Friday - Last Day

Our last day! It is hard to believe we have been here 5 days and this is all coming to an end. After checking out of our hotel, Kristina picked us up for the last time and drove us to the clinic. After we got there, Angelina hooked me up to my last IV of vitamins. Dr. Andrade came in and talked a bit about how I was doing and how I felt. Where they drilled the hole in my shin was fine. The spot that they did the spinal tap was very sore and the 2 places they injected the super stem cells into my butt was really sore. He told me he was very excited about my progress so far and some of the things that I should expect over the next several months. I, too, am really pleased with my progress.

Antonio came in and asked how I was doing in Spanish and I replied in the little Spanish that he had been teaching me. He and Dr. Andrade talked a bit and when they were finished, we were told that Antonio wanted to take us on a tour of Tijuana if we wanted. We were excited and honored that he wanted to do that. After my IV was empty, Angelina took at the port and patched me up.

Antonio arrived shortly after and we jumped in his Ford Explorer and headed out. He did his best to explain the local attractions like a fun park for kids, I-Max Theater, various statues, etc. He asked if we had a religion and I said we were Catholic and he said he was too. He took us to his church, Our Lady of Guadalupe. It was a beautiful, old church right in downtown Tijuana. We went in, knelt to say some prayers of thanks for such a fantastic week and the marvelous things that had happen to me. After that we left and walked around. All the shop owners would see Suzie and I coming and be hitting on us to come in and buy something. Antonio said to say, “No Senior. Mucho Gracias” and they would leave you alone. It does indeed. But I really got tired of saying that every 20 feet. One guy told us that the lady could have a free margarita if we come in. That perked up Suzie and Antonio just laughed. After about 1.5 hours of walking and bartering with a couple of shop owners, we purchased some souvenirs and headed back to the clinic.

When we returned, we said our thanks and goodbyes to Antonio. He is a very special person and we will miss joking around with him and having him work with me. Drs. Vargus and Andrade called us into their office. Dr. Andrade gave me a list of vitamins he wants me to be on for the next 90 days to keep the stem cells that I received in top shape. Because it is thought that MS might be a virus that becomes active in a body that is run down, the better shape and health I stay in, the better the outcome. Dr. Vargus has been working with some people who feel they have determined what virus can cause MS and they think they come up with a regiment of homeopathic items the will kill the virus. They want to try this on 5 patients and I was asked to be one of the 5. If it truly is a virus and they have found the “cure” then I want to be part of that so I heartily agreed to the process. I will be taking either a capsule or a liquid each day for 90 days. We will see what happens.

After saying our goodbyes to everyone at the clinic, the driver picked us up around 2:45 and we headed to the border. There we sat for almost 2 hours to cross. And we were in the commercial transport lane that is reserved for busses and vans. We went through customs quickly and were on our way to the airport where my brother, Rodney, and his wife Beth were going to meet us. Our flight is not until tomorrow afternoon so Suzie and I were blessed to spend some time with Rodney and Beth. After a nice dinner of fish sitting outside at a restaurant by the ocean, we drove back to their home, had a nice visit and headed to bed.

God Bess!

Thursday - Day 4

I woke up at 2:30am and noticed my fingers on my left hand seemed to have more sensation in the finger tips and my right hand was buzzing like it was asleep. I have not felt these sensations for a couple of years. In the morning, I got up and opened the door to the balcony and the fresh air came rushing in. We always take things for granted in our lives. When was the last time you realized the cool air rushing between your fingers? I felt that sensation again for the first time in many years! I went in to take a shower and felt the cold tile on the bottom of my feet! Until now, I have felt nothing but pressure for several years. I couldn’t believe that it had been less than 24 hours since I received my stem cells. This was amazing!

When I arrived at the clinic, Angelina again hooked me up to the IV of vitamins. Antonio came in and started working with me on my leg exercises while I sat in the chair. We took a break after about 50 minutes for about an hour and a half.

When the IV was complete, Dr. Andrade came in and asked how I was doing. He seemed very excited about my report. He had me stand and had me do some movements with my upper body and head to check to see if I get dizzy. Everything he had me do did not make me dizzy. He was very pleased. They were checking to see if the stem cells they injected into my spinal column were causing any issues. He told me and Suzie how excited he was with my progress. He rolled up his shirt as he was talking to us and showed us the goose bumps on his arms. He truly was very emotional about all of this.

