Day 21 - Some minor improvement!

I had some improvement noted in OT - both ofvmy hands and both forearms. Yippie! Very minor, but improvements are going in the right direction.  Wednesday will be 3 weeks since my test dose of humanly only embryonic stem cells. I've been treated twice daily since then.

Today was PT and OT in the am, then a meeting with Geeta in her office at noon. It lasted about 45 mins.  We went over my dietary restrictions and the head of the cafeteria attended to take down my requirements. Breakfast was a problem as I was eating plain yogurt and I had been avoiding all cow products at home.  They were also giving me cruciferous vegetables at lunch and dinner, so now they will switch that too.  Extremely accommodating!!  I need to avoid all sulfur as I have mutations in my CBS pathway.  Juergen, do you know of such things?  Too bad I no longer work for you ;-(.

Then we discussed my medicines and I will get my PICC line on Friday when I am getting my procedure, the 3 day catheter one that requires no showering.  Ajo (OR nurse) will be taking a holiday in South India for 2 weeks to visit his family.  I will miss him.

I told Geeta some new observations: muscle cramping in stomach area and 2 laryngospasms since being in India.  Luckily, Robbin was there for both laryngospasms.  He explained what was happening, so no one needed to interfere.

I also observed that I am no longer growing armpit hair since being in India.  Shaved before I left and not since. Weird, but convenient. Leg hair is growing.  Too much information? Maybe, but tough nuggies.

Robbin has a bad migraine today from having gluten last night. Silly statement, is there a good migraine?  He had 2 pieces if Roti with peanut butter on it.  He took a calculated risk and lost.

Chicken for dinner, boneless- yum.  Watching Shriek, giggling.

Bed soon.

Day 20 - a good day

Today is Monday and it was a good day.  I had 30 mins of am PT and they switched me to 45 mins of OT, all in the morning 10:45-11:30 as I was tired in the afternoon.

Back in the room the sisters put an ointment on my lower back to anesthetize the area. Maybe Lidocaine.  Then they gave me a small Augmentum IV.   Afterwards, I changed into my gown and flowing pants.  Ajo & Deepak came to get me on the gurney.  Ajo was smiling big but then when Robbin took the picture, it appears he played tough guy. He is so very nice, fun and a great OR nurse. 

Ajo, me and Deepak right before moving me by gurney. I still close my eyes when they lift me -such a child!

The procedure was the easy one.  Stem cells in the spine (teeny tiny needle), back of neck & both cheeks. "Welcome baby stem cells, one & all, I am your Mommie and I will take good care of you!"  Of course, I hope they return the favor.

Back in the room I listened to music for an hr as I lay flat on my back.  Dave Matthews, Joan Armatrading, McCartney, Rockapeller, King Tut (Steve Martin), Witchdoctor song (oo, ee, oo, ah ah, ting, tang, Walla Walla, bing bang) - Cracked me up! Who remembers that one? Email me.

Geeta stopped by for a chat, Robbin awoke to her and another dr (Nash) in the room, poor guy. I have instructions if this should happen again.  We chatted about some new test results from the US (Thank you Shawm Bean!)  Apparently, I have a big malabsoption problem and more deficiencies than he's seen.. Shawn thinks:

"The alteration in the cell membrane is probably causing a lot of your issues.  It letting the bad things in and nutrients out.  Energetically your cells spin in a counter clock wise fashion when you are

healthy. As you get sicker your polarity reverses towards clock wise direction. When you change the polarity back to clock wise motion the bodyat the cellular level will start to regenerate it self and heal..How to do this? I am working on this right now."  

Smart man, self taught. Amazing!  He will Skpe with Geeta soon.  She understands epigenetics.

Lunch, emails, and sisters galore.  Dinner, "Everyone Loves Raymond", "Darma & Greg", and "Law & Order." Bed.

Day 19 - watched TV

Today was another lazy Sunday. I watched "Meet the Fockers" & "Terminator 3", both fun. Robbin went out for only a short time as it was way too hot.  To get a wee bit of exercise I walked up & down the hallway a few times. Very wee!

Tomorrow I will have another procedure, the easy one. Not sure why we even do it in the operating  theatre. I believe we will meet with Geeta tomorrow too.  I have some questions typed up.

Yesterday, Robbin bought a bag of Lays "Magic Masala Potato Chips."  I had 3 and they were delicious!  

