Adam’s C6 SCI Treatment

Stem Cell Injection Day

September 16th, 2007

Was still behind on my sleep and luckily got the morning off. Fridays and Tuesdays are injection days. My injection was scheduled for 3:30 PM. Got lunch a bit early as there is no food or drink for 3 hours before the procedure. About 3 PM, the nurse came in and incerted an IV of glucose in my wrist. After about 10 minutes, I went into a spasm and accidentally jerked the IV out of the bag. My Dad went down to get the nurse who looked frantic, but said OK. She ran off to get another line. Got it hooked and off we went. She had the elevator waiting which explains why she was a bit frantic. And, we were a few minutes late by this time. Got to the 20th floor and in we went while my Dad headed back to the room to wait. The procedure did not take too long. Was given some sedative of some sort, but I think I was conscious the whole time, maybe. With the injections completed, it was back to the room for recovery. My Dad said I was gone for about 45 minutes. I was grinning from ear to ear when I saw my Dad. There would be “no water” for 2 hours, “no food” for 4 hours, and “no sit up” for 6 hours. “Can turn over”, “no sit up.” Ah, a chance to get some more rest.

My injection was in the very low back right above my tail bone. They remove some spinal fluid and then replace the same amount of volume with stem cells. And, the process is an assembly line of sorts as there were a number of other patients I saw that were in line after me. Because of the language difference, they give you little explanation. Didn’t know whether it was going to be a needle or whether they would make an incision. When we removed the bandage the next morning, they must have used a needle as there was no incision mark. What a day to remember, the gift of healing and a chance for change.

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