A glimpse of the future

The alarm went off early on Monday. For me Sunday night had been fairly sleepless. We readied ourselves and met the driver downstairs for our trip to the Stem Cell Institute.  It was the same driver that picked us up at the airport and we later discovered that they try to keep the same driver with us for our entire stay. I had to fast for five hours prior to 8:00 am which I discovered in an e-mail rather than the information packet that they gave me at the airport. Good thing I checked e-mail yesterday or I would not have been aware of this requirement. As it turns out there were lots of errors in the information packet and it was not organized very well for MS patients who tend to have cognizance problems.

The ride to the Institute took 15 minutes and we arrived about 15 minutes early.  Dr. Paz came out and talked to us and I was able to ask him lots of questions regarding the therapy and results. That's me and the Dr. in the Picture. He seemed impressed that I had refused to take disease modifying drugs and had choosen to combat the disease all these years using suppliments and even more recently diet. My concern about being thin and having enough stem cells was alleviated when he informed me that thin people have a higher concentration of stem cells in their fat.  I told him what I had learned about the narrow vien in the neck theory. He said that if that was the cause of MS that stem cells would do what they could to repair the damaged vein as well as the damage in the spinal column. He also agreed that getting healthy was more than just taking stem cells, that it ran the gamut from diet to the right mental attitude and he talked about his vision of growing the Stem Cell Institute into an organization that would encompass all of those things.

I met Ivonne the administrator and Dr. Maria Tribaldos.  Everyone was very nice. Even Maria when she had to take like eight vials of blood. That's Maria taking my blood to the right. I squirmed a bit, but it turned out to be the most painless needle I have ever had stuck into me. Did I tell you that I hate needles. I could tell stories about needles...  like the time I locked my mother out of the car at the Dr's office and refused to let her in because I didn't want to get poked...  and the time I gave the anesthesiologist a right hook when he tried to put me under for my wisdom teeth extraction...   but I digress.  Where were we?  Oh yeah... I really hate needles. I had to overcome a lot to pay so much money to come down to Panama and get stuck with needles so many times.

We went over the schedule and Ivonne corrected the anomolies in the paperwork that I was given at the airport. They gave us a cell phone to use while we are in Panama along with all the numbers to call if we had a question or problems. Dr Paz did a few physical tests and took my MRI's and medical info that I brought with me. In all the appointment lasted less than two hours. The driver took us back to the hotel and we had the rest of the day off. 

John and I walked down the street and stopped in a local restaurant for lunch then went back to the hotel for a siesta.  Later we went down and worked out in the nicely appointed workout room and then went for a swim. Tonight I begin another fast and we have to wake up early and go the plastic surgeon for liposuction.  I guess that could be an added benefit of stem cell therapy, but I understand it is the most painful part of the process. I did not confirm this, but I believe they freeze some of my stem cells. If I need to come back at some future date for a follow up treatment they will have stem cells on hand and not have to do the lipo again.


Today they took my blood and tomorrow they take my fat. I will be glad when tomorrow is over.