Second Stem Cell Treatment
2-24-09
Last night Joey didn’t go to bed until about 3:00 a.m. He was very emotional and nervous about the second stem cell treatment and not at all looking forward to all of the pain he had experienced before. He wanted to stay up as late as possible so that maybe he could sleep through some of the pain if any. He is not required to attend PT, OT or TCM (traditional chinese massage) on the day of the stem cell treatments so he go up around 9:30 a.m. We had a horrible hamburger for lunch but the french fries were ok. Joey started drinking alot of water (suggested by the doctors to help minimize the pain) and then at 2:05 p.m. they came and took him to the operating room. He was back in about 15 minutes (2:25 p.m.) and said that this time the injection hurt. During the first stem cell treatment, it took 2 hours after the treatment for him to start feeling pain, so I began watching the clock…..
It was 4:30 and he started feeling pain in his thighs and knees. It continued to get worse. All of his doctors came in to check on him and told us the same thing as the first time…..”If you can bear the pain, it is best to do so. If you absolutely cannot stand the pain, we will give you pain medication but if you choose to take pain medication, it will surprise the stem cells and may not be as effective”. Well, Joey has decided not to take the pain medication and I am very proud of him. He has been very brave throught this whole ordeal. It is 7:30 p.m. and he is sleeping right now. I will try to get him to eat when he wakes up.
Our new coordinator/translator, Diana is very sweet. She came by to visit with us this afternoon before the SCT (stem cell treatment). I think Joey and I are really going to enjoy her company. She will go with me tomorrow to WalMart and to the bank.
If Joey is feeling better by the weekend, we have plans to go to the Beijing Zoo and to the Forbidden City. Diana has arranged for a van driver to take us anywhere we want to go for the whole day. I will take lots of pictures.
Next SCT is scheduled for next Tuesday, March 3rd. More later.
Dana
4 comments February 24th, 2009
