A Day in the Jungle

Sunday was a special day as it was Scott’s birthday. Plus, this was our last weekend here. So, for our last adventure here I decided to take Scott on a trip through the jungles of Costa Rica. All Scott wanted for his birthday was to see some monkeys in the wild! The trip was amazing! The area we were headed to was on the Atlantic side, which is also on the Caribbean. It is a 3 ½ hour drive to the coast that takes you through rain forests. Our driver (guide) was extremely knowledgeable about Costa Rica and its history. The place we went is called Tortuguero. Tortuguero is a small village surrounded by canals, or rivers. The village is only accessible by boat. Once we got to the boat on the Tortuguero canals it was about a 2 ½ hour trip to the village. Along the way we saw lots of neat animals including a crocodile, spider monkeys, Jesus Christ lizards (the ones that run on the water with their back feet), white faced monkeys, and even bats. The monkey families we saw were great. They were running around and leaping from tree to tree without a care in the world. There were also a couple of babies hanging on tight to their mom's backs. The river and jungle was so secluded that we felt like we were explorers seeing this land for the first time, it was incredible.

We got to the town of Tortuguero and had a wonderful Costa Rican lunch at one of the small resorts there. After lunch we headed to the beach on the Atlantic side. Tortuguero is located on a small strip of land with the ocean on one side and the river on the other. We were able to walk/wheel from the river to the ocean in about ten minutes. Tortuguero is also known for its turtle nesting grounds. September is the end of the season where turtles come up on shore at night and lay their eggs. While walking on the beach (thank goodness for my off road tires) we saw several nests and even a fresh set of tracks from where a turtle had headed back to the ocean the night before.

Then it was back on the boat and another 2 ½ hour trip back to the van. We took different canals on the way back and saw a lot more animals including a sloth, a huge iguana (probably 6 feet long and fat), another family of spider monkeys, several birds, and a caiman. On the way back we also saw another Jesus Christ lizard and the guide was able to get him to run on the water. It was over in an instant, but really cool to see!

We got back in the van and had a 3 ½ hour drive back to San Jose. It was a long day, but well worth the trip. Scott could not have asked for a more memorable birthday!

Here comes a few of the cool pictures we took!

This is a banana plantation. They were everywhere. The bananas are covered by the blue bags.

This boa constrictor was road kill on the way up. Poor thing.

Here is the boat that took us through the canal and jungle.

We were amazed to see the variety of vegetation which included a lot of palm trees and canopy trees, and vines mixed together.

Here is the crocodile.

One of the many spider monkey we saw. We were told that when the villagers weren't looking, the spider monkeys would steal their stuff like bags or lunches.


Look at the bottom of the picture for the white faced monkey. These were very close and at eye level. We were told that it is rare to see them this close. They were very playful.

Here is another shot look closely in the vines.

This is one of the several Jesus Christ lizards we saw. They are called this because they run on the water with their back feet.

A shot of one of the canals we went down.

Look close. These are bats hanging upside down on the trunk of a tree.

Here is part of the village of Tortuguero.

This is our boat parked for lunch.

Look closely and you will see a couple of turtle nests from the nesting grounds. The sand on this coast is black because it is formed by volcanic rock.

This is a cool coconut tree.

One of the iguanas we saw. This one was small at about 3 feet long. Not coming close to the big one we saw in the trees.

Here we are on the Caribbean coast.

There were lots of turkey voltures around, we felt right at home!

Here is the sloth hanging upside down. It didn't move the whole time we watched it.

The jungle is beautiful. We are so thankful for such a great day.

Ups & Downs

Trish woke up to her worst nerve pain day so far. It was hard to get motivated for therapies and treatment today. Usually when her nerve pain escalates like this it is an indication that her body is fighting something, usually an infection. She has had a sore throat for the last couple of days so we called the Dr. and asked if they would take a look at her while we were at the hospital.

Therapy went good. They spent a lot of time stretching due to the increase in nerve pain and spasms. Then it was back to work on her core strength and balance. Trish’s core and balance are really improving. We are really starting to notice some changes. The greatest is that the muscles all down her back are working! She still doesn’t feel them when I touch them, but when she flexes they are starting to flex all down her back and sides! She is so excited to have these working and to start getting them stronger so she can sit up straighter. She also had a very different feeling down her abdominal muscles today. She said it is hard to explain, but that she feels them working from the inside all the way down to her belly button! We can also start to feel small contractions 2 abs lower than normal. This is all very great and exciting progress!

The second hour of therapy was spent in the pool. They do a lot of the same exercises as on the mat and standing up, but everything is easier since there is less resistance. Trish enjoyed it, but prefers working outside of the pool. I took a lot of video so that we can continue this therapy in our pool once we get home.