He then explained to Antonio that he wanted me on the floor rolling back and forth, crawling, raising my left hand and right leg while in a crawl position and visa versa. So we started with those. Antonia then introduced some exercises that worked on my core muscles and abdominal muscles. It was time to take a bathroom break. I rolled from my back, got to one knee and stepped up to a standing position with little problem! Before today, I would have struggled to push myself up and maintain my balance without holding on to something. Suzie noticed that when I walked across the room, that I walked with a normal gate and didn’t drag or throw my right leg.

We worked until about 2:30pm and Angelina came in and said “OK baby. Time for your injections”. We went back to another room where Dr. Vargus was waiting. They had taken a vial of my stem cells and sent them to a lab to be processed. Dr. Vargus called these cells super stem cells. He had 2 syringes of 4 ml each with my super stem cells in them. He said these would do more for me then all the stem cells that I received yesterday because of the processing that is done by the lab. He injected them into the muscles in my butt, one on each hip. There was no pain associated with these injections like I imagined in my mind. Funny how our mind can play with us.

We sat and talked for with him for 30 minutes or more. He said that they have a theory that MS is caused by a virus. Most viruses that we come in contact with, our body attacks and create antibodies that make us immune to it and we never get it again. But MS is similar to the herpes virus that gives us cold sores or fever blisters. That virus is always in our body and when we are under stress or our immune system becomes degraded, the virus becomes active and attacks.

We were then free to leave and Kristina took us back to the Hotel Lucerna. We decided to have an early dinner to celebrate my fantastic progress and wonderful week, so we went down to one of the restaurants in the hotel. Suzie ordered a margarita and I ordered a Bud Light. Suzie said it was the best margarita she has ever had. We ordered an appetizer of calamari that was delicious!! I have had calamari several times but this was wonderful. Suzie kept making fun of me getting an American beer so I order a Tacante beer. I have had these in the States and it is a very good beer. We both ordered halibut that was wonderful. When we were finished, they gave us each a desert on the house! We are not sure why but we were the only ones sitting outside while all the other people were inside where it was “warm”. Maybe they were impressed that we were outside. Temperature outside had to be upper 60’s.

The rest of the evening, we spent calling family members and sharing my fantastic day!

God Bless!

Wednesday - Day 3

Today started off like the last 2 days with Kristina picking us up. What a beautiful day. The weather here is gorgeous!! It is supposed to be in the high 70’s today. Angelina met me with the IV bag at my chair and said “OK baby” a nickname she has come to call me. This was a huge bottle of liquid but she said that I only needed to have half of it.

Antonio walked in shortly after I was hooked to the IV and asked if I was ready to get started with the exercises. He ran me thru various stretching routines and exercises to do to help my balance and coordination. He is always asking what word we use to mean something and he is really getting good at getting his point across. Plus, he is teaching me Spanish and how to respond to certain questions. I am certain his English is better than my Spanish. We worked for about 35 minutes, took a 30 minute break and then another 20 minutes of workout. We kept getting in trouble from Angelina because when I would get up from the chair and do some of the routines he asked, the fluid would stop flowing into my arm and blood would start flowing out into the tube. She would come over and scold us, laugh a bit and say “OK baby” and all was good.

Early afternoon, I was unhooked from the IV and told that we had about 50 minutes before the procedure. Suzie and I asked if we could go walk outside and they encouraged us to do so. Here we are walking down the street me in a T-shirt and pajama bottoms and Suzie in a short sleeve blouse and jeans and most of the other people were in jackets and coats. Mind you, it is winter here and to them it is cold. But 70 degrees is heaven! When we came back in we commented on how beautiful it was that the people there were amazed because they were cold. Earlier in the day, Dr. Andrade came in to greet us wearing a long-sleeve shirt, tie and a winter scarf wrapped around his neck. Suzie and I had a hard time from laughing while talking with him.

When it was time for the procedure, Angelina took us back into a room and we both changed. I put on the dreaded gown, surgical hat and booties. Suzie put on scrubs. The top was a bit big so she just put it on over her blouse. When they took us into the operating room, IT WAS HOT!! It was 80 degrees in there. They had me get on the table and get comfortable. Dr. Andrade was joined by 2 other doctors and of course Anelina. They immediately went to work discussing everything in Spanish and pressing on my shins. Now, until now I was not nervous or scared. But when you have 3 men speaking in a language that you do not understand knowing that they are going to drill a hole in your leg, I got a bit anxious!!

One of the doctors said I will feel a pinch and they inserted he needle in my right shin just below my knee to deaden it. A few minutes later they said I should feel pressure but no pain. When they stared to drill, I felt some pain and said so. They stopped for a minute and started again. This time, nothing. When they reached their destination, they attached a syringe to the top of the tube sticking out of my leg and started sucking out the bone morrow. I felt some pain under my knee and my 3 little toes on my right foot began to curl under. It was like the suction was pulling the under. Very Strange!! They filled 4 large syringes with bone morrow. Dr. Andrade was very pleased with the quantity they extracted.

