Yes!!!

We were 15 minutes with Dr. Michael Platten and he told us that the proceeding was still experimental, but since I've tried every existing treatment, I'm eligible for the Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplant (HSCT)!!!!!!!

I will shortly have an appointment at the Oncohematology Department so they will perform some exams and they will indicate me the whole schedule.

This is Dr. Platten and me :)

And this is my wonderful fairy... the encouraging lady, the super optimistic woman, the "hagshama pratit" that God had specially chosen to accompany me in this very decisive journey: Nachita!

D-Day

Yesterday we went to do some errands and then  downtown.  As Nachita went to buy a cable for the computer I sat and watched people go by.  This city is cosmopolitan.  You can see modern people, very thin guys, very fat ones, blonds, red haired, arabs, latins, piercings, and no bias toward sex preferences, as they openly show their feelings while nobody cares.

It's also very international as I urgently needed a bathroom and asked a lady for: "bathroom", "baño", "pipi" and then she smiled and said "ist international" with German accent.

We took bus 32 and it made us a tour through the city.  It was breathtaking as everything is so perfect, beautiful balconies, perfect houses, flowers, River Neckar... until they took us to the old part, as Heidelberg University is the oldest in Germany (founded in 1386) and the third in the Roman Empire.  One feels surrounded by history here... but in one of those curves, I couldn't help it but feel sad for those Jewish people who freely walked to work, to shool... and were aggressively taken to labor camps and then to death...........

Anyway, it's wonderful to be here.  I feel in a fairy tale all the time.

My appointment with Dr. Platten is at 12.30.  Please pray that everything turns out OK and they give me a chance for a better life.  

I have to get in the shower now.

Guten Morgen

Heidelberg

Hallo from Heidelberg!!!!!!

It was such a tiring flight...  There were 14 hours until France and when we got there, thank God I asked for a wheelchair, because we had to "walk" for 20 minutes including a ride on a shuffle. The airport was hot, and people there told us the air conditioned was used in Winter (?)... Nachita forgot her hand lugagge because the airport was such a mess!! But she finally got it back. The France airport was a chaos.

Well, a flight and an hour later we finally arrived to Germany.  I had mixed feelings... Well, being a Jew in Germany was not easy some time ago, but the people now were very kind.  I can't complain, so I finally forgot about it and realized I was in a wonderful country with good people. 

I had contacted some lady from the Jewish Community of Frankfurt and she went to pick us up with her husband.  Nachita's bagagge was broken, so we made a complaint.  It took us a while, but when we were out of the airport we met this couple of wonderful Jews who told me later that I had called them to their house (to my astonishment).  I've found their phone number in the Internet, had been in contact by e-mail and that was it.  Well, this couple took us to HB (Heidelberg), which is about 45 minutes away from the airport.  Thank God we were delayed making the complaint, because there was such a traffic jam, that we avoided it only by being late and getting on another road.  Otherwise, we could have been stucked and completely stopped in the road.

When we got to the University, the Guesthouse office was closed, but thanks to them, we got to get the key from the janitor, and since I was completely exhausted (I couldn't even give one step) and the weather was kind of hot,  I went to the balcony because Tibi (the husband) told me to, and there it was: the HB castle!!!! I started crying out of emotion (and tiredness). and so did Nachita. I stayed in our apartment, and Nachita went with Barbara and Tibi to buy some groceries.  I couldn't help it.  I fell asleep until the church bell tolled and they immediately arrived with all the stuff.   They even bought us a beautiful flowerpot... Nachita told me that Tibi had directly gone to buy herring in cream for me as I have told him I loved it.... 

Barbara and Tibi were angels.  If they wouldn't have helped us, we would have probably slept outside in the street :o)  I asked them how am I going to thank them for everything they've done, but Tibi said "on the next life"...... That was very wise. It would be impossible to do it this one...

We needed Internet, but there was no wi-fi in the room.  So, Nachita went to a cafeteria which had it.  I sat in the balcony and met my neighbours who came to HB because their 8 year old son has cancer.  Well, his name is Jorge and he's a Mexican living in Bulgaria. He gave me a cable to connect to the Internet, so I got in the computer and called Nachita online.  She didn't understand how did I connected to the internet!

So, we ate and went to bed, when we figured out it was about 5pm Chilean time, but we finally fell asleep...

Healingreen

Why did I choose this name for the blog? Because green is the color of healing and is my favorite one.  This is the hopeful start of a journey that will give me a new chance for a better life.  It's challenging, profound, fearful, enigmatic... but what's life if not that? It's a convergence of feelings, fears, hopes, spirituality, love: plain love...

Love for me, for my will to get better and keep being able to enjoy and seize the day, the moment, the second... to be with my sons, my family and friends.

I feel as if I had been preparing myself for this my whole life.  It's been hard and so it'll be.  That's the way my life has been.  I always walk through stones and go around big rocks, but I keep looking forward, because all bad things pass, there’s a process, it may take some time, but it’ll pass and you’ll see it already happened.

I'm ready to fly.

Introduction

 “He, who saves a single life, saves the entire world” (The Talmud)

I’m proud to announce that thanks to the Jewish Community of Chile, I have the privilege to undergo a stem cell transplant for Multiple Sclerosis in Germany on the next days. 

I will be there two months so you, my friends, can check my status in the blog I specially started in order to keep you updated.  I will write it in English as many friends don’t speak Spanish.

Please don’t ask anything.  All I can tell is that I’m optimistic and I pray this can stop somehow the progression of my disease, which has been making my life more difficult every day.