Brad’s Ataxia Blog

Lumbar Stem Cell Treatment #1

May 13th, 2009

To bring everyone up to date since the last post, I have to tell you about last nights excursion to dinner.  Brad wanted to go out to eat so we ate a sandwich at lunch.  We hired one of the drivers since it was raining to take us to a moderately priced place that was recommended by the staff at the hospital.  “Authentic Chinese Food!”  We were dropped off at a large building and went to the 5th floor.  The elevators opened and were were greeted by many, I mean about 30 to 40 young women in blue evening dresses and waiters dressed in black.  I had asked about what we should wear and were told we would be just fine in shorts and shirt.  HA!  Not only were we out of place but we escorted into a HUGE dining room, elegantly furnished and were seated promptly.  Instead of menues we were again taken (Brad swapping twice now back to wheel chair) into another ajacent room.  On all sides were very eloquently prepared dishes including some on platforms along the isles.  You would walk around the room and select the dish you would like and they would prepare you a fresh one like it.  In the middle of that room were huge fish tanks filled with more kinds of fish than there are names for.  In several of the acquarium type tanks were things like snakes… yes several kinds of snakes… yes and very much alive!  There were octipus, and escargot.  There were many other critters waiting to be eaten.  As we walked around the fish tanks we came upon the section where they prepared FRESH, your selection.  There was a huge fish that had donated a large chuck of its side and underbelly, with the heart completely exposed and yes, still beating.  Having made the full round of the assortment of dishes, I asked Brad what he would like.  He said “LEAVE!”  So with many English appologies we left.  The problem now was that our driver was to pick us up there in an hour and a half and it was drizzeling rain.  BUT as the Lord would have it accross a major intersection was none other than a Pizza Hut!  We made the dash in the dark and rain out in the streets with out light or horn and we survived to tell about it.  We had a good pizza and once again made the crossing in time to meet our driver.  If Brad had decided to order something at the first place I was wondering what I would do because there was not one dish that I thougth would interest me.  Of course when we order out Chinese from the places on the street we are probably getting something similar but the thing is we don’t know it.  Makes all the difference.

Brad had his first lumbar stem cell treatment about 3:00 this afternoon and it is a little after 5 now.  He complained of pain in his back and they gave him 15 ml of something to help with the pain.  He must lay flat on his back or side without pillow for 6 hours.  He will be able to drink and eat after 2 hours but still be flat.  I doubt he will eat until he can get up.  He went to sleep following getting settled back in his room. 

There are several families here from all over the world.  The UK, Malaysia, Australia, Canada, and US.  Some have small children here with CP, some with blindness, several are people with spinal cord or brain injuries.  One young man was in the military 21 years old and suffered a stroke leaving him with paralysis and brain impairment.  To my knowlede Brad is the only one with Ataxia here.  There is at least one person with MS.

Oh I mentioned the size of Xiaoshan being like Atlanta,  I looked up the population.  Xiaoshan is a suburb of Hangzhou.  Xiaoshan has a population of 1,185,000 prople registered.  New meaning for Surburbia!  Hangzhou’s population is 6,878,000, and has grown 1,045,900 in the last 10 yrs,

This is the one year anniversary of the earthquake in China.  It has been in the news about the post traumatic stress and rebuilding of the area affected.  It was very emotional around here.  One of the ladies that cleans the rooms was in the community room alone watching the news with tears down her face.  As many of you know I missed our disaster response training last week because of being here.  The training prepares us to provide psychological first aid among other things.  Even without an interpreter we were able to communicate about the earthquake.  It reminded me of the one year anniversary of 9/11.

Pray that Brad can sleep away the pain in his back and that the results of the stem cells will go to the right place and bring healing in the cerebellum area of the brain. 

Kept In Christ’s Love,

Craig for Brad

Entry Filed under: ataxia,Uncategorized