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Week One: October 20 - October 25, 2008
Hey faithful readers…welcome back to India.
As most of you know by now, Kasie has returned to India for her second go around of stem cell treatment. I have to apologize for the delay on catching you up since we began our travel last Monday, October 20th. But I’ve had a major computer malfunction, so everything I had already written about our trip over and the first 2 days here – when she had her first on Thursday 10/24 was lost when my computer crashed. It’s completely shot, kablewy for sure! So now I’m borrowing a computer, re-writing this past week, saving it to a USB drive and then I will transfer it to the website when I have a steady connection, so we may lag a few days behind from here on out…but fear not faithful Kasie supporters…I’ll keep you up to speed as best I can. So with all that said, let’s see how things started…
DAYs A & B\MONDAY – October 20, 2008 and TUESDAY October 21, 2008
Kasie and Eric spent the weekend in Denver. I flew to Denver from Aspen Monday morning. I left the secured area with my carry on and met up with Kasie at American airlines to check in. Of course checking in with Kasie’s ENORMOUSLY heavy suitcase was somewhat comical as it was OF COURSE overweight by 10 lbs. and that was going to cost another $50, ya, whatever. So there we are scrambling on the floor, trying not to open the bag too much and display or lose all the ‘unmentionable’s’, and took out her computer and DVD player – hey we need something to do when sitting around after procedures – and put them in my carry on bag. The bag was then deemed light enough to travel without the extra charge.
After goodbyes to Eric, Poppa, Aunt Judy and Uncle Jim we headed through security. HMPH! Riddle me this batman, if I JUST had flown in from Aspen, where I had cleared security with a peach cup, how could I not clear security in Denver with same said peach cup?! Well I couldn’t according to the TSA guy, it was too large. He told me I had plenty of time to eat said peach cup while waiting for them to go over Kasie and her chair. I argued with him just a bit, I’m sure those of you who know me are saying, oh no not you Sonia, you’d never argue about something like that…ya right you all know better…but in fact I WASN’T TOO argumentative, because afterall all I needed was to piss off the TSA guy and get locked up and Kasie would be going off to India on her own. So I obliged and began to open the damned little peach cup…the snack I knew I’d be craving in about 9 hours on the way to Delhi…and of course as soon as I tore back the lid just a teensy bit, well of course another TSA guy, who had been watching the whole thing from his vantage point of leaning on the wall, came over and said, hey she could carry that on…HELLLO, didn’t I tell the first guy that – afterall I had just been through security in Aspen with it…but it didn’t matter, danged thing was open and you can’t reseal those things. All the while Kasie is sitting at the otherside of the metal detectors waiting to be check out, but they were worried she had no one to watch her things in the SECURITY LINE, while they were screening her…what a fiasco. Finally we made it through security…and off to our gate we go.
We were scheduled to depart at 12:55pm on Monday October 20th…but that of course didn’t happen because can you believe it, it was raining in Chicago. Raining in Chicago, yeah so? Well apparently the weather was so bad there that they had to shut down the airport and we couldn’t take off until it reopened.
So, at 2:06pm we finally took off. We discovered that you still get complimentary water or soda/pop on board , but any other snacks cost at least $3. So a tiny little bag of chips, $3, 1 – yes, 1 cookie (ok it’s one of those rather large cookies, but still it’s just one cookie), $3. But the even more astonishing one for me was the little TINY little box of Sun-Maid raisins, you know the ones that usually come in a 6 pack for like $2.50, sheesh. Other than our discussions on that kind of stuff, our flight was fairly uneventful.
We arrived in Chicago, and by the time we deplaned and all it was about 5:30pm. We made are way from pretty much one end of the airport to the other, stopped along the way to grab some dinner, and then waited to board our flight to Delhi.
Our flight to Delhi – long, it’s something like 7447 miles ( had the exact number typed in on the other computer – but it crashed, but I think that’s pretty close), which is about 13 ½ hours…oh boy here we go. Somewhere along the way we crossed the dateline…and it became Tuesday the 21st. Anyway, our Chicago-Delhi flight crew was wonderful. Thanks ladies for your support and encouragement for Kasie, we really appreciated it all.
