Pre-treatment recommendations

Wednesday went to physical therapy and worked on weight training and stretching. I worked out today without my girdle on for the first time. That's me in our hotel room with my constant companion wrapped around my mid section. There are hard knot like places on the left side of my stomach and my right mid-waist area about the size of a very thin cell phone. When I stretch, those areas are painful. I finished my work-out and saw Vicky, the other MS patient undergoing therapy here, in the lobby of the BioFit Center. She watched me put on my girdle and asked why I was still wearing it. I told her Dr. Hernandez told me to wear it for three or four weeks. She said they never gave her any info on the post lipo surgery proceedure. I told her that I had researched mini-lipos before I came here so that I would know what to expect. I also said that I asked a lot of questions of all the doctors whenever I had contact with them. Vicky asked if I had felt anything yet and I said, no. She said that after her intravenous injections her legs went completely numb from the knees down, but that she was feeling all kinds of tingling sensations all over her body. This is Vicky's last week here and I wish her all the best.

For Multiple Sclerosis patients, and this probably holds true for other types of diseases as well, I think it's important to research all avenues of therapy before making a decision on what route you want to take. There are new discoveries happening all the time that might alter the technology used to combat an illness. The day I arrived in Panama I discovered the research on Venous Multiple Sclerosis and after thinking about what they've discovered it makes a lot of sense. For over forty years I lead an active lifestyle from which I suffered several head and back injuries. Perhaps damage to the veins in the back of my head lead to the onset of MS. Another step in my quest for cure will be to investigate this discovery in more depth. Maybe it will be a combination of repairing the damage in my spinal column and brain using stem cells and repairing the damage to the vein using a stint and the MS diet that ultimately brings about a cure. I've witnessed stem cells working almost immediately in the case of Jimmy and have heard reports of diet alone bringing about a complete reversal of symptoms. My focus is to get out from the archiac treatment of injecting drugs that simply treat the symptoms and in the end fail to cure. I can only suggest that people who want to make the decision on how they are treated do the research and make informed decision.


Should a person decide to give stem cells a try there are many things I would recommend that you do before going to Panama or Costa Rica or anywhere else. Again, research liposuction surgery and hip asperation and know what to expect. Get up to date medical records and MRI's, perferably on disk, to give to the doctors where you will be receiving treatment. You will be getting physical therapy as part of the stem cell therapy, so get a head start. My medical insurance covered physical therapy and I was able to begin on a program a month before coming to Panama and before that I worked out in a pool three times a week. Get your diet under control. I highly recommend "The MS Recovery Diet."  book. The BioFit Center has modified when I eat certain foods throughout the day, but at least I was eating the correct foods before I arrived here. The body is a miraculous organism designed to heal itself, but it needs the proper nutrition so that it has the tools to use. Garbage in, garbage out. With the proper tools the stem cells have the optimal environment inwhich to do their work.


There are two other things that I think are important to control and go hand in hand. One is to reduce stress and the other is to be patient. For me it was stressful leaving my Dad, who was in the hospital after cancer surgery, and it was stressful undergoing the lipo surgery and very stressful getting the needles stuck in me. At times I find myself stressing out over the seemingly lack of improvement from the treatments, but I'm continually assured that the stem cells take time to do their job so at the end of the day I find the time to relax and give my body a chance to heal. The doctors here are very open and willing to answer any question to any degree and I think it's important to ask questions. I make a list of questions to ask between appointments and sometimes even ask the same question of more than one doctor.

The questions I have so far for my doctors at our next appointment this coming Friday are: 1) How long before the lumps under the skin of my stomach dissapate? 2) What are the effects of the contrast dye they use with MRI's on stem cells? 3) Are they going to perform a doppler/ultra sound on my bad leg to check the circulation? 4) And why didn't Vicky know how long she had to wear the girdle for?