Monday, October 09, 2006
It's funny how people don't listen to the rules here. There are rules, but how to enforce them is an issue. There is NO SMOKING at the hospital but they still smoke. I was furious yesterday because the Europeans were huffing and puffing on our floor, right next to my room!!! I was furious... The staff is trying to address the situation. But, it's hard for them to tell their "clients" or client's family members to not smoke, or "get out." They want to please everyone, including the smoker clients I guess. So, they put up a no smoking sign in the balcony right outside my door. AND GUESS WHAT? The Europeans move down the hallway to the other balcony to smoke or in kitchen or out the window! So far the situation is not completely resolved; the problem is just swept under the rug to temporarialy diffuse my frustration. So, my friends who are about to take their kids to Shenzhen for treatment. Please support me in this fight against smoking on the stem cell floor. I need each of you to email KIRSHNER, JON, and GRACE and tell them it's completely unacceptable for people to be allowed to smoke anywhere on the 14th floor. The air quality is affected. My son and I have allergies, especially to smoking. I came here for my son's treatment, NOT SO WE CAN GET SECOND HAND SMOKING DISEASES!!! We all sacrifice ourselves to be here, for the treatment of ourselves or our family member. However, some people just think about themselves and their addiction, and don't care about the patients health here!!! Potential future stem cells business is important to this hospital and Beike Int'l, so please tell them you are behind me on this issue and that you would consider other options if they don't fix this problem. No, not mask the problem like they do now. FIX IT COMPLETELY!!!!!
--------------------BACK to LUKAS'S STEM CELL TREATMENT BLOG----------------
It's Tuesday morning right now. Lukas has a great day yesterday. He was fine and happy until he got the stem cell treatment through IV. He was screaming so much for about 20 minutes (the time it took for all the liquids to drip into his wrist by IV). I think from now on we will just go in the spinal injection. He will be sedated and it will be a quick in and out thing... We won't have to hear him scream so much!
First the nurse put the IV in; then she injected a small amount of clear liquids. I was told this liquid is to help the body accep the stem cell and prevent reactions. Then the IV is connected to a small bag of yellow liquids. This bag contains NGF (nerve growth factor) mixed with stem cells. Then, she connected the IV to a bag with saline (to wash the tubes so Lukas will get every little drop of the yellow liquids). The IV was done at 4PM. Afterwards, I feed Lukas dinner and he slept all the way until 11 PM. He stayed up until 1 AM and slept again until 6 AM. Overall, we did not see any reactions or anything different about him. He seemed completely fine and happy. Improvements you ask? Not so soon!!! :) I was told it will take 1 1/2 weeks for you to see results. So I'll report than when I see anything different about Lukas.
Before the injection, the physical therapy doctor (yes, here you have to be a doctor to do physical therapy) did a baseline evaluation for Lukas. He got only a handful of pluses (they put a + if you ca do certain things, and - if you can't) such as lifting his head up okay, vocalizing a bit, etc. The checklist had about 100 questions of Lukas's abilities, and he only got about 5 plus signs. So we will see at the end of the treatment if Lukas will get more pluses. :) hehehe
Yesterday, I did not go out much because I wanted to be around Lukas the whole day. However, I did go grocery shopping because I've been making stews for Lukas. He seems to really like it alot. I bought a crock pot two days ago and it's been really useful. I would prepare the meats and veggies at night, throw it in the crock pot, and by morning there will be a nice stew waiting for Lukas to eat breakfast with. It's good food for him since all the restaurants here us alot of MSG in their foods.
It's been kinda hectic because I want to familiarize myself with everything around the hospital and neighborhood. It's really frustrating trying to get things done in a timely matter since no one can help you find stuff and you have to wonder about the store yourself. But I'm getting it done that's for sure. :) Rita, I can help you when you get here this Saturday. :)
Just a few things I wanted to add for those travelling to Shenzhen:
1 - They don't accep tips.
2 - Leave your credit card at home. Even the big stores won't accept your credit cards; or maybe they don't want to. Everything is cash only, unless you have a local credit card.
3 - Cars do not yield for you. You yield to them. I almost got ran over a couple times cuz I didn't see the cars driving illegally. Actually, here, there's no such thing as driving illegally because you can drive ANY way you want and it's okay. You got people making U-turns, stopping in the middle of an expressway to let passengers off or pick them up, trying to run over pedestrians when we have a "green walk sign" right of way... They don't care, they just beep you no matter who has the right of way. :) Cars and people every where.
--------------------BACK to LUKAS'S STEM CELL TREATMENT BLOG----------------
It's Tuesday morning right now. Lukas has a great day yesterday. He was fine and happy until he got the stem cell treatment through IV. He was screaming so much for about 20 minutes (the time it took for all the liquids to drip into his wrist by IV). I think from now on we will just go in the spinal injection. He will be sedated and it will be a quick in and out thing... We won't have to hear him scream so much!
First the nurse put the IV in; then she injected a small amount of clear liquids. I was told this liquid is to help the body accep the stem cell and prevent reactions. Then the IV is connected to a small bag of yellow liquids. This bag contains NGF (nerve growth factor) mixed with stem cells. Then, she connected the IV to a bag with saline (to wash the tubes so Lukas will get every little drop of the yellow liquids). The IV was done at 4PM. Afterwards, I feed Lukas dinner and he slept all the way until 11 PM. He stayed up until 1 AM and slept again until 6 AM. Overall, we did not see any reactions or anything different about him. He seemed completely fine and happy. Improvements you ask? Not so soon!!! :) I was told it will take 1 1/2 weeks for you to see results. So I'll report than when I see anything different about Lukas.
Before the injection, the physical therapy doctor (yes, here you have to be a doctor to do physical therapy) did a baseline evaluation for Lukas. He got only a handful of pluses (they put a + if you ca do certain things, and - if you can't) such as lifting his head up okay, vocalizing a bit, etc. The checklist had about 100 questions of Lukas's abilities, and he only got about 5 plus signs. So we will see at the end of the treatment if Lukas will get more pluses. :) hehehe
Yesterday, I did not go out much because I wanted to be around Lukas the whole day. However, I did go grocery shopping because I've been making stews for Lukas. He seems to really like it alot. I bought a crock pot two days ago and it's been really useful. I would prepare the meats and veggies at night, throw it in the crock pot, and by morning there will be a nice stew waiting for Lukas to eat breakfast with. It's good food for him since all the restaurants here us alot of MSG in their foods.
It's been kinda hectic because I want to familiarize myself with everything around the hospital and neighborhood. It's really frustrating trying to get things done in a timely matter since no one can help you find stuff and you have to wonder about the store yourself. But I'm getting it done that's for sure. :) Rita, I can help you when you get here this Saturday. :)
Just a few things I wanted to add for those travelling to Shenzhen:
1 - They don't accep tips.
2 - Leave your credit card at home. Even the big stores won't accept your credit cards; or maybe they don't want to. Everything is cash only, unless you have a local credit card.
3 - Cars do not yield for you. You yield to them. I almost got ran over a couple times cuz I didn't see the cars driving illegally. Actually, here, there's no such thing as driving illegally because you can drive ANY way you want and it's okay. You got people making U-turns, stopping in the middle of an expressway to let passengers off or pick them up, trying to run over pedestrians when we have a "green walk sign" right of way... They don't care, they just beep you no matter who has the right of way. :) Cars and people every where.
# posted by Lukas Stem Cell @ 4:26 PM 