Once we finally arrived in Delhi, on Tuesday night, October 21, 2008, we cleared customs and immigration and found our luggage we then met up with our buddy Opie from last time. We had to wait on another patient and caregiver arriving on another flight, and then we were off to NuTech.
We arrived at NuTech to be greated by our very decorated door...a welcome from Julie and Elaine, who are across the hall…buddies from lat time. But alas it was late, and they had already gone to bed…so Kasie of course had to decorated their door as well, ah but the artwork did not survive the night and there's no photographic evidence. Anyway, by the time we got settled in, and of course blew up the DVD player we lugged all that way, it was after 1am on Wednesday morning 10/22…so we’d been traveling quite a bit, and were a wee bit tired. But we only slept until something like 4am if I recall correctly.
DAY 1: WEDNESDAY – October 22, 2008
Our first real day in India again. No hot water, and no water pressure…what the?#(*&, oh yeah it's India.
We headed to Green Park to get Rupees, put minutes on the India phone, and hit the coffee shop for some chai and cookies, yum.
At 10:45am Kasie, had PT (physio, physical therapy) with Shivani. Shivani measured Kasie’s legs to see what her baseline would be for this round of treatment. They were slightly smaller than when she had left here after the first treatment; but bigger than when she had arrived the first time. Her right leg is now stronger than it was, last time it was the left leg that was stronger. After the measurements Shivani and Kasie worked on her actual physical therapy, which today was rather “light” since she’s starting today as day one, and was jet lagged. But they did leg stretches and range of motion exercises to get her legs in motion and start building more muscle. Kasie can feel some of the motion in her hips, and some of the stretches cause her to feel a sensation in her quads from time to time. Kasie also worked on her core strength and stability which is a great asset when she walks.
After PT Kasie had her first stem cell injection of the trip.
Then we visited with Julie and Elaine for a bit, who are here for Elaine. Then after lunch we both did our best to stay awake, so we could get used to the time change, but indeed we crashed for a couple of hours because of the jet lag.
After dinner, Dr. Sudeep came by to check on Kasie…and we told him one of the sisters had just come by and told us that Kasie was having a procedure tomorrow. He had to go check on it, but sure enough a one day procedure was planned for the very next day.
DAY 2: THURSDAY – October 23, 2008
Blood and urine test first thing.
PT with Shivani, lots of stretching and core exercise. Kasie said that she had a bit of pain across her hips on a few of the stretches, but her hip has been popping lately. She brought the broken calipers down to PT to be repaired , they should be ready tomorrow. Then we were off to Gautam Nagar – the other hospital for Kasie’s first procedure this trip. A caudal procedure at just below the injury sight.
OF COURSE I had to ask Opie if I could go into the treatment room, what would a procedure be without me asking that…and of course – DENIED.
While Kasie was in her procedure I walked back to NuTech to meet with Mr. David and check out the situation of mold in our room, the pee smell, and the lack of hot H20 and pressure. Mold turned out to not be mold, so they say…bleached the wall anyway (had stopped on the way at the “supermarket”). And the shower, well they’ll need to bring a plumber in. Then back to Gautam Nagar and I waited for Kasie to come out of her procedure.
Kasie came back from her procedure at about 3:05pm. It was a two brick procedure…meaning of course the foot of the bed was propped up with two bricks, so as to elevate Kasie’s feet. She was not to move until 7:30pm, when she could roll onto her side, and that at 8pm, she was able to sit up. By the way – exciting news she had been able to feel a burning sensation when Dr. Ashish had numbed the site prior to the actual procedure. They numbed the site, just in case she would have any feeling to prevent her from moving while doing the procedure. Also, she moved both feet, she had done it just after the procedure for Dr. Ashish while still in the operating room, and then for me too when she returned to the room. I was able to see her move her feet, and while ever so slightly, she did indeed move them; it was NOT just a shift of weight, I was able to see them move!
