Stem Cell Treatment/IBC Clinic

Well, I finally made it to the big day. We departed for San Diego on Monday, January 19th. Shawn’s big city traffic demon emerged in Las Vegas and we arrived in San Diego four hours later. Ya, a six hour trip! Juan from IBC (International Bio Care www.biocarehospital.com) greeted us Tuesday morning and escorted us across the border into Tijuana to the Marriott. The Tijuana Marriott, quite a place, NOT! We spent the first afternoon settling in and trying to communicate with the Hispanic staff. Trying to order dinner in the hotel restaurant was quite an ordeal. Our server Saul, had never opened a bottle of wine before.
The next morning (Wednesday) Juan arrived to take us to the hospital. When we got there, we were taken in and introduced to the staff and many other patients. Everyone was very pleasant and positive.
The first part of my treatment was a blood draw followed by kelation therapy (high dose vitamins and anti oxidants) for about 4 hours. During this time, Shawn and I had time to visit with other patients and hear their stories and what brought them to the clinic. Some were there for a 2nd or 3rd visit; one couple had been going there for over 12 years. Many of them were cancer patients who are now in remission due to the treatments they received at IBC. After kelation therapy, we met with Dr. Melba Romero who explained what was to happen during tomorrow’s stem cell treatment.
Thursday morning, we arrived at the hospital for the stem cell treatment. I was very excited. I already had an IV port installed from the day before, so I was ready. Gigi, my nurse, began me on a saline drip to open the blood vessels for the stem cell injection. Then, Dr. Romero opened a small cooler from which she removed the three frozen syringes; two were of stem cells and one of growth stimulator. After defrosting, the growth stimulator was injected into the IV followed by the larger stem cell syringe. At this point, Dr. Romero said that there was just one more thing,” An injection of stem cells into the back of my neck. It will feel like three little bee stings. No big deal.” WOW, she lied. Those three little bee stings were not so little. In other words, @!!*! that hurt! My whole body tensed up so tight, especially my face. I wished they would have given me something to bite down on. Shawn said that my face scrunched and tensed real mean like as if I was going to turn into the red HULK. After getting through the pain of the neck injections and everyone was sure there were no other reactions, we were released.
WeR17;ve been told that I should start to see some results within about 12 weeks. As things change and progress, I will keep you all posted through this blog. Please feel free to share the blog address with anyone who may be interested in my story. I thank you all for your generosity and giving me the gift of hope.