Angela’s Brain Stem Injury Blog

the day after my 3rd stem cell injection

June 7th, 2007

some of you have asked me questions in your comments about if i can see any difference now that i’ve had 3 stem cell injections. i mentioned this in one of my first blogs, but stem cells need 3 to 6 months to develop into their new roles, so NO, i cannot say that i see any difference in my body since i’ve had 3 injections. however, many patients see great improvements from just their IVs they receive in the hospital. for example, celinewith her ayi(=helper) in that picture, just receives IVs and hasn’t received any stem cell injections yet. they took a bone marrow sample and and they grow that for one month and then inject them into patients. celine has improved greatly from just her IVs; for example, she is paralyzed from the neck down but since she’s been here at the hospital, she has feeling in her tummy area when people touch there. she can also lift her right arm and that was an amazing improvement because she couldn’t move it before! i’ve become close with celine and her mother isabelle so i am very pleased and happy for them!!! yea!!!
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here’s dr. xi, one of my junior doctors, who comes to see me every morning.

my IV needle was in my right hand yesterday morning, but it was hurting so i knew it would have to be taken out soon.

i got all my snack foods out before they took me to the OR yesterday.apple cinnamon poptart, nutrigrain bar and popcornwhich mom brought me from seoul because chinese popcorn is sweet which is sick. so i got all my snacks ready because i can’t move after i get my stem cell injection.

they finally came to pick me up around 10:45am yesterday. i wanted ajumma(our cook/maid in our apartment here) to take a picture of the nurse with me on the way to the OR since william wasn’t here to video the event. so here we are on my way for my 3rd stem cell injection!

again it was dr. han who did the whole procedure from the anasthetic injection to getting the stem cell solution injected into my cerebral spinal fluid (CSF)…..i think that’s what it’s called. in any case, i love dr. han because his english is excellent and he’s great and he listens to me. this time, i’d have to say, was the best one out of the 3. why, you ask? because i felt absolutely NO PAIN!!! i got into the OR around 10:47 and he was done at 10:57.

he first injects the anasthesia which hurts immensely! of course, i’m sitting there lying on my left side so my back is facing dr. han. this time, the nice OR nurse who came to get me let me hold her hand! that’s the nurse in the picture above!!! when he was injecting the anasthetic, i was squeezing her hands very tightly!!! but then afterwards, dr. han was pushing on my back asking if it hurt. it didn’t hurt; i could just feel him pushing on my back.

he then showed me the stem cell container which he was injecting into another container with other fluid or something. he injected that into my spine also and i was expecting some pain or numbness or tingly in my legs because the first two times made my legs feel pain and tingle. but NOTHING THIS TIME!! very very pleased!

as i was waiting for some pain and/or numbness and tingly, dr. han announces he’s finished! i was like, huh? what? you’re finished? i was lying there waiting for the pain….but nope! nada!! so pleased i was!!!
i was a bit in shock actually because that was the best experience for me!!! it was nice that the nurse let me grab her hands during the injections, too! so that was another blessing!!!
they wheeled me back to my room where ajumma was waiting and i took a picture of irene (i think it’s irene) who started my IVs on me then. my IV needle was originally in my hand but that went bad so they had to stick me again.this time in my right leg inner ankle area.

it was nice that ajumma stayed with me during the 6 hours i had to lie flat on my back. luckily i could turn my head and body side to side so i could chat with william over skype (www.skype.com) and he could see me on my bed since i have a webcam installed in my laptop here! hehe
ajumma was nice and fed me some dduk bokki (korean spicy rice cakes) which mom brought me from seoul when they were here over memorial day weekend. i had some of my popcorn too and i finished that 1 apple cinnamon poptart, too.

celine came to see me just as my 6 hours was finishing!!!we had a nice chat. she’s funny…she’s very happy that the standing table machine is broken so she hasn’t had to stand in over a week. i remember i had to use the standing table machine in tokyo and i would pass out because i had such low blood pressure and couldn’t handle the pressure of standing up! that was 4 years ago!!! amazing how much i’ve improved since then, don’t you think?

celine had to go back to her room for something so then ajumma and i had dinner. i requested she bring me some korean food and she brought me bulgogi which is basically marinated beef. i did a slideshow of the food so you can see all the food i had!

Pictures from angela im		From: angela im (1 of 10 pictures)