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!