After therapy it was off to another injection. Dr. Thomas also looked at Trish’s throat. You know it isn’t good when the Dr. says, “Oh, wow, that’s bad.” So she has strep and they gave her antibiotics to kick it. The injection went fine, plus she got another IV treatment. There was some confusion with the drivers so we ended up sitting in the hospital for an hour longer than we were supposed to, but Trish was still laying down so it wasn’t that big of a deal. We got home and she did her 5 hours of rest and then sat up with no headache. She felt sick and achy so she just went to bed for the night.

We are planning on hanging around the hotel on Saturday and maybe later going downtown to the shops and market. Most of Trish and I want to make sure she gets lots of rest to get better so she can finish with a strong last week! If she feels OK on Sunday we are planning on heading to the Atlantic side of the country. This is on the Caribbean and is suppose to be a very dense rain forest with lots of wildlife.

Out for a swim!

Thursday was a therapy day. They again worked Trish very hard. She spent a lot of time standing in the walker again. This time I got to help a lot both holding her knees and supporting her back. She felt very comfortable standing and was having an easier time finding her position. This allows her to take some pressure off her arms. She is still working on putting more weight on her legs, focusing on tightening her legs, abs, and butt, while relaxing her arms and shoulders. That’s a lot to think about! She also got to work with a new therapist, Angie. We really liked Angie, she is tough!

After therapy Trish had a dentist appointment. As soon as we stepped out to go to the dentist, the skies really opened up and it started pouring rain! It looked like we would swim to the dentist today! I got Trish loaded into the cab literally standing in a river that was running down the street. By the time I got her wheelchair taken apart and loaded into the trunk of the cab it looked like I had gotten out of a pool with all my clothes on. Just part of the experience I guess. It was raining so hard that it was difficult to see out of the windshield, plus the windows were foggy so Trish was constantly wiping it with a rag for the driver so he could see. We got to the dentist and it was still pouring, so getting Trish up the 2 flights of stairs was interesting, but of course we got it done. The dentist staff was again so nice. They got us towels to dry off and once Trish was in the dentist chair they put her chair under a hand dryer to dry off the seat cushion. The rain stopped as quickly as it had started and the rest of the evening was very nice.

Trish wanted me to say hi to everyone and thank you for all your thoughts and prayers. She also wanted to give a special shout out to Mrs. Ehlers’ homeroom class who has been following the blog daily!

Another day

Wednesday was yet another therapy and injection day. We had an early schedule so it was therapy from 9:00 to 11:00 and then an injection t 12:00. Everything went well. Trish stood up in a walker today and looked great! She felt very comfortable this time and I even got the chance to help her stand later in the session by locking her knees for her. I love it when I get to participate in the therapies. The therapist supporting her back is Catalina, who is one of our favorites.

The injection went just fine. Back at the hotel she did her 5 hours of rest, which went pretty fast this time and then got up for dinner and a movie in our room. That’s all for now!

Turtle Island

Trish was feeling good and we had the day off Tuesday so we headed to the beach for the day. We went to a place called Turtle Island and it was amazing. We had a chance to go snorkeling while we were there. This was the first time that Trish had tried to go since she got hurt. They took us out in a little boat and we snorkeled around a small island. The attitudes of everyone here continue to amaze me. We are use to having to talk people into letting us try things like this, but here they have the attitude that sure you can go and we’ll just figure it out! We saw lots of colorful fish and Trish had no problems at all and loved it. Getting back in the boat in the middle of the ocean was a little challenging, but really not that big of a deal. We just hung out on the beach the rest of the day and relaxed! It was a great day!

Here she is, excited to go to Turtle Island, looking beautiful!

Here is Turtle Island from the distance

This is the beach we were headed to

View from our chairs on the beach


Here we are in the ocean. This is the boat that took us snorkeling. You can also see the small island that we snorkeled around.


What a view. You can see the beach chairs that we hung out in.

Here we are, relaxing on the beach with our friend Gael.

Half Way!

Well. Here we are, half way through the treatment. Monday was another “typical” therapy and injection day. The first hour was spent on stretching and movement. I got another good video of Trish kicking her leg:

The movement of her legs is still exciting to see. However, we do keep it in perspective and realize that a lot more muscles need to connect in order for her to be able to move her legs in any other position other than lying on a mat with minimal resistance. She still does not have any movement while she is just sitting in her chair. Of course we hold out hope that through therapy and the stem cell treatments this will change!

She stood in the parallel bars again today, but it was with different therapists whose technique for helping her was different. This made it a lot more difficult for Trish and a lot more tiring. Still, it is good to see her stand up.

The therapy sessions here are really intense both mentally and physically. Trish is sure glad that she started therapy at the Neuro Institute in Tempe a few weeks before coming to Costa Rica. The Dr.'s here continue to stress the importance of continuing therapy when Trish gets home and she is looking forward to working with her therapists there too.

