More Stem Cell Improvements and Medical Miracles

As I rise early today (yes, again), I can feel from my room that the streets are wet. The smell of Indian rain seeps in my windows. It’s a distinct scent -- not good or bad. It’s just there. Last night brought thunderstorms that rattled and lit the skies. I watched through a gap in my curtains waiting for it to subside so I could fall back asleep. Instead, I stayed awake listening to howling dogs and the occassional tuk-tuk whiz by until sunlight. The horn-honking on the street today is at an all-time low. My world has that kind of “earthquake weather” feeling that makes you uneasy, but is too superstitious to actually consider as a threat.

I found out yesterday that I will be having a spinal procedure, most likely next week. This is a mega dose of stem cells injected into my spinal chord. As opposed to the intramuscular shots and IV’s, the doctors can aim for certain results and have a good chance of getting them. Depending on where they inject, the stem cells will affect specific functions in my body. I have to go to the older hospital for the procedure, which has a totally different feel than this newer one in Green Park (and not only because there is no Internet or flat screen T.V.). I love to see Dr. Shroff over there as I can tell that hospital is her “baby.” She glows a little extra over there; smiles a little wider; and seems a little more at home. Dr. Ashish will be performing the procedure, along with the help of the operating theater technicians. I have absolute confidence in Dr. Ashish and not a worry enters my mind when my care is in his hands. If it is possible to be completely calm right before a needle is inserted into your spine; he has the best chance of making that happen.

Although I left most of my symptoms and my pain-ridden life in Delhi on my last trip, there were and still are a few things that I know need some more improvement. Some of them are so small that unless I’m looking, I don’t even recognize are there.

Yesterday while laying on the bed in physio doing my leg exercises, I realized that I don't request Chavi turn off the lights above me anymore. For years, certain types of lights have been too much for my sensitive eyes to handle. Light and noise sensitivity are a huge problem for many Chronic Lyme Disease patients. Some even wear sunglasses indoors at all times to shield their eyes from any brightness. Last trip here, I literally couldn’t be exposed to that type of light without feeling nearly blinded and extremely agitated. Now, the all-too-bright fluorescent lights stare me in the face with almost no consequence. Oh, how the little things in life can be so big sometimes.

In addition to the light sensitivity being greatly diminished, I had a huge sign that my immune system is starting to fight its own battles. Right before I left California, some routine tests showed I was positive for a specific type of pneumonia -- one with a fancy name that didn’t matter to me, especially since I had no symptoms. Leave it to me to be walking around with pneumonia and be completely oblivious to it. I went on a run-of-the-mill antibiotic to help clear the infection. Normally, I would do this with no results, end up with some random complication, have to get breathing treatments, etc. When I got to India, I had a doctor listen to my lungs. There was fluid in the right lung. Only three days later, another doctor listened again and the fluid is near gone. My immune system has been, for the last years, like the little engine that couldn’t. It would try so hard, only to exhaust me in the process of failing its mission. But, I am now the proud owner of the immune system that could; and does.

My morning stem cell IV shot gave me a larger dose than usual and I was going strong until just a couple of hours ago as dinner time closed in. This morning Chavi added yet more to my physio routine and I rode a stationary bike after my daily exercises. I watched the excitement build as one patient stood and took steps in calipers for the first time ever. When he was done, he rolled over to me in his wheelchair and excitedly told me that his thighs were twitching for the first time since he became paralyzed. Another paralyzed girl today is moving her feet after an injury three years ago left her with no feeling in her legs. A man suffering from an extremely rare muscle disease (with statistics that are literally 1 in a million) showed a 20% improvement in a muscle enzyme test that shows damage of muscles throughout his body. He is reversing the irreversible! And last but not least, a Chronic Lyme Disease patient, after only two weeks here, has achieved normal white blood cell counts for the first time since at least 2005 (that’s when he starting keeping track).

I make mental notes of how incredibly special this is. I am almost afraid that I will become desensitized because miracles here are so prevalent, that they have become the rule and not the exception. Imagine; life where miracles are the rule.

Roaming around a market in the suffocating heat of the afternoon has gotten to me. I am plopped on my bed in my jammies after a shower to wash away the stickiness of the city. My room here at Nu Tech has become my little haven. It is home to the simplest of things: my pink fuzzy slippers, snacks galore that my food angel from home has so perfectly packed, and an air conditioning unit that works thanklessly to keep me cool. I have in comparison to home, almost nothing; and still, virtually everything.

This is India. Land of the rich and land of the poor. A place where everything seemingly impossible is anything but.

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Some pictures from the trip to the market

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About Amy B. Scher

A passionate author, pioneering patient, and sassy spirit with just enough sweetness to get me by, I live by my self-created motto: when life kicks your ass, kick back.Amy B. Scher's profile Amy B. Scher's blog