Mercy!!

After my long, tough, adventure with my first stem cells, I would have sworn to you I’d never do anything like that again. I lied and this is how it came about. After a year post stem cells, I still had so much pain in my neck and shoulders that I was still miserable. The pain was still hampering me from going and doing and if I sat or stood very long, I was still in excruciating pain. So, once again, I decided to do something about it. All or nothing for me!

I went to see Dr C, since he is the one and only Dr who fully understands what I’ve been through and everything I had done in LA. He examined my neck, we did acupuncture and it relieved my pain for a while but inevitably came back. He told me I could do traction, a back brace, and neck brace OR I could jump all the way to the front of the line and get umbilical stem cells shot in my neck. Since I’m not a good regimen follower, I went straight to the latter.

On November 1, 2018, I got umbilical cord stem cells shot in my neck. Four on one side of my spine, four on the other. I can honestly say that through everything I’ve been through, that was the most painful. But I hung on to that table until my knuckles turned white and got thru it. Then, that was followed by about ten ozone shots in shoulders and surrounding area. They were a piece of cake comparatively speaking.

What’s supposed to happen then is that you go home, swell, feel like hell three or four days, then go on with your regular activities and wait for the cells to do their magic. BUT, as we all know, nothing goes as planned for me!

First of all, let me preface this by saying, my neck has not hurt another day. NOT ONE! But here’s what did happen. For several days, I did feel swollen and a little uncomfortable. On November 6, my eyes started bothering me. For a while I could only see half of everything, then the room got “wavy” and I almost fainted, then I had what I can only describe as lightning bolts shooting through my eyes. Dr C wants me to go and make sure (when I’m able again) these were not TIAs.

But on November 7 all hell broke loose. I woke that morning with my elbow hurting. This may sound like a slight thing but it was unbearable. It was beet red, swollen, and I couldn’t get comfortable no matter what. I couldn’t begin to touch it. Then came the pain in my feet and ankles. In one day, this pain went from the outside of my right foot, down the bone of my big toe, then moved all the way around my foot to the outside bone, lodging there and my ankle. My left foot was in my instep and ankle.

November 8, 2018

But just when I thought I had seen it all, the pain in my elbow started radiating down my ulna and made my last two fingers tingle, then become numb and they are still that way today. But the real pain was still to come! In the afternoon the pain from my elbow started radiating UP my arm. This pain was so intense it made me sob! And it stayed there. It moved under my arm and to the front of my chest. It was hot to the touch, swollen, and I could not lift my arm. I felt like I had broken bones all over my body. I kept a low grade fever through all of this. I was already back to my potty chair but now a bedpan was necessary. I sobbed every time I moved.

On November 11, I guess I was strangely quiet. I felt worse that day and very depressed. I had been lying there for three days. No television, no reading, no music…..just staring at the ceiling in stunned pain, waiting for another day to go by. I even cut my phone off. I had missed my namesake’s wedding (Betsy Battle) and I was very low. Henry Earl went to bed about 9:00. I suddenly realized I hadn’t been to the bathroom in quite some time and had quit being thirsty. I hurt all over so fever didn’t really enter my mind but at some point (and this is all a blur) I took my temperature. 107.1!!! I tried again. Same thing. I got him up, he got another thermometer….same thing. We panicked, he wanted to call the ambulance but I had had this happen to me once before as a child and I remembered the Dr packing me in ice. So that’s what we did. At 104.5, I started sweating and the fever came completely down. Close one! I ran a low grade fever again for two more days and haven’t had fever since.

The state of things today: I still have pain in my right arm. It’s getting better but I still can’t reach out and pick up anything. My left ankle is still giving me fits. Henry hired nurses to take care of me during the day so he can harvest his pecans. I can’t get up because my right ankle won’t let me stand and my right arm can’t stand weight. I’m getting better so the depression is under control. (Sorta)

My trusty companions, Jake and Kyna, are by my side, so hopefully I’ll be back in the world again soon.