Trish’s nerve pain and muscle spasm were up again today, but we are taking this as a good sign that things are starting to try and reconnect.

The injection went fine. They seem to have issue with getting an IV into Trish, which they have to do about once a week. Today was one of those days and it took a couple of tries to get it in. Today Trish got a back injection and an IV injection of stem cells. You know the routine, back to the hotel for the 5 hours of rest to let those stem cells start working!

Tuesday, 9/15/09 is Costa Rica’s Independence Day. Nobody works so we get the day off. If Trish is feeling well, we are planning on going to a little island they call Turtle Island. It's called this because of the shape of the island, not because there are lots of turtles on it. Anyway, it looks like a tropical paradise with white sand beaches and all.

Trish is up with no headache following her injection so it looks like we are headed to the beach tomorrow to relax!

Off to the Beach!

Well today the sun was shining and it was beautiful out so we rented a car and headed off to Jaco Beach. This is a very popular place to go on the Pacific Coast. We drove about 2 ½ hours to get there. It was a beautiful drive through the mountains and the rainforest. We saw some beautiful waterfalls along the way.



When we got there we went straight out to the water. Scott put on my mountain bike tires before we left so I can go a lot more places. The beach was sandy but also had lots of small rocks mixed in with the sand. Because of this, Scott was able to wheel me right out to the water. Wow! The water was nice. It felt as warm as our pool in the summer.








There were some guys renting surf boards and I told Scott he should go. He had surfed once before when he was a teenager and loved it. He was excited and found out that he could go out for 2 hours and have lessons along the way. The waves were big today. They were about 5 to 6 feet tall. He loved it and did great. It was so much fun watching him. The weather was beautiful. It actually got a little warm today. We got some sun and it was nice.

Look at the cute little surfer boy!

After surfing we went up and down the street and looked at the shops. It was fun. Later we went to lunch and my temporary front tooth fell out! Oh my! I sure look goofy without it! Scott wanted me to post a picture but I said no way! :) (Remember that I decided to finally get my crown replaced since it is so much cheaper here.) Well, at least we were almost done at the beach anyway.

As we drove home it started raining. The clouds were low and the fog crept in too. We had to drive home surrounded by fog. We sure couldn’t see far. It was much like being in the middle of an Arizona dust storm. We stopped at a little coffee shop that a friend recommended that overlooked the ocean and the rain forest. We only saw fog out the windows, but the company was still nice.

Past this fog is the ocean and there is a big canyon in the middle of the rain forest below it.

When Scott returned the car, I called my dentist Dr. Marco to let him know about my tooth. He was so nice and upset that it came out that he wanted to come right over to our hotel to put it back in for me. It was late and I didn’t want him to have to come right in the middle of his Saturday night. He said he would have trouble sleeping knowing that I needed my tooth fixed, but we agreed that he could come in the morning. He came over after getting home from church with his family and I’m no longer toothless. :) Like Scott said before. The care from the doctors & dentists is amazing. Could you imagine getting a house call on a Sunday morning in the US?

I miss the boys sooooooooooo much! It is so hard being away from them this long. The longest I have ever been away from them before was one week. We get to talk to them each day using Skype on the webcam. It’s fun being able to see them. They’re both happy and doing good in school and having lots of fun with football. This is both of their 1st years playing tackle football. They love it. I can’t wait to be able to give them big hugs again.

Here is a picture from a camping trip this summer.

We just stayed around the hotel on Sunday. My nerve pain was very intense today. For those of you who don’t know, even though I can’t feel from the chest down I have constant burning/tingling nerve pain below my injury line that varies in intensity, but that has been there every day since my injury. The doctors say that this could be a good sign of the nerves trying to heal. I have talked to a few other spinal cord injury patients who have had stem cell treatment and most of them said that their nerve pain got worse before it got better. One of my biggest hopes is for it to go away.

We were able to watch a little football today, but the announcers where in Spanish! We also decided to go up to the park. We got a light rain while we were out. I have learned to take my umbrella with me everywhere since the weather can change so fast.Well I’m getting ready for a busy week with more physical therapy and three injections. Bye for now.

Saturday

Just wanted to put up a quick post to let everyone know that Trish is up and feeling good after having her bone marrow aspiration and another injection on Friday. So, we are off to the beach for a nice relaxing day! Have a great weekend everyone!

Catching up!

Sorry for not posting for the last couple of days, but things have been really busy. First, let me say that we have been overwhelmed by the response to the videos! It's an awesome thing to see and we are so happy and excited that it is touching so many people. I will try to get new video as often as possible!

Wednesday was another therapy and injection day. This time Trish had therapy early in the morning followed by an injection around 12:30. Therapy was very intense again working on moving her legs, strengthening her core, and working on balance. She worked extremely hard and was completely spent by the end of the therapy. This was also Trish's first time standing with the parallel bars. She has one person locking her knees and and another supporting her from behind. Doesn't she look great?