Some pictures taken during the week.

Kappa & ? (Room cleaners). Off today!  They are both very nice.

Ahba had some tea one day this week. First time, so I wanted a picture of her. Some how, I got in there too!

Me drinking from a coconut. No liquor.  Didn't know I liked it but I find it quite refreshing!  Doctor's orders.

 

Sisters came to give me my stem cell injection in my arm muscle.  They are all always happy!,

Day 18 - went to a real grocery store!

Today is Saturday and I only had am OT at 10:00 & PT at 10:30. No outside patients so the staff leave at noon.  I came back to the room did some emailing and then napped on & off for 2 hrs, overwhelming fatigue was back. On & off napping because there is a pretty constant barrage of people, in & out. Cleaners, doctors, sisters, Rita from the cafeteria delivering food, taking menu orders, the list goes on.  I had my iPod on so I was happy.  I have it on shuffle so I am always surprised.  Heard Leon Russell and Joan Armatrading (2 of my favorites), James Taylor, Rockapella, The Doors and more.

When the princess (me) awoke, I ate lunch and then we all went out to a mall. We went by an air conditioned taxi that was called for us, such service! They packed a wheel chair for me. After about 20 minutes we arrived at DFL Promenade. I impressed all by getting out of the car into a standing position, by myself. Stem cells? PT? Or just a high taxi seat?

Me at the mall front entry - it was kids day - and I'm a big kid.

We roamed the mall looking for a food store which we thought was called "food hall", but were sent to a food court. We saw a Domino's Pizza and a McDonalds (I actually had some fries). My bad!

After roaming around the noisiest mall we've ever been in, we found a security person who led us outside to another mall, down a moving 'flat' escalator type thing to a large grocery store, called Big Bazaar.  Large by Indian standards, but not a Wegmans.  We purchased some spices (chilly powder and garam masala) and some chips, cheese, peanut butter and jelly.  We had fun going up and down the aisles.  It was all new.

Playground between left and center mall - even though it is HOT, there were kids playing

Robbin paid and we ventured back to the original mall (thank goodness Robbin pays attention).  Ahba called the taxi on her mobile and off we went back to NuTech.

Day 17 - I had some energy!

Sorry to be late again. This is Friday's post delivered on Saturday.  I woke up with some energy, not "the old Deb" energy, but some. I did the normal routine, OT & PT am & pm, and went outside for the 5:30 chit chat, but no one showed. I hadn't been out all week, but I think it was too hot.  Abha, a security man (Pajkur?) & I watched people go by in tuk tuks, motor bikes, car and by foot.  I am amazed how all the men wear long sleeve shirts and long pants, even jeans in this heat. After 5:00, a few had shorts on, about 3 out of 50!  Estimation on the fifty, I didn't actually count.

My old boss and dear friend from Bankers Trust days, Rick Kaye, sent me an email, here's an excerpt:
------

Hi Deb,

I've been following your trip on your blog. This morning, I was reading your latest entry when a light bulb went off in my head. It struck me that I had heard something similar before. At my high school reunion in 2006 there was a guy there in a wheelchair. He was a guy I knew in high school but wasn't a close friend and I hadn't spoken to him since graduation. We talked for 5 minutes and then went our separate ways as there were lots of people to catch up with. Then from 2007 through 2009, he posted several messages on our class web site about going to India for stem cell treatments. So, I looked up those old posts and it sure sounded like he went to the same clinic that you are at.

So, I emailed him this morning and he wrote back. Sure enough, it is the same place. He raved about it. I know from his posts that he went at least 3 times. He was very enthusiastic about the treatment he got and cited some other peoples' excellent results.

He also said there's a private web site for alumni of the clinic so perhaps you'll (virtually) run into him in the future.

Hope all is going well. Keep up the blog. It's nice to know how you are doing. 

Rick

-----

Rick, I've been invited to the website, it's a private FB club! I even know some members.


Friday night is movie night (reason, I missed the blog post).  One of the Drs bought in Borat. I hadn't seen it and couldn't stop laughing. Stupid funny. Robbin, on the other hand, left after an hr or less-too much male nudity and stupidity for him.

xo

More observations

1.  It was hot.
2.  It is still hot.
3.  It will be hot tomorrow.

Here's a sign that would be nice, however, how would I know if a tuk tuk was about to run me down with out the horn?

