April Update

I hope you all had a wonderful Easter. It was a wonderful week for me.

April 21st, I travelled to Oklahoma City to visit a new neurologist. My wonderful Mother accompanied me on this trip and it was nice to have her there to visit with. My visit to a neurologist was long overdue. The last time I visited my neurologist, Dr. Kathleen Hawker, was the fall of 2008. She is a wonderful doctor but has quit seeing patients to perform research in the MS arena. I really hated to lose her as my doctor but knowing that she is working towards a cure of this disease makes it worth it. I asked her for a recommendation on a replacement that was similar to her, her bedside manner, her beliefs in handling MS, etc. She recommended Dr. Gabriel Pardo in OKC. It took me 18 months to get in to see him and I believe the wait was worth it. He was very attentive and listened to what I had to say. He was very interested in hearing and learning more about my Stem Cell Therapy. He asked what type of stem cells I received and I told him they took my stem cells from my bone marrow and injected them back into my body. He told me that he felt for me because that was a painful procedure. I laughed and told him there was no pain what so ever. He said “really”. I told him that I didn’t feel any pain but just a strange sensation when they pulled the bone marrow from my shin. In disbelief, he wanted to see the site where they drilled the hole to take my stem cells. He examined the site and just said “uh” and that was that. He was very pleased with where I was in my coordination, balance, etc. He seems to support what I have done and has ask that I provide more information on the procedure that was performed and asked me to sign a release form that can be sent to Dr. Andrade and Dr. Vargas so he can get my medical records from them. We scheduled a follow up appointment for October.

My sister, Suzie and her daughter Bridgette visited us in April. Suzie was pleased with how I had progressed since she saw me last. She helped me with some exercises and asked me if I could run. I laughed since I haven’t run in over 5 years. My legs just didn’t work like they used to that would allow me to run. Even when I tried over those 5 years, the legs just wouldn’t work in a way that allowed me to run. She asked me to try and to my surprise I was able to run! Mind you, now, I wasn’t the picture of coordination when I ran, but I ran!! She showed me what I was doing wrong and how I was moving my legs in an awkward form. She had me try to do it differently and it made the running look better. It is a bit awkward to do it the way she asked but I have to change the way I have learned to compensate for my lack of coordination and balance over the past several years. I am excited!! Another thing that I can do again that I had lost.

So, I continue to improve, little by little!

God Bless!