Angela’s Brain Stem Injury Blog

how am i after my first stem cell treatment???

May 14th, 2007

hello i kept meaning to update this medical blog after my first stem cell treatment last thursday, may 10. it was scheduled at 10am, but it all depends on what time the stem cells arrive. they are brought from beijing university (or beida) research center which is in northern beijing. our apartment in wangjing is also in northeast beijing, close to the airport so from our apartment to the hospital can take about half an hour, depending on the traffic condition. obviously there was traffic because the stem cells didn’t get here until around 11:15. i was the last of the patients to be taken to the operating room (OR). they took me in a wheelchair…which i don’t enjoy.

happydot was waiting for my return on my bed pillow…

william was videoing me instead of taking pictures, so i can’t show you any pictures unfortunately. he is obsessed with videoing everything now!!! for our movie, he says.

so dr. han, the stem cell injection doctor, met me at the entrance and man, talk about nerve-wracking!!! sooooo nervous. they gave me some sterile sandals to put on and then i walked to the OR with dr. han and a nurse.

i laid down flat on the table while dr. han and the nurse got everything ready. dr. han showed me the stem cells which were in a sterile hand glove with ice inside. i was thinking, wow, exciting! so while the nurse and he were getting everything ready, i was lying there, thinking, gosh, this is finally happening. i was soooo nervous and i was thinking, i want to hold someone’s hand while dr. han is injecting me with the Local anesthetic!!! so nervous, my blood pressure must’ve been roof-high.

so he sterilized my back and told me he was going to inject me with the Local anesthetic. nerve-wracking. it didn’t hurt at first but after a while, i was freaking out because my left leg started to hurt! so i told dr. han. then my right leg started tingling and my back was killing me! i told him all this. he said with every patient, it’s different, so with me, he said he started injecting the anesthetic slower so it wouldn’t hurt. but, man, it hurt anyway. he also said that it was good that my left leg hurt because that means he hit the right nerve, or the CFS fluid, i believe he said. you can see the previous blog because i mentioned it there.

he finished injecting the anesthetic and then he touched my back, asking if i could feel anything. i couldn’t. whew!!! happy about that one!

then dr. han started injecting the stem cells. it didn’t seem like a lot when he showed me the container before the injection, but man! it took forever! well, it felt like forever. i mean it all took only about 5 minutes literally but it seemed like hours to me. he had to go slow because i was still having pain in my back and leg.

the nurse was busy doing other things so no one held my hand. i sat there, praying for god to hold my hand and he did, thank goodness! i was praying the whole time this happened. STRESSFUL! but thank goodness, it all went smoothly! afterwards, dr. han even told me that i was a good patient! HAHAHA i’m not sure why but man, i was just glad it was over.

they put me on another moving bed/table and they wheeled me back to my room where hubby was waiting, working. it was cool how they lowered my bed.they put a flat board and i scooted over and slide down onto my bed! then began the tortuous 6 hours! i was on my bed for 6 hours on my back.

you have to lie flat like that for 3 to 6 hours so the new stem cells go to the injury, in my case my brain stem. now, william and i figured we could watch lots of grey’s anatomy or videos on the tv in my room, but since my head was just straight up, i couldn’t comfortably see the tv. so we gave up which was very unfortunate! i started my pedometer timer so i knew exactly how long i was on my back!

it was rough–basically it was like my own personal hell to stay flat on my back for 6 hours! i listened to my iriver mp3 player a bit, read the new magazines that my mom mailed me, but everything was uncomfortable. i was also receiving many IVs so i had to leave my right arm down flat so the IV could flow faster. i was used to getting only 2 IVs a day since i checked in; they didn’t change anything during their may holiday from may 1-7, so every day, i was getting 2 IVs. after my 1st stem cell injection, i’ve been getting 4 in the morning and then 1 in the afternoon at 4pm which is to make sure i don’t get any infection.

one of the junior doctors said thymopentin is added as an IV to “reduce immune reaction” and another is an antiobiotic which is used for 5 days after the stem cell injection. they may use longer than 5 days to make sure stem cells grow in my body and not get killed off. so now i no longer get 2 IVs. now 4 in the morning and 1 at 4pm. good thing i’m not squeamish at all on getting stabbed with needles…i just watch and offer places for them to stick me. haha

i mentioned that i was very uncomfortable, right? it gets worse. since rose my TCM therapist cupped my neck the day before my injection (or wednesday), my neck was painfully sore too!

i asked for pain medication after i finally was able to get off my back–after 6 hours and 17 minutes! it was 6pm when i could finally get up! i treated myself since that completely sucked and got myself a new york steak from sizzler for dinner! (served medium) which came with a baked potato and cheese toast.it was ok, but not great….that was just my special treat since i made it no prob through my first stem cell injection.

they took off the plastic bandaid which was over my injection area so it wouldn’t get wet when i showered. i wasn’t allowed to shower on thursday so i had to wait until friday to shower. i did a french shower….got a wet washcloth and wiped myself down everywhere with soap. they took the plastic bandaid off yesterday morning when one of the junior doctors came to check on me in the morning, so here’s my back. it’s such a small area that you can’t even see anything!can you see anything? i can’t.

ok, so the doctors are waiting to see if the stem cells are working quickly or not in my body. i am very very blessed because i didn’t have any adverse reaction to the injection. william and i were very worried that i would get a fever but you know? NOTHING BAD HAPPENED!! NO FEVER, NOTHING…NOT EVEN MY BACK STAYED IN PAIN. so i am just very blessed!!! i must thank god for watching over me so carefully!!

that is why i wasn’t very fast on getting on here and posting another medical blog–i’ve been fine except for today, my temperature is 37.4; the nurses said if it goes up to 37.5, then i have a slight fever. we’ll see. i’m just tired today. i hopefully will get to see rose today for some more cupping since my neck and back are still a bit tight. we’ll see.

i was lucky and got to cab home with hubby yesterday morning after my 4 IVs finished. he left for seoul yesterday so i went home with him to get some more clothes and have lunch made by our ajumma (our korean/chinese maid/cook). it’s nice i can leave the hospital as long as i sign a leave form.

alrighty, i think i’ve filled you in on my life thus far. more later!!

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i just went to say good bye to alice and ken who’ve been here for 2 months already. they’re returning to los angeles since alice’s treatment is finished. i wanted to show them so you could add them to your prayers–to have safe traveling mercies back home to california.alice is very popular because lots of people came to say good bye to her and ken. i got a picture of alice with mark, one of the physiotherapists. i took a picture with ken’s camera of all the people who came to see them off in the hospital lobby also. hopefully he’ll send me those pictures.

bye bye alice and ken!!!

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