After they were finished, they bandaged up my right leg and wrapped my left leg to prevent DVT’s from forming. These are blood clots in the legs. They were being cautious since I had DVT’s 3 years ago. They rolled me on my back, curled me into a ball and started the spinal tap process. They deaden a spot in my back with an injection and then inserted a tube into my spinal canal until some spinal fluid started to drip from the tube. At that time they took 3 ml of the stem cells and injected it into my spinal canal. Dr. Andrade said that that 3 ml contained 20 million stem cells.

After they were finished with that process, they had me roll on my back and Angelina hooked me up to an IV containing all but one syringe of my stem cells mixed with saline solutions and heparin, a blood thinner. Dr. Andrade said proudly that this IV contained 500 million of my stem cells! When we spoke on Monday he estimated that they would give me over 200 million cells so he was very pleased with the process they performed on me and that my body produced so many.

They took us back to the recovery room and I relaxed in the bed for about another half hour. From the time I went into the O.R. to the time they had me in the recovery room was less than 1.5 hours. We started the process at 3pm and we walked into our hotel room at 5pm.

The rest of the evening, I lay in bed relaxing. Suzie went down and got us some dinner. I was given Dolac, a pill for pain before I left the clinic and it upset my stomach. I wasn’t feeling very well and didn’t want much. She got me some apple pie and ice cream that seemed to hit the spot. Suzie has been a real blessing and I am so blessed to have a sister that cares so much.

God Bless!

Tuesday - Day Two

Kristina picked us up again this morning and drove us to the clinic. Inside, Angelina met me with the IV bag at my chair and hooked me up. Due to the interferon injection yesterday, last night was a tough night so I laid back and fell asleep leaving my sister to read her book in peace.

After an hour, I awoke and was introduced to Antonio by Dr. Andrade. They spoke in Spanish and Dr. Andrade had me stand, turn, close my eyes, touch my nose and all the other coordination and balance things to show Antonio what I could and couldn’t do. Antonio loves soccer and is a trainer for a soccer team. Dr. Andrade explained that he would be working with me and giving me some physical therapy and massage my body to loosen up my muscles. He doesn’t speak English and like a dumb a$$ I took French in high school. I regret that now. But, we worked it out and got our points across to each other. Boy, his touch is unbelievable. When he was finished with my right leg, it was like the blood started flowing back into it and it felt relaxed which is something that I haven’t felt in quite a while. He continued working on the other leg, my arms and my upper torso. He gave me some exercises to do at the hotel in the evenings and in the mornings. I believe he will be working on me again Wednesday and I am looking forward to that.

After 2 IV’s and 4 injections, I met with Dr. Andrade and a neurologist. Unfortunately, my sister and I didn’t catch his name. He did all the normal test for balance and coordination, tested my eye movement, the sensation of my extremities and tested my reflexes. After that, we were free to leave so Kristina drove us back to the Hotel Lucerna.

Suzie went and worked out in the hotel gym and I worked on the computer. After she returned, she “encouraged” (hounded) me into doing the exercises that Antonio gave me. We went to dinner in the hotel restaurant, walked around outside enjoying the beautiful evening and took some pictures.

TV down here, even though we can get ABC, CBS and NBC out of San Diego has been a bit disappointing. Monday evening, Suzie couldn’t find The Bachelor on ABC and the KU vs CU game wasn’t nationally televised. Plus, I couldn’t find an internet sports radio station in KC that carried the game. At least Suzie will be able to watch The Bachelor on the internet Wednesday at the clinic.

Wednesday is the big day!! In the afternoon, they will harvest my bone morrow, process it and I will receive my stem cells. I am excited!

God Bless!

Monday - Day One

Kristina picked us up at the hotel this morning and drove us a few blocks to the clinic. We were met with a very warm welcome by Dr. Andrade and even kissed my sister on the cheek saying it is an old custom. He introduced us to our nurse Angelina who was busy getting everything prepared.

He immediately started having me do all the normal things I would have done with my neurologist like stand on one foot (or at least try), walk across the room, touch my nose, etc. all the coordination and balance routines. He checked for sensation on my arms and face then we sat down and he spent approximately an hour explaining the procedure and showed us all the drugs they would use over the next 5 days to perform this therapy. It was very interesting to hear how they have come up with this combination of drugs to help my body grow over 200 million new stem cells and cause them to transition from Hematopoietic stem cells to Mesenchymal stem cells and finally to Neural stem cells that will be inserted back into my body. Now, I am sure I have left out some of the transitions of the cells and the various types or the order in which they transform, but I hope you get the idea.

