Chicago - Saturday - Meeting with Dr. Guo

So we woke up and of course didn't have enough time to get a proper breakfast.  SInce we stayed at a DoubleTree we didn't get a breakfast there but did have the cookies... so Erik decided a cookie would be the ideal breakfast for Finn... so he saw first hand what a bad idea that was! 

We made it to Dr. Guo with 10 extra minutes which I had hoped to stop for Finn but didn't get to.  Finn was quite a grump and in a Chinese waiting room non the less.  A perfect storm - Erik took him out and grabbed carrots out of the car and finally came back with a normal child. I had tube fed Elan earlier that am since I brought all his food for the weekend with us but gave him a carrot to chew while I filled out paperwork - worked in past but not smart.  I was at my wits end as had to fill out all sorts of papers that we should have apparently done online. 

We met with Dr. Guo and he was a stereotypical Chinese doctor in his 60's.  Told me all the vitamins I have been giving Elan not of any use and could be harming him a bit since having to work on getting out of his body as well as radiation not what he would recommend but up to us.  He then did a 2 second chat about how TCM is different and goes after the root and disease.  Not said much different than what I just typed.  He then gave us a perscripton for herbs etc and we left to get them at the front.  Of course they only had 14 days of the tea for his brain tumor so we have to call to get them but they gave us the tablets in the meantime.  Not as effective but better than nothing.  All I know is one of my dear friend's uncle had a brain tumor and had success with the guy.  Dr. Guo does have a good reputation and is an oncologist who trained at MD Anderson but not winning points on bedside manner with me.  HE was kind with the boys though so I shouldn't be so hard on him... He said Elan looked pale - i don't see that but said he is.  He did say Elan looks much better than many kids he sees.  He then proceeded to tell us that it doesn't matter what kind of cancer Elan has and he has a 70% success rate with brain tumors all around.  All in all it was about 20 minutes and I left with questions I wish I asked almost as soon as we hit the car.  Thankfully he knows we are out of town and we will be chatting on the phone as well as through email.  We have to send him the pathology report and the MRI written report as well.  We are quite sceptical but it won't hurt Elan or conflict with radiation so worth a shot.  Better odds than the 0 to 15% given by traditional doctors.  I am going to chat with the wife of the patient tomorrow to find out more about Dr. Guo.  I wish I had gotten my act together to call before we went but so hard with all we have on our plate.  He did say to let Elan eat whatever he wants - "Variety in Moderation" is his quote. That does make a lot of since to me.  I have had Elan on a VERY strict diet before our trip to Dubuque.  No wheat, barley, dairy, red meat, white anything and most importantly SUGAR which we will stick to for my sanity but will start giving him more carbs.  I do feel he is looking too scrawny no matter how many avocados I give him.

We then ate at a fun Hong Kong hip restaurant which was fun.  Elan threw up some of the meal and we found he tried to eat a hunk of meat without us knowing!  We had our bubble tea - avocado our fav.  Yummy!  We then headed to a hotel I booked in the waiting room near the university of Illinois Chicago - everything else way too pricey.  We parked the car and then took the L.  We headed downtown to the river and then walked to Millennium park and walked all around and then walked to Navy Pier. We then went on the taxi river boat to a restaurant on the river - fun!  After that we walked to the Magnificent Mile - wish I had thought of heading to Room & Board but didnt' think of it!  Oh well!  I love, love, love their stuff in magazines but haven't seen in person.  I really wanted to check out their rugs.  I will do another time.

us in the reflection in middle (look for stroller in front)

Boat ride - Finn's request and it was fun!

See how happy Finn is?  A fun taxi ride!

Restaurant on river

Finn loved all the boats.

Party kids - too funny!

Finn at the Gap

ELAN furs - see sign above.

Finn's request for these photos - notice the dragon in the flower bed.

Finn said he wanted to buy this outfit for "baby Emery" our friends Reeves and Elton's daughter - we explained too small even for Emery's little sister so we took a photo of it... here you go Emery :)

We then took the L back to the hotel and officially checked in.  I think it was the smallest room ever in us.  They were out of rooms with 2 beds and ours was a corner unit... literally there was a clip to hold the lid up for the toilet since there wasn't enough room for the seat to stay up - should have taken a picture!  Now Erik and I lived in Europe for 2 1/2 yrs so we have been in small rooms - just not expecting in US.