The injection at this time of day made it more difficult for Trish to go home and do her 5 hour rest period. She was up right at the 5 hour mark and continued her streak of no headache! We decided that we prefer the late afternoon injections so that Trish can just plan on spending the rest of the night in bed.

Thursday started with me getting caught up on some laundry. Lucky for Trish the washer and dryer is down stairs so I just had to do it! She always does the laundry at home and she is the one working so hard here that she definitely deserves the break! Then we were off to therapy. They continue to push Trish farther and farther each session and it is great, she loves it! Her muscles were definitely tired as the movements were smaller today, but she was still impressive. They had her stand again between the parallel bars. This time they did it with just 2 people, one to lock her knees and the other to put pressure on her hips. They worked with her quite a bit on standing. They would start by getting her up and getting her knees locked. Then the person behind her would slowly release the pressure on her hips until she had completely let go. At this point Trish was standing with only the help of having her knees locked! Then Trish would slowly relax her shoulders and arms and take as much pressure off her hands as she could. At times she would just be lightly touching the bars for balance, it was an awesome sight. It was also very impressive to see her as her body would start to shift out of position; she was able to bring it back into line on her own. The therapist said that they were seeing some really good contractions in her muscles. Here she is!

Look at the determined look on her face and that great posture!

The director of the therapy facility has also taken an interest in Trish. She talked to us for quite a while after therapy Thursday. She was very encouraging saying that she is confident that Trish is going to do great! She is very encouraged by the amount of contractions that Trish is having in her muscle and she just knows that great things are ahead for Trish! We have heard several stories of a guy down here named Juan Carlos who was injured about 18 months ago, had his spinal cord severed, received the stem cell treatment and therapy and is now able to walk. We got to meet him after therapy! I must admit when we heard the stories we pictured him in leg braces struggling to walk with a walker or something along those lines. To our amazement he walks completely on his own and looks “normal”. He uses canes/crutches for some balance, but this is more of a precaution than a necessity. We were absolutely amazed and inspired by him. He did get his stem cell treatment sooner after his injury than Trish is, but I can’t explain how great it is to meet this success story in person! Here is a picture of Trish and Juan Carlos.




After therapy we were off to another appointment. Since we have been down here we have heard that the dental care is exceptional and very inexpensive. Trish has needed some dental work for quite some time now (a new crown) so we decided to look into it. Well, it is at least 1/3 of the cost that she has been quoted back in the states. We decided that now she can get it done. This dental office has lots of American patients. Many of them fly down here just for the excellent treatment at a very low price. We were comforted when we walked in, the waiting room was full of Americans. So, the rest of our limited free time is going to be spent at the dentist! At least they have comfortable chairs in the waiting room! The dentist is very nice and accommodating and we continue to be impressed by the level of care in Costa Rica! We didn’t leave the dentist until nearly 7:00 Thursday night so we grabbed a quick bite to eat, headed home, and crashed!

Friday is a big hospital day for us. I haven’t mentioned this part before because we wanted to get all the details ironed out. When we met with Dr. Riordon (the head of ICM) last week he asked if we would be interested in trying some bone marrow stem cell treatments in addition to the cord blood treatments. He explained that they have had good success in other clinics in other countries using bone marrow stem cells on spinal cord injury patients and that they have been contemplating adding it to the spinal cord injury protocol here. They have also been successfully using bone marrow stem cells here at ICM to treat traumatic brain injuries as well as diabetes, among other things. There are no negative side effects from this treatment and it will be done in addition to the 8 cord blood injections and 4 cord blood stem cell IV’s. So we said YES! We are so excited to be the first to try this at ICM, what an opportunity! We did ask if this would cost us any more and Dr. Riordon said, “Not if I tell them not to charge you anything!” It’s great to have connections, thanks again Sherry! So I am sitting here in the waiting room as they are in doing Trish’s bone marrow aspiration. This consists of taking marrow from the back side of each of her hips. They will take the marrow today and send it to the lab to be processed and tested before preparing the stem cells to be injected into Trish’s spinal fluid. Trish will be getting two injections of her own stem cells. These injections will occur the last week of treatment. Plus, they are taking more marrow than they need, but less than they would take for a bone marrow transplant. They will store the excess marrow in case Trish can ever use it.


Here's Trish ready to go into surgery for the bone marrow aspiration. Cute! I especially loved the booties and hat!

After the aspiration Trish has an injection this afternoon at 4:30. I’m sure she will be exhausted tonight! If she feels OK we are planning on trying to get to the beach this weekend to see yet another side of Costa Rica!



After 2 hours she is out of surgery and doing great! Now we just need to wait for her next injection in about an hour. We'll let you know how it goes!

We Have Video!!