After that we went out into the treatment room of 8 large reclining easy chairs. This is where we will be spending most of our days and were I will receive most of my IV's. Angelina started me on an IV immediately and told me that it shouldn't hurt since it was a "baby" needle. A bit later, she came over and said she was giving me a shot in my arm and I elected my right arm. This needle she call a "mosquito" and even though it as sub-q (short and under the skin) the injected liquid did hurt a bit. Kinda like the feeling after you receive a tetanus shot. Over the course of the day I received a shot to my abdomen, one to my left arm and another to my abdomen.

The second IV I received was a chemo treatment to "reset" my immune system which is always attacking my nerves. And the last IV was vitamins.

At the end of the day and right before we left, I receive an injection of interferon in my butt. I am familiar with this drug since I have been taking a variation of it for the last 14 years. Angelina gave me some Tylenol to take with me and take if needed for the aches and chills.

Kristina drove us back to the Hotel Lucerna around 5pm. Within the hour I started to recognize the onset of the interferon. I started to get the body aches and chills that I go thru every Friday night. So after a nice dinner in the hotel restaurant, I came back and got ready for bed. It didn't take long and I was dosing off.

God Bless!

We are here

Made it to Tijuana last evening about 6pm PST.  Our plane was delayed for a couple hours out of Denver because they had mechinical problems in Portland and had to find a different plane. But we made it.

Pedro, our driver, was waiting in the airport holding a sign with my name on it.  My niece in Denver was jealous that someone was going to waiting for us holding up a sign with my name.  She said she always wanted to arrive at an airport and have someone holding up a sign with her name on it.  So we took a picture of Pedro holding the sign.  I may do some Photoshop processing on the photo and put her name on the sign and send her the picture.

The hotel we are staying at is Hotel Lucerna and it is really nice and the people are very friendly.

Weather is absolutely beautiful here! When we arrive it was still 65 degrees.  This morning we went to breakfast and I was in short sleeves.  The waiter asked if I was cold.  I told him it was beautiful here.  He was in long sleeves and said it was really cold here now.

Well, the driver will be here shortly to pick up Suzie and I to take us to the clinic.  I will write more this evening to share how our day went.

God Bless!

I'm on my way

The journey has started.  I arrived in Denver this afternoon to the warm welcome of my sister, Suzie, and my niece, Bridgette.  Weather here was really nice and in the mid 40's.  A welcome change from the 18 degrees that I left in Kansas City.

Suzie is a Physical Therapist so she did some strength and coordination tests on me this afternoon to give us a baseline of my MS progress.  Bridgette was elected to video tape the entire session.  We had fun with the process and I was surprised at my lack of coordination and balance when I watch the tape.

For dinner, we took an adventure and went to Fugo de Chao in downtown Denver.  If you enjoy steak, pork, chicken and/or lamb take an opportunity to go to this fabulous restaurant.  I highly recommend it!  There are several restaurants throughout the US: Denver, Kansas City, Dallas, Minneapolis, Philadelphia, and others.  Come hunger and stay a long time!

After a good nights sleep, we will get up and go to Mass then leave to catch our plane to San Deigo. The driver from Stem Cells for Hope will meet us at the airport and drive us to the Hotel Lucerna in Tijuana.

People have asked if I am nervous or anxious.  You know... that is my nature.  To be anxious and a bit nervous and fearful of the unknown.  But after 18 months of research and prayer, I am not.  I am very comfortable with this.  And really excited!!

Stay tuned for more.

God Bless!

The Date Is Set!!

The date is set and I am excited!!  The week of January 23rd, I will be traveling to Tijuana, Mexico to undergo Adult Stem Cell Therapy to treat my Multiple Sclerosis.  My sister, Suzie, will accompany me on this journey.  I will fly to Denver on Saturday the 22nd.  Then, on Sunday, Suzie and I will fly from there to San Deigo.  A representative from Stem Cells For Hope will pick us up at the airport and drive us to our hotel in Tijuana.  Someone will pick us up at the hotel Monday morning to take us to the clinic where this will all take place.  By Friday afternoon I will have received 70 to 100 million of my own stem cells and be on my way to regaining back what I have lost over the past 15 years!

I am asking for your prayers for our safety while we are on this trip and for the doctors and nurses who will be performing the procedure so I will realize the best possible results from this therapy.

To all my friends and family members who have donated so generously... Thank You! Without your generousity this wouldn't be possible!

And, Thank You to all of you who are praying for me. Your prayers are greatly appreciated!

God Bless!