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!