Tuesday was a therapy day and again, therapy was great. Trish did a lot of the same things, working on movement in her legs and also on balance. We finally got a camera cable (thanks Mom!) so you can see some examples of the movements we have been seeing!


Here is Trish working on sitting up straight using her arms as little as possible. This is hard to do with limited abs and back muscles. She looks great!


Here are some video clips of Trish moving her legs in different directions. In all of the exercises she is concentrating extremely hard on the movement they are asking her to do. It is very important that her brain make the connection to the movement that they are working on. They spend a lot of time explaining what the movement is and what muscle she needs to concentrate on to make it move. This is all very challenging considering she hasn't thought about these movements for over 2 years! She tries very hard to keep her arms in close to her so she doesn't use them. She is also trying to use as little of her upper body as possible.

The clip below shows the therapist adding some resistance for the first time. The therapists have been very impressed with Trish's effort, attitude, determination, and progress! Of course I am impressed too, but by now I have come to expect it!

Also today, they had Trish stand up for the first time here! Trish has stood using a standing frame before, but the frame provides a lot of support and Trish really doesn’t need to work to stand up. In therapy today they had her stand using a basic frame with nothing supporting her front or back. The only support was two therapists keeping her legs locked! They also had her practice shifting her weight from side to side. They would also unlock one of her knees and she would bring it back into the locked position. It was very impressive and took a lot out of her.

You can tell by the serious look on her face in the picture below how hard she has to concentrate to hold a standing position. It sure is great to be able to see her stand tall again!


Later that night a few of the “stemmies” felt good enough to meet up. Stemmies is the name that they have given those down here for stem cell treatment. We were excited because it was really our first night out since we have been here. We met up for drinks (no alcohol for the stemmies as it could affect the stem cells) and some good conversation then onto the restaurant for a nice Italian dinner. It was great to get out!

Here we are. It is also great to see all the family support for all the people down here getting treatment. What a great group of people we are meeting.

Monday, back to work!

We were back on schedule Monday with physical therapy from 12:00 to 2:00 and an injection at 2:30. Trish will actually be getting 3 injections each week for the next 2 weeks. Trish is doing awesome in therapy as they continue to work with her on moving her legs and also on her core strength and balance. The movement of her legs continues to amaze me. Here are some pictures of Trish working on her balance and core in therapy. They have her hold herself up on her knees using the workout ball to balance. This is extremely hard with virtually no abdominal muscles. It takes a lot of strength and concentration.

Here she is after working on this exercise for a while. They are really working her hard, but she loves it because she loves to push herself! With all the working out, Trish is developing a really tight muscle in her back, under her shoulder blade that is giving her a fair amount of discomfort. This same muscle actually locked-up on her when she was first in the hospital after her accident. We are doing lots of stretching to try and avoid this happening again. The therapists are very good not to push her too hard when it starts tightening and they help to stretch it out.

The therapists said that they will also work with Trish in the pool, so we will add that to our schedule next week. Even before coming here we have heard lots of positive things about pool therapy because of the minimal resistance that you have in a pool. This makes it much easier for your legs to move, if they can.

After therapy we grabbed some tortilla soup at the cafeteria for lunch and headed to the injection. They always have me put on a hair net and mask. Trish thought you all would like to see so here you go.

The injection went smoothly again and we were out of the hospital by 4:00 and headed back to the hotel. Trish laid down in the back seat to try and help prevent any headache. Back at the hotel Trish did her mandatory 6 hours of lying on her back. After 6 hours she sat up and was headache free! However, we don’t want to push things so we just went to bed for the night. Trish woke up Tuesday morning feeling good so we are looking forward to another good day of therapy.

Also, some of you have asked for the address where we are staying so I added it to the side bar. The addresses are very interesting here. They give directions and the often use landmarks, some of which aren't even here anymore. They are not true street addresses. For instance the hotel address indicates that we are 300 meters north of the ICE plant (power company) in San Jose, Costa Rica. A lot of other addresses refer to GPS coordinates.

Off to the Volcano

I’m excited to have a weekend free and to be feeling good. I want to take advantage of this time and go out and see some sights of beautiful Costa Rica. We left early Saturday morning with some friends that we met here and headed up to see the Arenal Volcano. One of our drivers that takes us to my P.T. sessions and my injections name is Javier. He is a great guy and once he learned that we wanted to go to the Arenal Volcano he recommended that we stay the night up there because it’s the rainy season here the roads can get really slick at night. He said we should stay at Los Lagos. It’s about a 3 ½ hour drive away from our Hotel. There are 3 different volcanoes around here and we were excited to see this one because it is what you picture when you think of a volcano. It hasn't blown its top so it is cone shaped. It was nice driving across the beautiful countryside up to the mountains.