We got back to Nutech about 8:30pm, to a clean smelling room, finally – not even going to get into the whole fiasco with the other patients pee infested blanket in our room…watched some TV, I tried to fix my computer which was having some fits…but couldn’t…and we went to bed. It was a big day, and we both still have jet lag.
DAY 3: FRIDAY – October 24, 2008
Dr. Geeta came into PT to see Kasie. Today was a pretty grueling day in PT for Kasie, but she did great. Her strength and stamina really paid off. First off they had her up in the parallel bars – standing without her calipers. And then with the calipers which have been repaired, Kasie walked in the parallel bars, of course with her cowboy boots on. The doctors are finally used to them after last time. They give Kasie extra support in her ankles and she does not have to where ankle braces. After walking for the doctors, Kasie had the rest of her PT for stretching and core strength.
Kasie also asked Dr. Ashish about the blood she had in the shower this morning. At first as you can imagine it was a moment of great concern. But I checked her back for her, and it was actually just from the bandaid (big gauze pad) left from her procedure yesterday. When it had gotten wet, the blood that had been on the gauze ran. The actual injection site hole from the procedure was closed up nicely. Anyway since the blood scare in the morning, and the fact that yesterday I had actually noticed the bandage had more blood on it than the last time she was having procedures, we wanted to know why. Dr. Ashish told us that it was actually a very good sign that she was having more blood flow below her injury site. Because last time Kasie was here, when he would do a procedure there was very little, if any blood at all, and yesterday there was some blood, he was pleased with that. We also talked with him and Dr. Shroff about the leg spasms Kasie has been having recently, like since returning from her last trip. Kasie has described that when she has been transferring from one position to another, like from her chair to bed, or vice-versa, her legs spasm. They were also pleased to hear that, as they told us it is a sign of regeneration.
Video link to You Tube: Kasie walking 10-24-2008
After PT she hd her morning stem cell injection.
Spent the afternoon visiting with Elaine, and recuperating.
This evening she had another stem cell injection.
DAY 4: SATURDAY - October 25, 2008
Morning PT only, staff has ½ day as they prepare for Tuesday’s holiday Diwali – the festival of lights. But it was a very good day in PT for sure. Kasie first started off with the regular PT exercises and core strength exercises. We filmed all of the exercise for practice at home. Kasie walked with the walker from the PT bed to the parallel bars. And then she walked both forward and backwards in the parallel bars. And boy did she walk, she walked a lot. She looks strong and straight both in the walker and parallel bars, I’m so proud of how far she’s come. Her feet move along the floor much better than the last time we were here…and she said it, she doesn’t feel as drained as she used to when she does walk. She can feel the weight in her legs. She and her baby stems cells are doing a great job!
Video link to You Tube: Kasie walking with walker #1: 10-25-2008
Video link to You Tube: Kasie walking with walker #2: 10-25-2008
Video link to You Tube: Kasie walking in parallel bars 10-25-2008
Video link to You Tube: Kasie walking backwards in parallel bars 10-25-2008
Leah (from Aspen) and her caregiver Pam arrived today and we saw them this morning in PT. We think Amanda (also from Aspen) is arriving tonight.
This afternoon we went to Green Park for lunch, and oh what a nightmare. Think Xmas eve last minute shoppers at a mall, crazy traffic jam and multiply that by 13 million people in Delhi and well it was absolutely wall to wall vehicles. Almost impossible to get through it all, but with some finesse we did. Had we not already been experienced Delhi girls, it would have been a complete nightmare. We had lunch and then got some candles for Diwali, and battled our way back through it all againo get back to NuTech.
The idea of trying to get to the mall this afternoon and finding me a new computer – well we shot that one down after the nightmare traffic we had just experienced going to Green Park – and we had only walked and rolled there. No way we were going spend hours sitting in traffic in a car. Maybe another day.
Elaine and Kasie went down to the ground floor this afternoon to watch as the staff decorated the entrance area with colors for Diwali.
And I’ve been catching up on this week for Kasie's supporters to know what she's up to…so there you go.
There's no PT tomorrow, it’s Sunday, so we’ll see what we can find to entertain ourselves.
