Tuesday and Wednesday, January 16th and 17th - Day 4 and 5 in Hangzhou, China

Hello again,

During Tuesday Tori had more PT (Physical Therapy), Acupuncture and EMS (Electronic Muscle Stimulation) and at 4:45pm Wednesday afternoon, she went into a sterile surgical room for her first stem cell treatment. It went very smoothly as Tori was given some Valium once she entered the room and the procedure was done after about 45 minutes. She then had to lie flat on her back for at least 6 hours and to accomplish this we positioned her DVD player right above her so she watched movies while looking up towards the ceiling :-)

Now that Tori has officially received her first stem cells and NGF (Nerve Growth Factor) via intrathecal injection into the spinal canal and intravenously as well, I believe it is time for some biological and scientific detail on exactly what she is receiving. Below is an accurate summary and you can select the hyperlinked words for additional detail on them. In highly over simplified terms, we are attempting to build new brain matter in Tori to replace the damaged or dead brain matter that currently exists so that overall, Tori will have more brain matter to work and heal with.

Tori has received Umbilical Cord Stem Cells known as CD34+, CD133 and Mesenchymal stem cells. CD34+ and CD133 have been shown in numerous studies to be prone towards becoming white matter which is what neural stem cells and myelin are made of. Mesenchymals have been found to be inclined to be become numerous types of cells including but not limited to chondrocytes (a type of cell critical to tissue renewal particularly cartilage), liver cells, Kidney and neurons. Lab tests have also indicated that when Mesenchymal stem cells are combined with other cells such as CD34+ and CD133 they will boost the process of the transformation of other types of stem cells into becoming what they already have a tendency for such as white matter. These Mesenchymals also appear to be able to conduct repairs in relation to vascular disorders within the brain, ocular areas and throughout the body including but not limited to the heart, Kidney and pancreas.

So Tori now has one SCT (stem cell treatment) completed and four more to go!! :-)

James also had Tori inclined on the tilt table twice for several minutes on Tuesday. She was placed at a 52 degree incline and it was quite obvious she hasn't been in vertical position for quite some time because her legs turned purple after a few minutes. Her circulation is poor and her left foot still isn't ready for too much standing at this time... We gave her left foot some heal support so she could place her weight on it for this exercise. She'll be on the tilt table several times a week.

James continues to do heavy stretching and massaging on Tori and she responds at times with loud cries... It is all very good for her though and James can read her pain thresholds well. Tori is usually much looser after a session and typically takes a nap to recover. She did much better with her acupuncture on Tuesday as well since we decided to give her a half a Xanax beforehand to relax her. Both Tori and James greatly appreciated it ;-) The EMS was connected to her arms on this day and it will be rotated onto her limbs daily.

Tori had another doctor arrive and try to perform an IQ type test on her where she was shown a picture with a problem displayed and Tori was supposed to identify it. That is very hard to do for Tori since she can't point yet with precision. The first picture had a comb missing some teeth and Tori was able to bring her right hand upward and position her thumb on the error. The next picture had a cat missing an ear and Tori struggled to get her right thumb to the correct spot which she eventually did. At that point she was too frustrated to continue and stopped participating... The session was over but we showed her a two answer example of 'cat' and 'dog' and Tori identified the correct choice by looking. We are now going to get some paper and demonstrate later Tori's ability to select.

Maria is still almost completely adjusted to the time change now as she awoke at close to 6:00am Wednesday morning. She cut out the afternoon nap Tuesday and I'm sure that helped alot. We have been alternating exercise days at the New Century Hotel and we have found some favorite Chinese food selections. Our first couple of meals were from a 'Western Style' restaurant but the spaghetti, grilled ham and cheese sandwiches and pizza were a far, far cry from being 'tasty'... So I finally asked Wendy where her and the medical staff gets their take out food and we've been eating from that Chinese restaurant since. Ham fried rice, white rice and the diced chicken and peanuts in chili sauce are our favorites. The eggplant in chili sauce is good as well and I have at least tried almost everything on the menu. There were certainly some items I didn't care for though... 'Diced' is a key word to remember when selecting food because it appears to mean 'no bones'. Otherwise the bones in the chicken and pork are prominent in any dish and typically it is ALL of the chicken minus the feathers!! We are definitely getting better using the chopsticks though. You can't get better back home by eating once a month at the 'Panda Express' or 'PF Chang' restaurants ;-) In my next update I'll discuss some of my Chinese transportation, pedestrian and traffic observations.

Thank you for the support!!

Tim, Maria, Tori, Whitney and Brendan