So Far, So Good

The second lumbar puncture/stem cell is progressing; cross your fingers that it stays that way! At least from an unscientific perspective, my energy level seems a bit better. I was cautioned though not to overtire myself. Is this the stem cells at work? Or is it the very intense physical therapy? Hard to say.

One observation I made may help others avoid the headaches from the lumbar puncture. Of course this is purely anecdotal but you never know. When the hospital administers the lumbar puncture, you are instructed to lie flat on your back for six hours WITHOUT a pillow. Your spine (at least from the shoulders up) is straight.

During the evening when we had asked a nurse for guidance to empty my bladder (I was given a portable urinal for this purpose) she suggested that I could be flipped onto my side (with a pillow supporting my back) but that I should keep my head straight as before.

I took this to mean that it is important to keep the spine from the shoulders through the neck straight. Thus as a preventative measure, I went to bed flat on my back without a pillow. I still turned my head now and then as this doesn't seem to disturb the spine. Again thus far, no headaches.

One other item Lily had mentioned in the comments section of the previous post was that a red swelling has appeared mysteriously on my hand (where the IV was placed) after I emerged from stem cell injection yesterday. There is an update to this.

This photo was taken from Wednesday evening right after the stem cell injection. Since then, the swelling has gone down and the discoloration is less severe and now it is just discolored. There was never any pain or loss of function. The consensus by Doctors Yang (senior), Guo (Beike), Lee (PT) and Ye (OT) was that this was not associated with the stem cell procedures (my knuckle was not affected and it is in between the site of the discoloration and the IV entry point). Instead, the more likely culprit is that this was a delayed reaction to an acupuncture needle that was introduced to my hand just this week. More importantly, it'll probably go away on its own as it seems to be doing.

Pray for no complications with either the lumbar puncture or the hand discoloration. The next scheduled stem cell injection is via IV next Monday afternoon.