In Quest of a Cure

Dear Ones:

This week Andy flew to Israel with Titi to meet the doctor in Tel Aviv who has agreed to perform a haploidentical stem cell transplant where the donor is only a partial match. Lek and Nicky went, of course, and so too did Mimi, the back up donor.

Andy is the donor. The literature says the transplant process is actually more painful for the donor than for the recipient. But Andy is willing to do this; he never had to think twice about it. To give this gift is to give the gift of hope to his brother. I cannot think of a better gift during this holiday season. As Taranee said, going to the Holy Land for a stem cell transplant you cannot get closer to God than that.

Getting out of Bangkok required meeting and satisfying every single expert's conditions; the doctors, the airlines, and security--even the Toilet Police. The first requirement was making sure Titi was healthy enough to travel. That meant getting his butt checked--his hemmorhoidectomy scar hadn't quite healed yet, that he had all his antibiotics and pain medications, and of course, there was El-Al to contend with, the most security conscious airline in the world, and now, probably the most stringent in terms of allowing the critically ill to fly with them. Their conditions: first, the patient's red blood cell and platelet counts must be within normal ranges; second, he must be on continuous oxygen, though he never needed it all the time he was in the hospital. This oxygen machine, which makes oxygen, had to be shipped in from Israel since there was no machine in Bangkok. El Al's final condition: a physician must accompany him on the flight. Of course the family agreed to everything; these are desperate measures to save a life, for without the transplant, Titi has only months to live.

Lek is a marvel at logistics. She orchestrated the move out of the hospital to the airport. She thought of everything, including offering seafood noodles to us as a pre-flight meal. Up until an hour before departure from the hospital, Titi was getting platelets. They look curiously like butterscotch sauce, not like blood products at all. When he left the hospital he was wearing a surgical mask to travel in an ambulance that would deliver him directly to the airplane. Two of the family's drivers carried the passengers to the airport. YJ drove his Citroen van because it was big enough to accommodate all the luggage, especially the two suitcases of food Lek packed for the stay in Israel. With all that she prepared, she could easily withstand a siege anywhere. Among other things, there was a rice cooker and Mama noodle packets. I am quite sure she also packed pork products. Since Israel follows Jewish dietary laws, she was right in thinking pork might be hard to find. To find out about the Toilet Police and to follow what's happening in Israel, you can read Andy's blog by clicking on the link Letters from Israel in the menu bar on the right.

Half a world away from Israel, Thailand's governance is in quest of a cure for what ails it: a lack of credible leadership. We have our fourth prime minister in a year, the 27th in a direct line of prime ministers dating back to 1932. The opposition Democrats were able to cobble together a coaltion to form a government. Abhisit Vejjajiva is a soft spoken pol born in Britain and educated at Oxford. Of course, the western-educated literati think he is just fine. But he is not PM of Britain. Aware that he has his skeptics, especially in the Thaksin strongholds of the north and northeast, he thought it politic that his first walkabout should be in the Isaan region. To complete just one term in office he needs to be a man for all political reasons.

I have stayed behind in Bangkok because AJ is coming home this week. YJ and Mikey also stayed behind. YJ has the additional responsibility for the two old ladies at home: Mama Wang and Mama Hong. Mama Wang is no trouble, a gentle soul with a sometimes clear-eyed gaze that pierces the veil of Alzheimer's; unlike Mama Hong, full of fight, who sometimes takes the notion that she wants to go home to Taiwan now. She's frustrated by the lack of mobility compounded by the inability to speak either Thai or English.

It will be a quiet Christmas and New Year's without Andy and Taranee. Andy and I will also miss two anniversaries we have always spent together; the day Malika died and our wedding anniversary. Lek, bless her, with all that she had on her mind, even remembered to shop for a gift for our anniversary-cum-Christmas. She gave us a soy milk maker. She remembered that I once asked her how she made the soy milk for Titi, and she knows Andy likes it too. You're never too busy to show you care to the people you love.

Walk good this Christmas and the New Year too,
Jo Anne