As most of you know by now, Kasie has returned to India for her second go around of stem cell treatment. I have to apologize for the delay on catching you up since we began our travel last Monday, October 20th. But I’ve had a major computer malfunction, so everything I had already written about our trip over and the first 2 days here – when she had her first on Thursday 10/24 was lost when my computer crashed. It’s completely shot, kablewy for sure! So now I’m borrowing a computer, re-writing this past week, saving it to a USB drive and then I will transfer it to the website when I have a steady connection, so we may lag a few days behind from here on out…but fear not faithful Kasie supporters…I’ll keep you up to speed as best I can. So with all that said, let’s see how things started…
DAYs A & B\MONDAY – October 20, 2008 and TUESDAY October 21, 2008
Kasie and Eric spent the weekend in Denver. I flew to Denver from Aspen Monday morning. I left the secured area with my carry on and met up with Kasie at American airlines to check in. Of course checking in with Kasie’s ENORMOUSLY heavy suitcase was somewhat comical as it was OF COURSE overweight by 10 lbs. and that was going to cost another $50, ya, whatever. So there we are scrambling on the floor, trying not to open the bag too much and display or lose all the ‘unmentionable’s’, and took out her computer and DVD player – hey we need something to do when sitting around after procedures – and put them in my carry on bag. The bag was then deemed light enough to travel without the extra charge.
After goodbyes to Eric, Poppa, Aunt Judy and Uncle Jim we headed through security. HMPH! Riddle me this batman, if I JUST had flown in from Aspen, where I had cleared security with a peach cup, how could I not clear security in Denver with same said peach cup?! Well I couldn’t according to the TSA guy, it was too large. He told me I had plenty of time to eat said peach cup while waiting for them to go over Kasie and her chair. I argued with him just a bit, I’m sure those of you who know me are saying, oh no not you Sonia, you’d never argue about something like that…ya right you all know better…but in fact I WASN’T TOO argumentative, because afterall all I needed was to piss off the TSA guy and get locked up and Kasie would be going off to India on her own. So I obliged and began to open the damned little peach cup…the snack I knew I’d be craving in about 9 hours on the way to Delhi…and of course as soon as I tore back the lid just a teensy bit, well of course another TSA guy, who had been watching the whole thing from his vantage point of leaning on the wall, came over and said, hey she could carry that on…HELLLO, didn’t I tell the first guy that – afterall I had just been through security in Aspen with it…but it didn’t matter, danged thing was open and you can’t reseal those things. All the while Kasie is sitting at the otherside of the metal detectors waiting to be check out, but they were worried she had no one to watch her things in the SECURITY LINE, while they were screening her…what a fiasco. Finally we made it through security…and off to our gate we go.
We were scheduled to depart at 12:55pm on Monday October 20th…but that of course didn’t happen because can you believe it, it was raining in Chicago. Raining in Chicago, yeah so? Well apparently the weather was so bad there that they had to shut down the airport and we couldn’t take off until it reopened.
So, at 2:06pm we finally took off. We discovered that you still get complimentary water or soda/pop on board , but any other snacks cost at least $3. So a tiny little bag of chips, $3, 1 – yes, 1 cookie (ok it’s one of those rather large cookies, but still it’s just one cookie), $3. But the even more astonishing one for me was the little TINY little box of Sun-Maid raisins, you know the ones that usually come in a 6 pack for like $2.50, sheesh. Other than our discussions on that kind of stuff, our flight was fairly uneventful.
We arrived in Chicago, and by the time we deplaned and all it was about 5:30pm. We made are way from pretty much one end of the airport to the other, stopped along the way to grab some dinner, and then waited to board our flight to Delhi.
Our flight to Delhi – long, it’s something like 7447 miles ( had the exact number typed in on the other computer – but it crashed, but I think that’s pretty close), which is about 13 ½ hours…oh boy here we go. Somewhere along the way we crossed the dateline…and it became Tuesday the 21st. Anyway, our Chicago-Delhi flight crew was wonderful. Thanks ladies for your support and encouragement for Kasie, we really appreciated it all.
