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Costa Rica Blog The Menzies family's blog about the Costa Rica trip with daily updates and photographs. You can see larger photos from the trip in the Costa Rica Photo Album.  Day One -- January 6, 2008
Hi, everyone.
Well, after a long day of flights and finally getting situated at our hotel (they thought we weren't coming so it was a bit confusing) we are settled and looking forward to a good week.
The pictures are of the Paradise Inn, which is situated on a hillside above San Jose. It is very beautiful and we have a wonderful view of the valley below and the mountains across the valley. There is greenery everywhere and lots of beautiful flowering plants for color.
Please see the pictures and enjoy the view that Jordanne will be seeing every time she comes out of her door.
Thanks for all of your love and support and please send up good, positive thoughts for us this week.
Steve, Cathie, Jordanne and Deb
 Day Two -- January 7, 2008
Hi, Everyone.
Today was an exciting day, lots of encouraging and hopeful news. Jordanne had her first meeting with the Institute of Cellular Medicine where they drew blood and will spend the next 36 hours testing it for compatibility.
The doctor there sent us to the hospital to meet with their physical therapy department to start working on that aspect for continuing therapy once we return home. They are VERY pro-active and have a wonderful attitude of positive thinking and a "no-negative thoughts" approach to therapy.
Before we were to be at the clinic and hospital we had enough time to visit a local butterfly farm. It was so educational and very beautiful. Their mission is to educate the public about the whole process as well as to 'harvest' butterflies in the cocoon stage for sale to other farms.
We have been experiencing the local cuisine for our meals and are 'trying' to learn bits and pieces of the language. (some of us are getting it better than others ;o)
Please enjoy the pictures of the Institute and the Butterfly Garden.
Steve, Cathie, Jordanne and Deb
 Day 3 -- January 8, 2008
Hey.
Well here we are again. We went to physical therapy prior to her first injection. They really know what it takes here to make the muscles move and to show Jord that she can move more then she thought before. They stimulate the muscles using ice and touch, this sends the signal up the spinal cord in hopes of that the body will make attempts to repair the damage. It is very important for patients to use physical therapy even if you have been told that you will never have the use of your limbs again. The brain needs this stimulus in order to send the cells to the injured area for repairs, also to retrain the brain to control the muscles. Now that stem cells are being introduced into the body it is even more important to have physical therapy.
Jord received her first injection by IV (see photo above) and today she will recieve her injection in to the spinal cord fluid.
Thank You for your thoughts and prayers, we are very positive of the results that are coming.
Jord, Steve, Cathie, and Deb   Day 4 -- January 9, 2008
Hi, everyone.
Today was a very exciting day. Jord had her first spinal drip of stem cells. It took the doctor 7 attemps at finding the right spot but he finally did and it only took a few minutes to inject the cells.
We have been very impressed with the physical therapy done at the hospital. The therapists and supervisors all take a positive approach to being able to move again. We didn't find that at Craig Hospital in Denver though. They seemed to just want to educate you on being a quad and not make any effort toward moving again.
Jord has quite a terrible headache after the treatment and has been taking lots of Tylenol with Codine so she's very tired as well.
Jord says, "The physical therapy does feel very good and it makes my blood flow better." If you are someone who does physical therapy, do it consistently and don't stop. There will be something good that comes of it.
The pictures for today are from the spinal injections.
Keep sending up those good thoughts and prayers.
The Menzies
Day 7 -- January 12, 2008
Hey from beautiful and warm Costa Rica.
If it wasn't for the fact that it is really nice here we would not want to leave but we do miss home and are ready to come back.
Jord's last treatment was both an IV and spinal tap injections. She has experienced severe headaches from the two spinal injections, but no other side effects.
She was a bit frustrated on Friday with the physical therapy, but feels that this is just normal as she so wants to move something again.
We have no new pics at this time and no other news to report. Jord will do a review of the facility and other information that will be very helpful to others that are considering coming here for medical treatments.
We thank you all for your support and prayers.
See you home on Sunday night.
Costa Rica Trip Wrap Up -- January 14, 2008
Hi, everyone.
Well we got home last night and have spent the day getting back into the 'groove' of things. We wanted to do a wrap up of the week and let you all know how much we appreciate your thoughts, prayers, and good wishes.
All in all, the week was good and the procedures were not too terrible for Jord. She did have lots of pain and headaches from the injections into her spine, but that is to be expected when you mess with the fluid levels around the spine. Jord knew this ahead of time and was somewhat prepared for it.
Now, it is just a matter of Jord doing LOTS and LOTS of physical therapy to get her muscles, nerve endings, and brain to all 'communicate' that she WILL be moving her arms, hands, legs and feet. She will be doing a lot of mental therapy as well to let her body know that she is in charge now!!! She has to prepare her body and mind to get ready to let the new, healthy stem cells go and do their thing!
There really is no 'set' time frame for all of this necessarily -- just a matter of how she prepares her body and how well the new little guys do their job. There is a degree of unknown with how much permanent damage has been done over the past 4 years, but this is all so new that there really isn't a true precedent yet.
For now, we'll leave this site like this but will update on a regular basis, every month or so, unless something really cool happens sooner, and just keep you abreast of Jord's progress.
Please feel free to contact Jordanne through this site if you have any questions, comments or thoughts about her stem cell treatments or her everyday life, she would love to hear from you.
Steve, Cathie, Jordanne and Deb Menzies
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