We saw many little towns along the way. We also noticed lots of cattle grazing in fields. We stopped on the way and had a Costa Rican lunch. It was great to try the real Costa Rican food. We loved it! Once we got to the town of Fortuna where the volcano is located it was so cloudy we didn’t even know which side the volcano was on. The rooms were very cheap here, our room was the best room you could get and it was only $85. It has a full view of the volcano. At night you can usually see the lava flow, but it was too cloudy the night we were there. This resort is beautiful it reminds us of being in paradise.

We dropped off our stuff and headed up to the sky tram that takes you on a tour through the canopy of the rain forest near the volcano. The sky tram is basically a basket on a cable that holds about five people, kind of like a ski lift, but I could wheel right on and the guys could either sit on benches or stand up. We were in awe of how beautiful the rain forest was! We could hear Howler Monkeys in the distance as we continued to climb to the top. There was also an amazing lake that stretched out over the land. Once we got to the top we were greeted by a man who handed us iced tea. There was a huge platform at the top where we hung out and enjoyed the views.

Below is the pathway that the tram takes through the rainforest.

If you look closely in the picture below you can see what our tram looked like.

Here you can see the smoke coming off the left side of the volcano.

It has always been a dream of mine, even before I was inured to zip line in Costa Rica. Since I have been here I have been trying to find a place that could get me up to the cables to do this. We have tried many places but haven’t found one yet. When we were on the platform we realized that you can zip line from platform to platform back down the mountain. There are 10 platforms with the cables being as high as 460 feet above the ground and reaching lengths of nearly ½ mile! We saw a group go from the 1st platform and it was incredible to see how fast they flew down the cable! There is no walking necessary and the guides said I would have no problem doing it. At the very end they said they could repel me down from a bridge, which is the last platform. We wanted to go that day, but there were no more tours available so they booked us for the morning. The anticipation of finally getting to go has us feeling like kids waiting for Christmas morning. We drove back to the hotel for the night. The next morning we woke up to sheets of rain and it was so cloudy and foggy that we couldn’t see the base of the volcano. We waited for it to pass, but it never did so we had to cancel our zip line tour :(. We hope to find another one in the future that will work for me.

To make the best of the day we bought rain ponchos and headed out to see the exhibits at the hotel. We saw crocodiles, a butterfly garden, a frog exhibit and even an ant farm. At first we were bummed about the rain, but then we decided to enjoy the experience because it is suppose to rain in the rain forest! After seeing the exhibits, we went to the natural hot springs and the swim up bar. They had a huge pool at the hotel that was fed by a natural hot spring. The atmosphere was great. After a relaxing soak we headed for our home away from home.

Friday

Today was a therapy day and we were so excited that Trish woke up after her second injection headache free. She had therapy from 12:00 to 2:00. There is an “American” mall very close to the hospital so we had the driver drop us off there so we could walk around for a few hours. They have several of the same stores that we have in the U.S. and most of the same brands. The only difference is that everything cost nearly twice as much so we really didn’t buy anything other than a couple of souvenirs. One difference is that they have a grocery store in the mall, so we did pick up a few more things for “home”.

After the mall we headed home. The place we are staying is great. There are several other people here that are in various stages of their stem cell treatments. It is really a little community and we enjoy the interaction with the other families going through the treatment. Most of the people being treated are here for M.S. and their stories of improvement are great. There is also a child here that has autism and we are hearing that they have been very successful in treating this. Bye for now.

Injection #2

The schedule for Thursday was physical therapy from 12:00 to 2:00 followed by the second injection at 2:30 p.m. Trish was feeling good this morning (the headache has subsided) so we had breakfast at the hotel and headed to the park for a stroll. The breakfast is included and is absolutely fantastic every day. The park was much less crowded than on the weekend, but it was really nice to get out and walk around after being in the room for a day and a half! There are some amazing trees here. When the bark peels off the trees are bright green, orange, red, and purple. Trish took a couple of pictures.

The park is truly amazing. It is huge with a lake in the middle, trails all over, several fields for playing soccer, a roller balding rink and even an indoor pool for water polo! The best part is that all of this is right in the middle of town!

We got back from the park just in time to catch our ride to the hospital for therapy and the 2nd injection. Therapy was good. I am amazed at the things they are doing with Trish! Their main focus is to see what, if any, function she has below her injury line and work to further develop it. Much to our surprise, Trish can actually move her legs slightly!! The therapists set her up so that there was no resistance on her legs and then asked her to move them in various directions. She can actually move them! We were shocked! The movement is relatively small, 12 inches or less, but this is more than I have ever seen her do. She has moved her legs a few inches in many different positions. It is really neat to see this therapy at work. They make Trish keep her upper body still and try not to use any muscles above her injury level. Then she needs to concentrate extremely hard on the movement they are asking her to do. Usually, the first few tries show very little movement, then it is like the muscles start to figure it out and they move really well. Finally, the muscles fatigue and the movement slows down. We will post video clips of this in the future, but are having issues getting the video clips downloaded right now. The therapists told us that they focus on identifying everything that the patient has and then work with that and that most people that come here don’t even realize that they have as much movement as they really do. This is definitely the case with Trish!

