enough, crisis averted.