the day after my 3rd stem cell injection
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, celine
with 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 popcorn
which 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!
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Add comment June 7th, 2007 my 3rd stem cell injection is tomorrow!i originally thought that it would be on thursday but then esther, one of the nurses, told me this morning that i have my next injection tomorrow! i was shocked and i said, no, i think it’s on thursday. so she called xi, one of my junior doctors, who came by my room later and told me that it’s true, i have my 3rd injection tomorrow at 10am!! shocked! i’m i took pictures of alice here’s the PT room from the other side of the room. wan an! (=good night) 1 comment June 5th, 2007 lily, my SLT, and alice, my PThi there, some of you have mentioned that it takes forever for this page to load! i wanted you to know it’s the same for me. it takes forever for this site to open so it’s not very appealing for me to open it either! as for you leaving me comments, you just go to the bottom of each entry and it has a box where you can leave me comments, so please do! that way, i’m motivated to keep this updated, ok? let me show you my speech therapist, lily. i really enjoy working with lily because she’s very enthusiastic and her english isn’t bad. she uses her cell phone to look up words. i also like that she teaches me chinese words in our sessions because she learned speech therapy in chinese and i don’t mind! i actually like having a chinese lesson in our sessions. she brought a japanese pop song this morning for part of our session. it’s good for me to start singing because it helps with my breath control also. so i’m very happy to be learning a song. i’m not very good at it though. chinese learn songs through do re mi fa so la ti do, so they can just write 33 666 43231 and they can make sounds from the numbers. i had to write it down so i would remember what 4 is (it’s fa); 1 is do, 2 is re, 3 is mi, etc. you get what i mean, right? so the japanese pop song is called oriental cherry in english. lily has a great voice also, so it’s fun to sing with her. i also have TCM (traditional chinese medicine) with mr. guan at 1:45pm; you can see his picture in the previous post. the point of TCM is to help keep my body relaxed and at ease, so because my back’s been hurting me, mr. guan has been doing a cupping massage on my back. then i turn over and he massages my neck and shoulder. wendy comes into my sessions because his english isn’t very fluent yet, so wendy comes in and translates for us. i got dr. xi to take a picture of my back when the bandaid came off last weekend. no mark on my back of 2nd injection can you see? i’ll have to check after i post this blog. ***** no that doesn’t show, so here… walk into the rehab center. also i wanted to take a picture of alice, this is the doorway into the PT area. this is the PT room. my brain stem injury caused me balance problems which is what alice works on with me. i first get stretched out and warmed up; alice moves my legs around to warm them up. then she has me do some balancing exercises to work me and then we go to the PT room which you can see above where tony is working on a patient. i then get on the treadmill for 10 minutes. i choose to walk or run by myself…whatever i feel like. alice lets me do what i want. some days i feel like adding some running so i will. it’s cool they have a balance board i am different from the other patients here because william and i live here in beijing part of the year, so we have an apartment here in wangjing, the korean area of beijing which is in northeast beijing. since isabelle, celine’s mother, invited some people from the hospital to go to a music show in wangjing last night, i went home to sleep instead of returning to the hospital. i just have to sign a leave permission form from the nurses so they are not responsible for any injury when i’m outside the hospital. i invited zsuzi to join me and she happily accepted since we have 2 bedrooms in our apartment. i took some pictures of the group that went to the show entitled shadow so you can see here.
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sad that william won’t be here for it, but luckily i haven’t had any problems for the first 2 so i’m hoping i don’t for this one also! no fevers, no reactions, nothing….let’s pray.
and 
tony
and put them on the previous post, but i’ll show you again. here’s one entrance to the PT room.
this is the place where they have this awesome device to check your equilibrium and balance, etc.
see that in between the silver bars? it’s there you can test your balance and stuff. i’ve done it once with tony and then i asked to do it again with alice. it’s great! it’s just unfortunate that the printer doesn’t work so i can’t get a copy of my test results and compare. sigh. oh well….
my favorite balance board
here’s the treadmill i walk/run on for 10minutes every day.
ok, i have to go to bed so i’m not too tired for my injection!!
i’ll be expecting TONS OF COMMENTS THEN!!!
she comes every morning to my room at 9:30am. she told me this morning that she’s on duty tomorrow also so i’ll have a speech therapy session on saturday also! yea! 
no mark, so that’s good! here are my IVs after my 2nd stem cell injection.
and i am the worst for the nurses since my veins are so bad; they keep having to stick me with needles because my veins go bad and they hurt because the IV liquid ends up going into my skin instead of my veins. i’m jealous because basil has only had his IVs stuck in 2 places!!! i think i’ve been stuck about 10-15 times already!!!
it’s in my
left arm now when yesterday it was in my left hand top. they have to keep changing places because my veins go bad. 
that’s susan at the front desk in the center.
my physiotherapist; that’s an occupational therapy room. i used to see tony but i’m more comfortable with a female since ….well, it’s just more comfortable but i’ve learned that tony
that gadget tests your balance and equilibrium. i did it 4 times while i was in the hospital, and it’s interesting that it shows i favor my left leg and foot. i put more weight on my left side. that’s also probably why i was a left wing in soccer in high school. when alice and i play soccer on the balance board, i score more with my left foot too! 
from the other end of the room.
— get me sweating so i can stay in shape.
and i am thrown a ball and try to score. 
alice is by the door which acts as the goal 
and i’m good! hahaha 
chinese breakfast of zongzi and the gruel. i didn’t eat the hard-boiled egg and the rest. 
zongzi is the rice wrapped in the leaves.
that’s what it looks like when you take off all the leaves.
these are 2 of my junior doctors and that’s tina the head nurse on the far right.
he’s nice. it’s just sometimes difficult to talk with him if wendy’s not there with me since his english is basic. but he’s good and i believe more experienced than rose so that’s great! 
backwards so it was easier for him to get to my back 
which is where he’s treating me.
which my parents sent over with william when he got back from seoul last friday. i didn’t get to eat since i was on my back for 6 hours!!!! this time wasn’t as bad because the head nurse tina told me that i could move my head from side to side, not just look straight up for 6 hours!!!! 
(on my face=not looking forward to the pain…) took me on the operating gurney instead of a wheelchair 
this time. i begged dr. han to make it hurt less this ti
me so he told me he’d put more anesthetic in me. it was much better this time! i also asked if i could see the stem cells again and he showed me. they are in this tiny little bottle container. amazing that that little amount can help people so much!!!
and william was here waiting and working on his laptop. i think he took some pictures and videos. i’ll check my camera later. luckily my digicam is like me and indestructible! it’s come so close to dying many many times but it keeps chugging along! that’s the spirit!!! haha 
strawberry poptart 
while i was flat on my back. i had to chew slowly and be careful. luckily i have an IV tube which i use for a straw, so i got to have some water also. i’ve been reading celeb magazines like cosmo, people and us. i brought all the ones i had in our beijing apartment and another patient brought some so in the computer room there are lots! good stuff!!!
needs to stay dry for 2 days, dr. xi said last time. so ok….
(happydot with me on my shoulder) when i came back to my room. remember i told you that my veins are realy thin? so after the 3rd one, my left vein 
wasn’t cooperating and my arm was hurting and it looked like the IV liqiud 
was going into my skin tissue!!! OUCH!!! it was so the nurse esther had to do a quick IV into my right hand top. luckily it didn’t stay. so now i am free of any needles and such! YEA!!!!!!!!! 
more later!! 