An incredible thing (sign) happened during therapy. Dr. Neil Riordon came up to us and asked us if we were from Arizona. We said yes and he said “I got an email about you today that said I should come find you and talk to you” (Thanks Sherry!). Neil is the scientist behind the treatment that is administered at ICM. This is his clinic! After therapy was over we went to lunch with Neil and it was truly a privilege to spend this much time with him. Listening to him talk about stem cell and the research and potential for its use was amazing! After lunch he came with us to Trish’s injection! Talk about feeling like you have the world’s best advocate with you! He stayed with us right up until she got her injection. Trish received an injection in her back and also an injection through an IV. The theory is that this delivers the stem cells through another pathway to help repair the damage. Here is a picture of Trish with Dr. Riordon outside the hospital:

As I said, the injections went fine and we made the trip back to the hotel for Trish to begin her mandatory rest period. It is so hard for her to lay flat on her back, not on her side as she likes for 6 hours. Just to play it safe, she stayed in bed the rest of the night until morning. She woke up headache free! We were both so excited.

Trish's First Injection

Well, Tuesday was Trish’s first injection! It was scheduled at 2:30 so we just hung around the hotel in the morning before heading over to the hospital. We had lunch at a really good Chinese restaurant right next door! We were worried that we wouldn’t be able to read the menu, but were pleasantly surprised that many restaurants have English on their menus.

The hospital where all of the procedures are done is very nice and looks just like any of our hospitals back in the states. Most of the people speak English so communication really hasn’t been an issue. We met Dr. Afonso who is the anesthesiologist that does the actual injections. He was very nice and took his time talking to us. He is also a pain management specialist so we talked to him quite a bit about Trish’s nerve pain. Unfortunately he really didn’t have any new suggestions for us. The injection went very well and Trish didn’t feel a thing. The actual procedure took less than 10 minutes. We left the hospital shortly after the injection and headed back to the hotel for Trish’s mandatory 4 to 5 hours of laying flat on her back. This is required for 2 reasons, first to help prevent a spinal headache and second to help allow the stem cells to migrate up the spinal column. The injection takes place in the spinal fluid at the base of the spine and the stem cells will migrate to where she has inflammation.

About 3 hours into her rest, Trish started getting a headache. It got worse at night and was still bad this morning. We called the clinic and the head Dr. actually came right over to our hotel to check on Trish! It was amazing. We usually wait longer than this in our normal Dr.’s waiting rooms! Dr. Lara was not too concerned and actually administered 2 shots to help with the headache and ordered Trish to relax for another 4 hours. It has been really hard for Trish to stay in bed for nearly 24 hours! She is so bored! Thank goodness we have HBO and it’s in English. So we will hang low today and make up the physical therapy session later in the week. Injection number 2 is tomorrow so be praying for a better recovery!

Getting Started!

We found out Monday morning that they were moving us to a little more accessible room so Trish could get her wheelchair into the bathroom. So we made sure everything was packed back up. This is what it looks like to pack for a month! Crazy huh!

Next we headed out for our first appointment. This was at the clinic where you fill out your paperwork and Trish had to give 8 tubes of blood! They use the serum from her blood to mix with the cord blood stem cells. This makes up the mixture that is injected. All of the Doctors and staff are very nice and easy to talk to.

After our initial visit to the clinic it was back to the hotel where we got to check out our new room. It’s great. It has 2 bedrooms and Trish can fit in the bathroom. It is just like an apartment.

Later in the morning we hooked up with two guys that are also here for treatment (one has MS). They had rented a car and they invited us to come along on a drive around the countryside, which was really neat to see. The scenery is beautiful, as the city is built in the mountains. There are lots of neat looking trees and beautiful flowers and plants.

Later in the day Trish had her first therapy session. Each of her sessions will be 2 hours long and she has 4 sessions every week. The first part of the therapy was an evaluation. Then they really got to work and worked her very hard. After therapy we came back “home” and relaxed for a while and then headed out to the supermarket. Shopping sure was interesting! We miss the food that they have in the US grocery stores. Things are just different. The brands are different, the selection smaller, and most everything is in Spanish! We managed to get enough food so that we can make a lot of our meals here. That’s all for now, Trish gets her first injection Tuesday afternoon.

