AS WELL AS WE COULD HAVE HOPED

Xiao Li is in the final course of his chemo treatments and every test thus far has shown no recurrence of cancer. He's even gained a little weight lately, which is good news, because he's a pretty skinny guy to begin with and the chemo has made him pretty sick and eating wasn't a high priority.

Of course there are no guarantees the good news will continue, but if we had known six months ago he'd be in this shape right now, we'd have taken that bet in a hurry.

Li's problems aren't the only ones in the family. Xiao Hong's husband tried to kill himself with an overdose of sleeping pills recently. Most of us were wondering why she bothered to take him to the hospital to save his life. The guy's a loser and I don't trust him as far as I can throw him. The first time I went to China in '97 he was in jail for being involved with selling stolen cars. I just don't like the guy. This is her second loser husband. She seems to have a knack for attracting them and then marrying them. Maybe that makes her a loser, too.

STARTING DOWN THE ROAD

Xiao Li has started chemo treatments. He didn't have much reaction at first and I think he perhaps thought we had misled him about the nastiness of chemotherapy. Then he got sick as a dog and now he knows we did not exaggerate.

But he's getting through it. He's getting the treatments at a hospital in Qinhuangdao, so at least he's in his hometown and not 350 km away in Tianjin. Something to be said for that.

Once he's done with his course of treatment I want to try to get him a B-2 visa so he can come to visit. Who knows what his longterm outlook is, so let's at least give him a chance to see the USA now. He's in the queue for a green card, but the quota has been exhausted for this year and there's no telling how long that process might take. Let's not wait. It would only be a short stay, but that's okay.

SOME HOPEFUL NEWS

Xiao Li went back to the cancer hospital in Tianjin yesterday for a checkup. The doctors told him things look good thus far. They've decided to start his chemo treatments in September.

So things are looking up a bit for Li. I hope this positive news will make him start thinking more positively about his future. I don't think you can ever get well if you don't think good thoughts.

LITTLE STEPS

Xiao Li took a taxi to Maia's house today by himself. Doesn't sound like much but it's a small step forward for him. He still gets tired quickly and since he's now missing part of one lung I expect that won't change.

The thing we have to do now is to get him to think good thoughts and not dwell on his disease. None of us is guaranteed any days on this Earth, so there's no reason why he should sit around thinking morbid thoughts, which is what he's been doing. Maybe he'll be dead in five years, maybe he won't. Maybe we'll all be dead in five years. Who knows? I sure don't think I'm guaranteed the next five, so just live them one day at a time and thank God every morning when you wake up and it's a new day and you're still alive. Works for me.

I haven't heard when they're going to start the chemo treatments. I would assume it would be pretty soon. We gave him a bunch of folic acid tablets, which should help his body deal with the insult from the chemo. At least that's what I've been told by other people who have had relatives go through chemo.
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MORE WAIT AND SEE

It's been nearly a week now since Xiao Li's surgery. They've finally gotten him out of bed. They keep you forever in Chinese hospitals, both before and after surgery. Not like here where they have you up and out ASAP.

I'm sure we sometimes send people home too soon to save money, but keeping someone in hospital for weeks after surgery when they have no complications is equally stupid. A large number of people end up getting sick in hospitals from all the germs circulating there and more than a few end up worse than when they came in the door. And trust me, Chinese hospitals have a lot to learn when it comes to cleanliness.

Still no word on the post-surgery biopsy to see if they got all the tumor. Let's pray they did. They're supposed to start him on chemo pretty soon, I think; I'll have to get the complete story on that when my wife gets home from China tonight.

But so far, so good.

CROSS YOUR FINGERS

The surgery is over and done and now all we can do is wait. If the surgeons did their job properly it's now up to Xiao Li and his will to live. I hope his will to live is strong.

The cancer is non-small cell, which is good news, if there can be any good news about lung cancer. If they got all the tumors and the cancer hasn't spread to places they haven't found, the odds of Li living at least another five years are pretty good. But what's needed now is follow-on chemo treatment and that may be a problem over there. The doctors there may not be up to snuff on the latest treatments and the drugs currently being used very successfully in the US may not be available.

All we can do is push them, but even that may not be enough. Let's hope it is.

MORE BAD NEWS

The news from China is not any better. Doctors have found Xiao Li's cancer has spread to at least two other locations. The initial diagnosis came from the cancer hospital in Tianjin.

He wanted a second opinion, so he found someone with some good guanxi who could get him into some sort of military hospital in Beijing that's supposed to be tops in the field. But today the doctors there confirmed the diagnosis.

Everyone is depressed and scared to death that he'll never survive the surgery. Understandable. I can hardly think of a more frightening sentence than "You need surgery in a Chinese hospital."

But there may be no alternative. No one is even talking about chemo or radiation. It's like they don't exist there. Maybe they don't. It would come as no great surprise.

Maybe all that's left is prayer.

THE BIG C

My Chinese brother in-law--only brother in-law I have, actually--has been diagnosed with lung cancer. Beyond that I don't know too much. Whether it's small cell or non-small cell and whether it's spread beyond the lung--I don't have a clue. All I know is they found a spot in a chest X-ray, checked it again with a CT scan and told him it was lung cancer. I don't know if they've even done a biopsy, which you'd think would have been an immediate thing, but this is China, not the USA.

Lung cancer is sure not something you'd ever want to have, but if you had to have it, you'd sure rather have it just about anywhere other than China. I've seen their medical care up close and personal and it still sends shivers down my spine to think about it.

Fortunately for Xiao Li, his sister--my wife--knows a lot of Chinese doctors in the US and she contacted one who is a cancer expert--oncologist, I assume--and as luck would have it, he's just gone back to China. So this doctor is going to take a look at Li on Wednesday, June 22, at a hospital in Tianjin, which is about 250 km from Qinhuangdao. There's also a cancer hospital in Tianjin that is supposedly the #1 facility in China. At least that's what they claim.

I got my first look at Chinese medicine in 1988. One of these days I'll write about that experience, which changed my life forever.

In the meantime if you would, please say a prayer for my brother in-law. He's a righteous guy and the kind of person I'd want as a brother if only I had one.