Once we finally arrived in Delhi, on Tuesday night, October 21, 2008, we cleared customs and immigration and found our luggage we then met up with our buddy Opie from last time. We had to wait on another patient and caregiver arriving on another flight, and then we were off to NuTech.
We arrived at NuTech to be greated by our very decorated door...a welcome from Julie and Elaine, who are across the hall…buddies from lat time. But alas it was late, and they had already gone to bed…so Kasie of course had to decorated their door as well, ah but the artwork did not survive the night and there's no photographic evidence. Anyway, by the time we got settled in, and of course blew up the DVD player we lugged all that way, it was after 1am on Wednesday morning 10/22…so we’d been traveling quite a bit, and were a wee bit tired. But we only slept until something like 4am if I recall correctly.
DAY 1: WEDNESDAY – October 22, 2008
Our first real day in India again. No hot water, and no water pressure…what the?#(*&, oh yeah it's India.
We headed to Green Park to get Rupees, put minutes on the India phone, and hit the coffee shop for some chai and cookies, yum.
At 10:45am Kasie, had PT (physio, physical therapy) with Shivani. Shivani measured Kasie’s legs to see what her baseline would be for this round of treatment. They were slightly smaller than when she had left here after the first treatment; but bigger than when she had arrived the first time. Her right leg is now stronger than it was, last time it was the left leg that was stronger. After the measurements Shivani and Kasie worked on her actual physical therapy, which today was rather “light” since she’s starting today as day one, and was jet lagged. But they did leg stretches and range of motion exercises to get her legs in motion and start building more muscle. Kasie can feel some of the motion in her hips, and some of the stretches cause her to feel a sensation in her quads from time to time. Kasie also worked on her core strength and stability which is a great asset when she walks.
After PT Kasie had her first stem cell injection of the trip.
Then we visited with Julie and Elaine for a bit, who are here for Elaine. Then after lunch we both did our best to stay awake, so we could get used to the time change, but indeed we crashed for a couple of hours because of the jet lag.
After dinner, Dr. Sudeep came by to check on Kasie…and we told him one of the sisters had just come by and told us that Kasie was having a procedure tomorrow. He had to go check on it, but sure enough a one day procedure was planned for the very next day.
DAY 2: THURSDAY – October 23, 2008
Blood and urine test first thing.
PT with Shivani, lots of stretching and core exercise. Kasie said that she had a bit of pain across her hips on a few of the stretches, but her hip has been popping lately. She brought the broken calipers down to PT to be repaired , they should be ready tomorrow. Then we were off to Gautam Nagar – the other hospital for Kasie’s first procedure this trip. A caudal procedure at just below the injury sight.
OF COURSE I had to ask Opie if I could go into the treatment room, what would a procedure be without me asking that…and of course – DENIED.
While Kasie was in her procedure I walked back to NuTech to meet with Mr. David and check out the situation of mold in our room, the pee smell, and the lack of hot H20 and pressure. Mold turned out to not be mold, so they say…bleached the wall anyway (had stopped on the way at the “supermarket”). And the shower, well they’ll need to bring a plumber in. Then back to Gautam Nagar and I waited for Kasie to come out of her procedure.
Kasie came back from her procedure at about 3:05pm. It was a two brick procedure…meaning of course the foot of the bed was propped up with two bricks, so as to elevate Kasie’s feet. She was not to move until 7:30pm, when she could roll onto her side, and that at 8pm, she was able to sit up. By the way – exciting news she had been able to feel a burning sensation when Dr. Ashish had numbed the site prior to the actual procedure. They numbed the site, just in case she would have any feeling to prevent her from moving while doing the procedure. Also, she moved both feet, she had done it just after the procedure for Dr. Ashish while still in the operating room, and then for me too when she returned to the room. I was able to see her move her feet, and while ever so slightly, she did indeed move them; it was NOT just a shift of weight, I was able to see them move!