Our first full day in Costa Rica

There is a beautiful park about 3 blocks up the road from the hotel so we decided to take a stroll up to it. It was an adventure just getting to the park as the road is a steep grade, there were several potholes, and the curbs are up to a foot high! Once we made it to the park it was beautiful. The park was full of families and there were lots of people of all ages playing futbol (soccer). It was neat to see how family oriented everybody seemed. There were people ziplining through the trees, riding horses and ponies through the park, and people fishing in the lake with no fishing poles. There were a few vendors around, but it is nothing like Mexico. They don't actively try to sell you stuff and we have been told that they don't negotiate the price. Sorry we forgot the camera in the room, but I'm sure we will be back and we'll post some pictures then. We later had dinner at a restaurant next to our hotel. It was funny to get the bill and see we were paying $16,350 for dinner, good thing the exchange rate is about 580 to $1. So it was really only about $27. We are excited and anxious for my first appointment with ICM at 8:00 tomorrow morning. It will consist of blood work and they will also go over my treatment plan with me. Bye for now.

We made it to Costa Rica!

Preparing to leave for a month is harder than we imagined! Our jouney began with a 10:00 am flight out of Phoenix. Saying goodbye to the boys was really tough, but we know that they'll be well taken care of.

We had a 2 hour flight to Dallas, a 2 hour layover, and then a 3 1/2 hour flight to Costa Rica. Everything went very smoothly. We were excited to see the landscape as we flew in, but at 7:00 at night it was already pitch black! I guess the sun sets about 5:30 here. We felt very well taken care of because there were people waiting for us at each point along the way with my name on a sign. We even got to go through customs first (one of the few perks of being in a wheelchair). The people from ICM (Institute for Cellular Medicine) were there to load us and our luggage (8 bags-a month is a long time :) ) and take us to our hotel. When we came into the room we were greeted with a beautiful flower/fruit arangement on the table. Take a look.

The room is nice, but I can't fit through the bathroom door in my wheelchair! Luckily I brought Scott along and thank goodness he's strong! They are going to look into getting us a new room tomorrow. That's all for now. We are so excited to be here!

Paralyzed Valley woman holds hope in Costa Rican treatment

Paralyzed Valley woman holds hope in Costa Rican treatment - Phoenix Arizona news, breaking news, local news, weather radar, traffic from ABC15 News ABC15.com

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My New Adventure

Two years ago my life was happier than it had ever been. But tragedy struck in May 2007 when my husband Scott and I were vacationing with friends in El Gulfo, Mexico. We were riding quads on the beach. The tide had gone out and Scott and I hit a sand bar that flipped us causing my injury.

As most of you know, the accident left me paralyzed from the chest down. This has been a huge challenge for us physically, emotionally, and even spiritually. Despite all of the challenges we continue to push forward and make the best of our situation. While I have tried not to let my injury slow me down, I have always maintained hope for an improvement to my condition. Until recently this hope was nothing more than a vision or dream. The doctors have told me from the beginning that even though my spinal cord was only bruised, I would never walk again and that there were no more options for me to pursue in order to get better.

I have always believed that people come into your life for a reason. A recent string of events has confirmed this. Seven months after I was paralyzed, my step father Bill was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. He passed away six months later. I truly feel that Bill has been looking over me and he is “My Angel.” Through a dear friend of Bill’s, I have been put in contact with a non embryonic stem cell center that is currently performing miracles through stem cell treatments in Costa Rica. These treatments are not yet available in the US.

With a spinal cord injury, it is important to approach any treatment as soon as possible. I have been accepted to the clinic as a good candidate with a high probability of success from the treatment. They have had patients with severed spinal cords who have walked after these treatments. I am praying for a full recovery, but truthfully there are many things that could improve with my condition that would make this “leap of faith” a success.

Because this center is out of the country and therefore not covered by insurance, the cost of this medical procedure is significant. The cost is $30,000 dollars. This covers 8 stem cell injections into my spinal cord, and intensive physical therapy over a period of four weeks. This treatment will be performed by the Institute for Cellular Medicine.

We believe that all of this is coming together for a reason and we need to go forward with it now. This has the potential of improving the quality of my life more than you’ll ever know. I would regret it forever if I didn’t at least try this, while my injury is still young enough to have a chance to heal.

$30,000 plus our airfare and hotel is a lot of money but you can’t put a price tag on the chance to get your life back. If you wish to make a donation to the Stressman Medical Fund we are using the PayPal secure on-line service which provides you a secure method to submit a donation by using your credit card (Visa, Master Card, American Express, Discover). By using this system your credit card infomation is tightly secure. This system will also email you a detailed receipt of your donation transaction. Or, any National Bank of Arizona branch is prepared to accept a deposit into the Trish Stressman Medical Fund. The account number is 0568005203.

We will be leaving to go down to Costa Rica on August 29th. We will be posting new entries on my blog as we continue this journey towards healing.

Thank you so much for thinking of me, and praying for our family. I now have new hope for a better tomorrow.

God Bless.

Trish

Free at Last

With the addition of a slighly modified Honda Odessy, Trish is now free to drive again.She drives great with her hand controls. We very much appreciate all the wonderful support Trish & Scott have received over the past 10 months. Her recovery would have been far more difficult without all your help.

Thank you.