Barbara’s MJD Blog

Monday, October 13, 2008 – 1 day left

October 13th, 2008

It’s 6:30 in the morning here, and last night I layed awake thinking about everything that we’ve been through the past month, and was trying to make sense of it all… The questions that kept going through my mind were “Was it worth it?”, “Would you do it again?”, “is it what you expected?”, “Are you better?”.  Questions 1&4(and 2&3) really kind of go together.  Honestly, I thought I’d be a lot better than I am.  I definitely do notice small improvements in my speech, handwriting, balance (being able to correct/catch myself), slowing down and being a little more grossly coordinated).  My walking/balance has gone through some changes (bigger strides w/ walker), but by being so careful in a tile and concrete unforgiving(to falls) environment, I actually feel like (close, in-room) walking has gotten worse.  I’ve maybe fallen 4-5 times since I’ve been here(the whole time-24 days), while at home, 4-5 times a day is a good day, so that’s an improvement.  However, I have not been able to do anything for myself for a month!  Deena is truly an Angel in disguise.  She does it all!  There’s a kitchen here for the patients (and caregivers), and honestly, Deena let me make toast the other day for us.

…it’s now 6:00 p.m. back to the questions above, (I’m a little rotten-biased because I happened to have a REALLY crappy day)  Would I do it again?  That’s a really loaded question.  The staff here talks about a 75 day waiting period (which DOES make sense) where you should/will see improvements, maximum benefits if you are involved in therapy to ‘train’ your new cells.  I wasn’t one of those that came in with a walker, and ran to the airport, so, you’ll have to wait for a follow up blog entry at the beginning of next year for the answer to that one! 

Was it what I expected?  Nothing can really prepare you for the cultural and food differences, but as far as the ‘Stem Cell Rehabilitation Clinic’ goes, I really expected a lot more.  The ‘fact sheets’ I received talked about an individualized  rehabilitation plan to meet your needs, and it mentioned Speech therapy, occupational therapy, physical therapy, electronic muscle stimulation, ADL (activities daily life), and traditional chinese accupuncture and massage.  Well, everyone got accupuncture, one 45-min/day PT session, and electronic muscle stimulation.  Each of those three were individualized, but that was it.  For some reason(I didn’t read or see it anywhere), I expected a state-of-the-art exercise facility(after all, we’re talking cutting edge medical treatments).  I found an abandoned exercise bike in a 30Cdegree room upstairs. 

I learned to quickly alter my expectations…we’re here (in China) for the stem cells, and for the successful transplantation, engraftment, and proliferation.  We can (and definitely should) get all the other stuff back at home, but let’s dabble in it while we’re here still receiving our treatments.

FYI:  In my 25 day stay here in Qingdao, I had 1-IV Stem Cell injection, 4- Spinal Stem Cell Injections, 15 accupuncture sessions, 10 PT sessions, and 10 Electric Wave Therapy sessions.

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