Third Injection & Grand Place

Things in Thailand are going well, we've settled into a comfortable routine. Our days are filled with Jerry's therapies and our evenings are relaxing watching shows that Jerry has downloaded to his computer, right now it's Falling Skies.

Jerry had his third stem cell injection on Friday, he was a little resistant because it was scheduled to be an IV stem cell injection and he didn't feel anything with his first IV injection. Jerry felt warmth all over his body with the lumbar puncture stem cell injection so he requested the remaining injections all be lumbar injections. I asked that the injection be inserted directly at the sight of injury at the neck, the doctor explained the cells don't work that way. Injecting cells directly at the damaged part of the spinal cord does not ensure that the cells will attach there to repair the damage. I'm not the best at re-conveying technical information but my interpretation of what the doctor said is the body knows where the cells need to be sent to repair damage so the body will draw the cells to the area it's needed regardless of where they are injected. Just like when you cut your finger the body sends cells to repair the damage, it works the same with stem cells the body sends the cells where they are most needed. That's why it's so important to stay healthy and injury free in the first year so the cells will hopefully migrate to the damaged spinal cord as opposed to a cut finger or an infection. The doctor feels that by injecting into the spinal fluid and injecting into the blood stream you are covering all the bases so it's important to do both. After reluctantly agreeing Jerry received the IV and was pleasantly surprised when his body experienced tingling during the injection and for a little more than 24 hours after.  He said it felt like his whole body was tingling. This is very encouraging, like I said before it takes months for the cells to repair damage so there should be no expectation for immediate results but when he immediately feels sensations he has not had before it gives you hope for the future damage repair. Jerry has one more IV injection and four more lumbar injections, I pray he continues to have these encouraging signs that let us know things are happening for the good.

Sunday was our big adventure out into the city, the hospital van took us to the Grand Place & Temple and dropped us off. The distance is not far from the hospital but traffic is insane here so it took us a little over an hour to get to the palace. The ride was a little uncomfortable for Jerry, a lot of the roads are in bad disrepair so it was a very bumpy ride, the driver didn't seem to take into account the wheelchair was bouncing to the point Jerry's head would hit the ceiling he still was flying over the bumps in the road. The driver didn't understand english so Jerry just took it like a trooper and was just excited to be on an outing. We were very glad to see that the sidewalks were accessible for the wheelchair and for the most part they were in good shape, we were off to a good start. Once inside the palace gates we realized it was gonna be an uncomfortable bumpy day for Jerry, the palace and temple grounds were cobble stone. I'm thankful we had an opportunity to go, the palace and temple were very beautiful and a sight to behold but it wasn't very enjoyable for Jerry, we tried to take it slow over the bumpy road but it didn't help much. I have to say I'm so disappointed that one of the greatest points of interest in Thailand the Grand Place & Temple is not handicap friendly. There were only two buildings that allowed entry however not for Jerry because there were stairs and no ramps. The temple was stunning but again Jerry could not go inside because there was no wheelchair access. I left Jerry at the bottom of the stairs for 5 minutes so I could go inside to take pictures at least he could see it in the pics, I got a few pics of the outside and the camera died....go figure, I had charging issues again I'll mention later. We had only been at the palace about an hour and half before Jerry decided we should call the driver to come get us since it will take him an hour to get back. We decided to get off the bumpy cobblestone and cross the street and look for something to eat. We never found a place to eat so decided to be adventurous and eat fried pork on a stick from the street vendor, I figured deep frying has gotta kill anything that could make us sick. It was pretty tasty and we were safe, neither of us got sick. We had a good time walking the street shopping the street vendors, I could do that all day. It took the driver 3 hours to come back to get us, the weather was so hot, Jerry began to get a fever, his body absorbs heat but cannot release it because he doesn't sweat much. Thankfully the vendors did have cold water on ice, we went through several bottles but Jerry's temperature still spiked at 103.4 by the time the driver arrived. Once in the air conditioned van Jerry's temp began to come down and within 3 hours his temp was back to normal. I know it kind of sounds like the outing was a bit of a disaster, but I feel like it was more of an adventure, it was better than sitting in our room all day and honestly Jerry made the best of it, he was very irritable in the first 45 minutes but he decided to make the best of it and that's exactly what he did.

 

I mentioned a charging issue above, resolving it turned into another adventure. Jerry's wheelchair holds a charge for about 2 weeks, it's not been charged since our arrival but was beginning to get low. The wheelchair charger is not like the laptops, it cannot be plugged into the wall. I have the adapter that was on loan from the hospital, which worked fine for charging my camera/phone. I plugged the wheelchair into it on Saturday evening but it only handles up to 80 watts, I don't know how many watts the wheelchair is I couldn't find that info on the charger so I just went for it. I should have know it was not going to handle it, the adapter fried. Luckily the wheelchair had enough charge to get through our Sunday outing but I knew it would die within a few days so Monday was priority to go on a hunt for an adapter large enough to handle the wheelchair charger. Unfortunately since I fried the adapter I couldn't charge the camera for our outing but thankfully I got a few pictures before the camera died. Monday after therapies I got Jerry settled in bed with his computer, the cool thing is his skype works here so if he has a problem he could call me. I left Jerry in the care of the nurses and went out on a hunt for an adapter, I took the train to a mall called MBK, I've never seen anything like it. Seven stories of endless vendors, it was so overwhelming, it's vendors flea market style not like your local mall in the states so looking for a booth in this vast see of vendors that would have an adapter was like finding a needle in a haystack, how I managed to find one had to be divine intervention. The largest one I could find handles 200 watts, I'm still not certain it's large enough but it's working for now. I can charge the chair for about 40 minutes before the adapter over heats. Below are some pictures of MBK....

There is soooooo much cool stuff at this mall and really great prices but it is so overwhelming, I just had to look for what I came for and get the the heck out of there, my brain was on overload.

In a previous post I mentioned the construction going on right next to the hospital. There was an 18 story building they are tearing down, it's now 5 stories. It literally is less than 120 feet between the building and hospital. Yesterday the construction crew dropped something off the building and it hit the wall that separates the two buildings which is right next to the swimming pool below my room, it hit so hard it knocked down a barrier and planter box which landed in the pool. Therapies go on in this pool all day, there must be angels protecting because people had just gotten out of the pool when the big planter flew off the wall and into the pool. There was 1 woman in the pool but the planter missed her and she was not injured. The pool went black from the dirt and obviously aquatic therapies have been canceled for a few days. The pool was drained today and they expect to have it back in operation in a few days. The construction has been an on going legal battle with the construction company and hospital, all the patience are asked to file a complaint to add to their case.

Jerry is due for his second lumbar puncture in about an hour :)

Katie