Day 5 Stem Cell Injections

Marie will receive five treatments over the month one every 6 days. The treatments consist of 10,000,ooo umbilical stem cells. It sounds like a lot, but in volume is probably a cubic mm or so, suspended in a cc nutrient solution, However, these grow and multiply once in place, especially neurons, which are large. This process take up to three months. If there is new growth we will see it the very slowly over the next three, months.
The injections are administered in to ways: Intravenously or lumar punch. With the blood brain barrier, few stem cells reach the brain or cerebellum with the IV method, but are more effective for joint and muscle problems, eyesight etc. where ever blood flows. Since 90% of cord blood stem cells are hematopoeitic (pre-disposed to become blood, muscle or immune cells) what you essentially get is a high-tech blood doping. People here who have had the IV injections got a perceptible rush that last for hours, making sleep imposable. IV injections are given in the room, with a small IV of Nerve growth factor, to coax the stem cells into neurons. A yellow fluid, NGF takes about 1\2 hour, and then you are free to move.
Lumbar punches are more elaborate, and more effective for ataxics and brain or spinal-cord damage. The stem cells are injected into the spinal fluid. Your bed in wheeled into a clean room, where the doctor does the lumbar punch. You curl up into a tight fetal position on your left side, the doctor probes your #1 lumbar under local anesthetic, finds the proper position, removes a volume of spinal fluid, and then injects an equal amount of stem cell fluid. You are given the IV bag of NGF. You are then instructed not move at all to minimize spinal fluid leakage. Any thrashing about or gross movement may cause leakage of some fluid, resulting in the dreaded spinal headache. There have been a few people here who have had these headache and they have had to stay in bed all day.
Marie will get three lumbar treatment for her brain injury and two IV treatment that they hope will help her left arm find some movement.
Marie received her first lumbar treatment. When they brought her back to the room I put pillows on both sides of her head and wrapped her tight in blankets to keep her from moving. I sat an watched over her for the next six hours. She would sleep 40 minutes and then cry in pain for the next 20 minutes. Her back was in a lot of pain from the lumbar punch. She wanted to be rolled on her side. I used all my creativity to try and take her mind off the pain. It was the longest six hour, and I was exhausted after. The next two treatment I will have Marie sedated so she doesn't have to go through this pain. The treatment went well in that Marie didn't get a headache and was totally fine the next day. One of the benefits of the growth factor is improved circulation. Marie has had very poor circulation in her legs and feet. Her feet are always cooled. She wears heated slippers every night to bed. She woke up last night to ask me to take the blankets off her feet, because they were too hot. Her feet have turned pink again and are warmer. They were always cold and purple in colour. Marie's next treatment will be the IV on Friday.
This week is the Chinese holiday May 1st., very little is happening for the next few days here. Everyone is off for the holiday. Marie and I plan to take a shopping trip to Luo Hu Shopping Centre.We have been told that this is the place to go for all the designer knock offs (clothes, watches, shoes, purses etc. We will let you know how are adventure goes.

Days 3 and 4 have been filled with many adventures. Marie began her therapy. Therapy here is very aggressive. The praise "no pain no gain" truly is their mission statement. Marie began with acupuncture that is nothing compare to North American acupuncture The needle are twice as long and they hook them to a machine that sense electrical impulse to the area. It was very painful at first, I had to hold Marie's hand and talk her through it. She will get this treatment five days a week. The physical therapy, and occupational therapy is individualized for Marie which consists of morning and afternoon sessions. Morning
is "voice" which Marie wears a collar that sends electrical impulse to the throat muscles in the hope to improve swallowing and speech. Then they do a lot of work on her left arm and hand. The afternoon is spend on doing exercise on balance. Marie was so exhausted that she couldn't finish her session. She is still experiencing a lot of jet lag and is not sleeping though the night. The doctor gave her a sleeping pill last night, and it is the first night she has had a good sleep. Thank goodness that I brought food with me. The first night we went out, we couldn't find a restaurant that was wheel chair accessible. We gave up. The one at the Hospital has no English menu and we didn't know what we were ordering, it was very frustrating.
We have now meet the other families here on the floor. Four families from Canada, two from Italy, two from the states and one from Hungry. There are four others we haven't meet yet. They have been here for two weeks and told me of two restaurant that have English menu that we can get to. Also there is a supermarket up the street. I will hire a care giver so that I can go and get some food to cook here in the hospital. The supermarket is not wheel chaired accessible.
The elevators are also a challenge in patience. We are on the 14th. floor. All the OT and PT are done on the 4 floor. There are so many people that come to this hospital each day that it has taken up to 20 minutes to get into an elevator. I am learning to be aggressive.
Tomorrow will be Marie's big day with her first stem cell injections.
We miss you all.

We would just like to thank everyone for the great fundraiser. The evening was such a great success.
Day One
We just finished our 26 hours of adventure getting here. We arrived at the hospital last night at 2:00 am. I tried to find a place to get a coffee this morning and could not. I convinced a young man at the restaurant to make me a coffee to go. He made it in a glass funnel that looked like a science experiment. Then he put it in a plastic coke cup and sent me on my way. I think I am going to go thought caffeine withdrawal. The doctors were in checking Marie from head to toe. She had her first 40 min herbal IV treatment. She will get one of these each day. It is to help detox the system. We of for more OT and PT assessment. Just want every one to know we arrived safely.