Wednesday, August 17, 2011

Tuesday - Procedure

The day started early as we needed to be at the docs office at 9.  When we got there, they were prepared and ready for me. Jim Bosch, the consultant, Dr. Purita and Jeremy were all there.  Jim explained things as we went along and was comforting to have there.  He also entertained me while we waited on the next step with stories of odd patients, his time in the Navy and his passion for stem cell therapy and its future.  The procedure is a three part procedure with time in-between procedures.  The first procedure was to extract fat cells to harvest stem cells. A local anesthetic was to be used and several shots were administered.  The needles hurt but about 15 min later, I was numb. Just before we were about to get started, Jeremy, the lab tech, came in and said that CNN was filming a piece for a documentary they were running and asked if I would allow them to film the extraction.  Due to privacy laws there would be no faces nor ID so I agreed. Dr. Purita was very nice, explaining things as he went and answering any questions.  CNN was there filming my butt as Dr. Purita had chosen my right "love handle" area for the extraction.  The extraction process took about 15 ~ 20 min and was painless for the most part.  According to the doc and tech, what they extracted was very good.  To me, it just looked pretty nasty.  They dressed and bandaged the hole they had made and kept an eye on me for a bit to make sure I was Ok.  They said I could leave if I wanted to, grab some breakfast or whatever and be back at 1pm for the next procedure.  Beth and I left and headed for West Marine to pick up a few more things to take back and then hit Wendys for lunch. I opted for a proper bacon cheeseburger in an attempt to replace what they had just taken out.  The burger was good but McDonalds still has better tea and fries.  We headed back to the doc's office and arrived just before 1.  CNN had finished filming and were packing up.  Supposedly the piece will air in November 2011.
The next procedure was the bone marrow extraction from my hip.  Beth left me at the office to run some errands and promised she would return.  Dr. Purita used a local anesthetic and gave it time to work while an x-ray tech got the equipment set up as they would be using xrays to guide the probe into my hip.  After some poking and prodding and confirming with the x-ray, Dr. Pruita inserted the device, which resembles a large nail/spike with a handle on it into my lower back and found the bone.  He then proceeded to tap, tap, tap the device until it penetrated bone.  Oddly enough, this didn't hurt but the tapping on the hip bone reverberated through every bone in my body as he was actually tapping with a medium size hammer.  It didn't hurt but was a very weird sensation.  Once he got the device well into bone, he extracted the bone marrow which did sting, kind of like an ant bite, and poof, he was done.  Again the wound was dressed and bandaged and they told me I had some time to relax before the next procedure.  A pharmaceutical rep was there and had brought lunch for the crew from Moe's Southwest Grill and Jeremy, keeping an eye on me, escorted me to the break room and even prepared a plate for me.  Everyone in Dr. Purita's office was very nice, professional and made me feel very welcome.  There is something to be said when a Dr. has a good bedside manner but it is very impressive when the entire office is so warm and welcoming.  Jeremy had to get back to work and I was nibbling and chatting with the rep.  Jim came down and said he was heading out as he had to pick up his son but he would check in on me later.  I wandered around the facility for a while then headed back up to the lab.
Jeremy was processing all the collected material and further explained the process, showed me the stem cells they had collected and what the next step would be.  Beth returned from her errands and was apparently successful in her shopping.  We took a stroll as they readied things for the last procedure.  Beth really hates needles and blood so she wasn't in the room for any of the procedures but for this one, she was in the next room.  Dr. Purita explained what he was doing as he went as well as the purpose for each injection.  I believe it was a total of 6  injections into the knee starting with an anesthetic.  Even numbed, each needle hurt and was progressively larger.  The actual injections didn't hurt but the increased volume of liquid within the knee caused some discomfort and I probably shouldn't have watched.  Dr. Purita said all done, and he was.  Jeremy cleaned up the area, bandaged my knee and we all chatted for a bit. Beth and I departed and headed back to the motel, this was about 5 pm. 
During her errands, she had gotten my prescriptions filled which consisted of an antibiotic, just in case, pain medication, oxycodone with acetaminophen, and a nasal spray for bone help.  Once back at the motel she was insistent I start taking the pain meds because once the anesthetic started wearing off, I was going to be in pain.   I took the meds but the only pain I was feeling was in my side where they had done the fat extraction.
She left me at the motel to go get dinner and some DVD's.  She thought I would be asleep but I started writing the blog, downloaded her soap opera, checked email, and relaxed.  I received an email from Boats.net which is the company I had ordered the engine parts from.  After my email yesterday, they said they would be shipping the parts, via next day air, to me in Florida at no extra cost.  This is great news as they can go back with us instead of having to be shipped.  By the time Beth got back, I was in  a little pain, the knee was swollen and I was moving slow. Jeremy had called to check in on me but since the phone was on silent, it had gone to voice mail.  She brought Subway sandwiches for dinner and we relaxed in front of the TV.  Beth opted to take advantage of having an actual bath tub and I laid back on the bed watching the game show network and then I was asleep.

I will be creating a link off the main website regarding my treatment and following the healing progress.  We have all day Wednesday in the motel with no plans and I hope to get the July pictures uploaded to the Photo Album as well as get all of the blog caught up and finish some of the unfinished pages.  This will depend on how I feel and how the pain meds affect me.

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