Good Procedure-Great Procedure

It's been a busy, procedure filled third week over here at the clinic. Last Wednesday they decided to go with the caudal procedure. This procedure is done on site here at the clinic, which is nice because once you get settled in here it's kind of like your home away from home. The crappy part about this procedure was where the injection goes in at. The injection goes right into the coccyx area. Right in this area is where I have been experiencing bad nerve pain as well as some regained sensation. As soon as he stuck the needle in I knew I was in for a little trouble. The initial pain was as you can imagine. It felt exactly like someone stabbing you at the top of the crack of your butt with a giant needle. Just like any shot though the pain eased away. He gave me the injection, patched me up, and sent me back to my room to lay flat on my back for four hours. The first three hours went by without a problem. I took a nap for an hour or so, and starred at the ceiling. Just like always. What else are you supposed to do for four hours on your back. The pain hit right at seven o'clock. It felt like someone was digging a hot poker in right where he gave the injection. So, if you can imagine that felt great. We informed the doc of my "situation" and waited for his orders. Luckily they allowed me to turn me to my side which did very little for my problem. The source of my pain was coming from stimulated nerve endings in that area. Just getting the pressure off that area wasn't even a close fix. They then popped me with some pain medication which helped a little. Like I said nerve pain is different than other pain, and it is hard to treat it with the same methods. The next couple days continued slowly regressing. Like I said, I was already having problems in this area. Nothing like a good old shot of stem cells right in the butt to get the nerve endings firing like crazy. Other than that, the procedure was great. Ha Ha Ha

My next procedure was the following Monday. This would be a double procedure. I would be getting a lumbar puncture and at the same time they would be inserting another epidural catheter for three days. This is obviously the most serious of all the procedures. The lumbar puncture is where they go directly into your spinal cord. Patients usually have the most problems with procedure. Problems meaning that sometimes bad headaches or problems with high blood pressure occur. The procedure went very well as always. He gave me the lumbar puncture and than the catheter was inserted. Once I was back in my is where I started to have some difficulties. I started sweating pretty heavy in the face and body started getting very warm. I started getting anxious and this just made matters worse. They came in and checked my blood pressure. It had rose to 140 over 110. This is what was causing the sweating and the body temperature increase. We started getting a little nervous until doctor Ashish came in and described how this was very normal and not to worry. It was very reassuring to my father and I seeing how calm doctor Ashish was. He gave me an injection for my anxiety and ten minutes later I was napping. I woke up and felt a ton better. The excitement came on Wednesday morning when doctor Ashish gave me my last dose of stem cells. The sensation I started receiving five minutes after my injection was incredible. It started as a light tingling sensation in my lower back. The sensation made it's way down both of my legs into my toes. By the time it had reached my toes the tingling sensation had turned into an strong electric current feeling. This is all great , but I have experienced this before. The real cool part was still to come. The tingling sensation than worked it's way up my back, into my shoulders, and down both my arms into my fingers. This I have never experienced. What's so great about this is that it means the stem cells stimulated nerves which reach throughout my whole body. A connection has been made, or nerves repaired to be able to send that kind of a signal. The really cool thing is that the sensation lasted for about forty-five minutes. The longest it's ever lasted is about ten minutes. This kind of sensation is exactly what the doctors are striving for. My reaction to the procedure had made every body's day. This kind of outcome is what you would call "best case scenario." There is still a lot more to tell but I will leave you at that.

Steady Progress

It was kind of an interesting week we had. I was supposed to go over for a procedure on Monday morning. Well, they ran a few tests early that morning, blood work and urine, and of course i had a urinary track infection. This is something I am always battling due to the catheter I have. So, in order to speed up the process of eliminating the infection it was decided that changing my cath would be a good idea. Well, to make a long story short, there ended up being a few technical difficulties. A lot of blood started showing up in my urine. The doctors here at the clinic got the bleeding to stop. It was then that they decided that it would probably be a good idea that I be taken to a hospital and kept overnight for observation. An ambulance was called and i was transported to Max Healthcare hospital. I stayed there over night having no other issues. The next afternoon we had another ambulance take me to the guatam nagar hospital where i would be receiving my procedure starting on Wednesday.

So, Wednesday afternoon I was taken into the operating theatre to receive my EC procedure. Just a couple days being schedule but no worries. When you have problems you have to deal with them and put them behind you. The EC procedure (epidural catheter) went very well as usual. Dr. Ashish is very steady and very precise. The catheter is inserted around the eleventh thoracic vertebrae and is ran up the epidural space stopping near the fifth or sixth thoracic vertebrae. Once inserted it is time to flood the are with millions of stem cells. I received to injections on Wednesday, two on Thursday, and a double dosage in the a.m. on Friday. I was very pleased on Wednesday when i received my first dosage of cells. If you can recall from my last trip every time i received an injection of cells I would get a real heavy and tight feeling in my stomach. Well, this time the sensation worked it's way down lower into my groin region, butt, and legs. My overall sensation has improved, mostly from the waist down. I am also happy to report that I am able to push the urine from my bladder on my own. Now, all I have to do is train the other muscle that gives you the ability to hold urine in and I am catheter free. How wonderful would that be. I a scheduled to receive another procedure on Wednesday so I will be in touch. Lots of love to my family and friends. See you all soon.

Back in India

It's been about four months since my last post. Everything has been going well with my rehab. I am still putting in lots of hours every week with physical therapy, hand cycling, and electric stimulus. As always though the hard work has been paying off. I have continued to see improvements in all areas. My strength, sensation, and mobility have all increased. Also, I have continued to notice more activity in my lower limbs. The strength and muscle control is redeveloping from my feet up to my hips. This remember is still a very slow process, but my family and I have been very pleased with my progress. This is why we decided to make another trip back to India. My father and i arrived Tuesday evening of this week. All the traveling went well and as planned. We are very happy to be back at NuTech Mediworld Clinic. We are scheduled to stay one month this trip. I started therapy on Thursday and was informed by the doctors that I would be having my first procedure on Monday. After all the success we had on the last trip are expectations are very high. I will keep everybody informed of my progress and will do my best to describe the experience.