Lumbar Injection Rev. 2

Linda is back from her procedure and must lay flat for 6 hrs. She said the actual injection hurt a little but not too bad. Now the only thing bothering her is having to use the bed pan because she must not even rise her head. No discomfort laying in bed except boredom. Today everyone who was on the schedule received the injection assembly line style. Everyone else will get a series of 3 or 4 injections a week apart, Linda just gets one because she received the brain operation. Tomorrow the whole staff of doctors will make rounds and see how Linda is doing and make a decision on how much longer we must stay, but the time is getting shorter.

We have not seen a lot of Beijing because Linda has been hooked to the iv's everyday and I did not want to leave her alone all day so we have talked of coming back next year and doing all of China. I do take the bike out and leave for a few hours at a time but as care giver I have to stay close. The hospital does not provide meals although someone does come around to ask about take out from the restaurants around the area. But you must be alert or you have no idea what's coming back. So I go out shopping and bring back food either we cook here or eat raw.

Sat Morning I better write and let everyone know what is going on, I didn't report on how Linda did after the last injection. Linda came out better than ever, but I spent yesterday going around and checking and talking to the other patients who received the treatment. I should have dashed off a note but I didn't. So after Linda came back and had to lay still for 6 hrs, she just sat around after the 6 hrs were up. But yesterday morning she woke up full of piss and vinegar and wanted to head out and conquer the world. Jumped right out of bed and started her exercises she does every morning and was thrilled to see her balance was good as ever. She did things she had not been able to do for months. So as she was making all the plans what to do, Amy came in and checked her out and said she was not to leave the room because Amy did not want the cells to go bad. Well hell, here Linda now has all this pent up energy and has to sit in the room all day. But she did manage that. This morning she is up and still feels great. As the day goes on we will see if this is real or what.

There are a few interesting cases here. Two that Lynn would be interested in. They both have Parkinson ism.This is Parkinson's that medication has no effect on. The German woman who is in her 50's started showing symptoms about 7 years ago. For 5 years she wasn't too bad, but about 2 years ago she started to go down hill pretty fast. Now she can't walk but a few steps and is in a wheel chair. She has had 2 injections now and it is too early to see any difference. The man is 68 and again it is too early to tell the outcome. Another 66 year old woman from England had DBS done 6 years ago. The effect of the DBS had now worn off, her husband has set the impulses as high as it can go and it has no effect. She has had 2 lumbar injections now and we are waiting to see what the results are. One man is 75, he was vice president of an engineering firm and wrote a book that is the standard of the industry and is in it's 4 printing. He has PD and early stage Alzheimer's. I want to follow up on these cases too see the outcome. I better get this off so we can share the good news.

john and linda in China

Lumbar Injection Rev. 1

Well they just came with a gurney and hauled Linda away for the lumbar injection of stem cells in the spinal fluid. The hospital is in full operation again after the new years holidays. For a day or two we have kicked around if we should do this additional operation and decided as long as we are here lets get it done. I guess in for a penny, in for a dollar. What this is supposed to do is insert stem cells into the spinal fluid and that carriers the cells into the brain and floods the brain with stem cells that can reach places the brain surgery may have missed. Linda is the only patient here that is having both procedures done. All the others have had only the spinal fluid done. What they tell me is that only the patients that are in good enough shape to start with get the brain injection, but it took them 3 weeks to get Linda into that kind of shape. She had all kinds of little things wrong they had to fix before they could do the first operation. So she should come back a new woman. But still it takes 9 months for the cells to grow and reach the full benefit.

Last night 4 parkies and their others and Diana went to a restaurant called Grandma Kitchen. Steve you will remember that one. If you took up a small restaurant anywhere in the American Midwest and plunked it down in Beijing it would look the same. I got a hamburg that was as good as any I could get at home. Linda got a BLT and finally some root beer. She has been looking for root bear ever since we got here and last night she was able to quench her thirst. And than she topped that off with a chocolate ice cream Sunday with a cherry on top. So today she is ready for anything.

When she comes back I will update this and let you know how she is doing.

john and linda in China

Chinese New Year

Being that this is the new year going on and there are festivals going on at most of the temples, we asked the nurse if we could start Linda's iv's later and go out to the festival before. They said no problem so we walked to the Temple of Heaven. This temple was built in 1420, that's before Columbus was even born. When we got there people had already filled the place from end to end. The grounds here are pretty big. The book says 2,700,000 square meters. Remember, an acer is 45,000 square ft. So what they were doing is setting the scene for the Emperor to go on a stroll. Now this guy can't just get up and go out to check the weather, what ever he does has to be a big deal. First comes a bunch of guys with whips to make way. Than followed by about 400 guys with banners in case no one knew who he was. Than another 4 or 5 hundred guys with pikes and swords. Than a few hundred with feathers waving, than more beating drums and gongs and trumpets and than and only than the Emperor comes riding in a chair carried on the shoulders of 10 or so guys. So he gets out, sticks his finger in the air and says it's cold and they all turn around and go back in. We spent about 3 hrs there and had a really good time. I took video's of the whole thing, I being tall could hold my camera over my head and get some good shots of it but the short Chinese could not see a thing, so they all crowded around my camera and looked at the screen to see what was going on. Pretty funny.

Than back to the hospital and the iv's. Linda seems about the same today, not much change but not any back sliding either. After the IV's are done we will go out again and walk. We are walking a couple of hrs a day now and I think that is helping Linda get stronger. Just about all the rooms here are filled now, but I find it strange that all the people don't get together to see what is happening with the other patients. I go around and see how the other patients are doing but no one else does that. Most of them just stay in their rooms the whole time. I make the rounds to see what their symptoms are and how they are doing, but I don't see any one else doing that. When I do go for a visit every one seems happy to see me, but we all don't get together for a gab fest.

Every one should be back by the 14 th, than we can have a meeting and see what they say about Linda getting the lumbar. Either we can come home than or stay longer for more treatment. I talk to Lorna every night and outside of our dog pooping in their new house, every thing seems to be running smooth. I really do feel bad about our dog's bad habits, I told Lorna to keep him outside till he learns the difference. Lorna goes over and feeds the fish in the mornings and Barry and Katie go over in the evening and feed them again. I am so going to owe them big time when we get back. Linda and I are so lucky to have the family support we have. All four of our kids are just the greatest.