Here's another sign:

"Fork You" puzzles me.  I get the reference if you replace the center two letters of FORK so it can be a play on words, but welcoming you to a restaurant with that double entendre?   Above "Fork You" in little letters, it proclaims this is a steak and burger restaurant.  So is "Fork You" a double slam against the sacred cow?  Or are the proprietors oblivious to the potential extra meanings and are simply proclaiming that here a fork is needed to eat?  That is possible, since many foods here require no utensils, bread sops up part of the meal, chicken and lamb are on the bone to provide a handy means of bringing it to your mouth and rice can be grabbed up with the bread after a little sauce is sopped up.  I'm still pondering that sign.

There are trees everywhere.  Under a tree it is a lot cooler, so people must have planted them intentionally for shade.  The leaf color is a faded shade of green; a rather dull, dusty green.  Here's a picture of what lives in these trees in a park right in the heart of everything:

If you look carefully, the monkey has a piece of bread in its right hand and is holding a baby in its left, or the the baby is just grabbing on.  They're both happy as clams, totally ignoring me.

On this particular road, it was originally a brick road, and later had about 3 inches of black top applied over it but not on the shoulders so there is a considerable drop.  Nevertheless, people drive on the shoulder to pass, park, or just stop for a hot food or vegetable/fruit vendor; it sees plenty of action.  This photo shows bolts set in the shoulder, probably for light poles or some other tall vertical thing:

Guess what these would do to your tires?  Some of them have bricks between the bolts to make them safer, but plenty of them don't.  Imagine passing someone at night and puncturing one or both tires on the right side?  Oops.

Here's a youtube of India traffic: Traffic Video and I think it is pretty accurate.  See how everybody just does what the need to do?  This isn't really a 4 way intersection either.  It is just chaos.  That lack of regard to rules and taking turns (unless they are in fact taking turns in a chaotic way) is everywhere.  Stop where you want, double park, triple park - let everybody else deal with it.  Today a car pulled around me, jerked to a stop 5 feet in front of me and as I continued to walk, 2 kids threw open their doors and jumped out.  I almost knocked them over and could have walked into their doors.  Chaos.  I have observationally gleaned 2 rules: the guy in front of you is always right and the bigger your vehicle, the less rule 1 matters.

Finally a hint of India bureaucracy:

Yesterday we received a letter that required Deb's signature.  She signed it and I put it in the FedEx return envelope I found inside the one it came in.  It had the label all printed up with the bar codes and that funny square new style bar code.  I called FedEx and requested a pickup.  That was no easy task, they had an expectation I'd travel somewhere to do it myself.  I needed help from the reception desk at our hospital.  Finally I made myself understood that I wanted a pickup.  We waited an hour and the guy came.  He looked at it and asked for a "mail copy".  I didn't know what that was so I asked for an explanation.  He looked at me like I was stupid.  "You know, a mail copy!!!".  I asked the reception desk for a translation, and they said he needs a mail copy but couldn't describe what that was.  Finally the manager of the whole place was called and she questioned him and found out it was an authorization he needed.  I thought the FedEx form on the outside was sufficient, but that didn't count for anything, in this bureaucratic society, having the account number, address, name and bar codes could just be a clever ruse on my part to cheat FedEx out of the cost of the envelope.  I just happened to have a short email from the this envelope's potential recipient that had the words "I approve" on it, but the approval was for a different matter.  I printed that and the FedEx man accepted it as proof that I was legitimately sending this envelope.  But who was I?  He didn't know me.  He wanted my passport number.  I got the passport and then he wanted a photocopy of it.  He was asking for too much.  I don't want my passport information floating around, who knows what can be done with it.  I'd hate to have 2 Robbin Carlsons flying home, especially if the other one arrived first  Imagine returning after 3 months and have to explain that the other guy was the phony?  So I let them copy my drivers license.  I guess they could rent a car and screw me somehow with that, but at least I could go home.   The manager told me nothing is simple in India.  She's right.

Weather Report

Saturday	Sunday	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
Hi: 111 °F Lo: 78 °F	Hi: 113 °F Lo: 87 °F	Hi: 112 °F Lo: 89 °F	Hi: 113 °F Lo: 87 °F	Hi: 114 °F Lo: 87 °F	Hi: 114 °F Lo: 89 °F	Hi: 114 °F Lo: 89 °F