We got back to Nutech about 8:30pm, to a clean smelling room, finally – not even going to get into the whole fiasco with the other patients pee infested blanket in our room…watched some TV, I tried to fix my computer which was having some fits…but couldn’t…and we went to bed. It was a big day, and we both still have jet lag.
DAY 3: FRIDAY – October 24, 2008
Dr. Geeta came into PT to see Kasie. Today was a pretty grueling day in PT for Kasie, but she did great. Her strength and stamina really paid off. First off they had her up in the parallel bars – standing without her calipers. And then with the calipers which have been repaired, Kasie walked in the parallel bars, of course with her cowboy boots on. The doctors are finally used to them after last time. They give Kasie extra support in her ankles and she does not have to where ankle braces. After walking for the doctors, Kasie had the rest of her PT for stretching and core strength.
Kasie also asked Dr. Ashish about the blood she had in the shower this morning. At first as you can imagine it was a moment of great concern. But I checked her back for her, and it was actually just from the bandaid (big gauze pad) left from her procedure yesterday. When it had gotten wet, the blood that had been on the gauze ran. The actual injection site hole from the procedure was closed up nicely. Anyway since the blood scare in the morning, and the fact that yesterday I had actually noticed the bandage had more blood on it than the last time she was having procedures, we wanted to know why. Dr. Ashish told us that it was actually a very good sign that she was having more blood flow below her injury site. Because last time Kasie was here, when he would do a procedure there was very little, if any blood at all, and yesterday there was some blood, he was pleased with that. We also talked with him and Dr. Shroff about the leg spasms Kasie has been having recently, like since returning from her last trip. Kasie has described that when she has been transferring from one position to another, like from her chair to bed, or vice-versa, her legs spasm. They were also pleased to hear that, as they told us it is a sign of regeneration.
Video link to You Tube: Kasie walking 10-24-2008
After PT she hd her morning stem cell injection.
Spent the afternoon visiting with Elaine, and recuperating.
This evening she had another stem cell injection.
DAY 4: SATURDAY - October 25, 2008
Morning PT only, staff has ½ day as they prepare for Tuesday’s holiday Diwali – the festival of lights. But it was a very good day in PT for sure. Kasie first started off with the regular PT exercises and core strength exercises. We filmed all of the exercise for practice at home. Kasie walked with the walker from the PT bed to the parallel bars. And then she walked both forward and backwards in the parallel bars. And boy did she walk, she walked a lot. She looks strong and straight both in the walker and parallel bars, I’m so proud of how far she’s come. Her feet move along the floor much better than the last time we were here…and she said it, she doesn’t feel as drained as she used to when she does walk. She can feel the weight in her legs. She and her baby stems cells are doing a great job!
Video link to You Tube: Kasie walking with walker #1: 10-25-2008
Video link to You Tube: Kasie walking with walker #2: 10-25-2008
Video link to You Tube: Kasie walking in parallel bars 10-25-2008
Video link to You Tube: Kasie walking backwards in parallel bars 10-25-2008
Leah (from Aspen) and her caregiver Pam arrived today and we saw them this morning in PT. We think Amanda (also from Aspen) is arriving tonight.
This afternoon we went to Green Park for lunch, and oh what a nightmare. Think Xmas eve last minute shoppers at a mall, crazy traffic jam and multiply that by 13 million people in Delhi and well it was absolutely wall to wall vehicles. Almost impossible to get through it all, but with some finesse we did. Had we not already been experienced Delhi girls, it would have been a complete nightmare. We had lunch and then got some candles for Diwali, and battled our way back through it all againo get back to NuTech.
The idea of trying to get to the mall this afternoon and finding me a new computer – well we shot that one down after the nightmare traffic we had just experienced going to Green Park – and we had only walked and rolled there. No way we were going spend hours sitting in traffic in a car. Maybe another day.
Elaine and Kasie went down to the ground floor this afternoon to watch as the staff decorated the entrance area with colors for Diwali.
And I’ve been catching up on this week for Kasie's supporters to know what she's up to…so there you go.
There's no PT tomorrow, it’s Sunday, so we’ll see what we can find to entertain ourselves.
CODivegirl |
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