Drew had his second stem cell treatment via a lumbar puncture on Wednesday, April 8th.  Drew moves around a bit too much (even after two rounds of valium!) to do such procedures safetly so this time all lumbar punctures must be performed under general anesthesia.  They warned us last time that he would have to receive the stem cells on the 3rd floor of the hospital if we decided to return again.  This is exactly what we did.  I'm not going to lie, it was scary having Drew wheeled away from us on an unfamiliar floor.  My confidence definately wavered but Drew was soon wheeled out giving us the thumbs up with a toothy smile. 

Two down, six more to go.....

After waiting outside the pre-op area everything went fine.  Drew did an awesome job during and after the procedure.  He laid flat on his back without complaining for the full 6 hours.  No complaints of pain whatsoever.  In fact I think he was relieved to have his TV time.  He is kept quite busy here.  He's receiving lots of therapy and standing time.  Also, we are able to take advantage of the great weather this time.  It's almost always in the low 70's, so we take a lot of long walks that we were never able to go on in August.

Make sure to read my previous posts.  I'm trying to catch up with my tardiness due to a really bad Internet connection for the entire first week of our stay.

Drew had his first stem cell treatment on Friday the 3rd and everything went perfectly fine.  On our first trip he had 6 treatments, this time we will be getting a total of 8.  The first SCT is always via IV just in case there happens to be a reaction, they can immediately stop the transfusion.  I would like to take the opportunity to pat myself on the back with this one!  Drew has excellent veins but is stronger than the Incredible Hulk.  The nurses are alway able to place the IV on the first try because they are very skilled and because his mother has a grip of steel!

Once they place the IV, the 500ml bag of  "Dextrose and Saline" is connected.  Then they push what is referred to as "the anti-allergen".   Due to my height advantage here, I found out last time that the anti-allergen is Decadron, a steriod.  Next, Drew is carried from our room to the treatment room still screaming obsenities.  The small bag of stem cells is then infused into the line.  Each treatment contains between 10-15 million stem cells.  Once this is infused, the nerve growth factor is hung.  Nerve growth factor is extracted from the umbilical cord serum and it's duties include to encourage growth/repair of neurons and it also enhances the potential of the umbilical stem cells that are infused.  After this Drew is allowed to return back to our room, while the final flush bag is infusing.  This whole process usually takes around forty minutes. 

During this first transfusion, Drew definately put on a show.  Lots of screaming, stomping, and slapping.  We tried reading books, coloring, and watching Dora on our laptop.  Nothing!!!  He let everyone on the 20th floor of Xiaoshan Zhejiang Hospital know exactly how he felt about the process.  We ended up taking apart the IV pole.  One nurse held it high above our heads for gravity's sake (no Alaris pumps here) and we marched down the hallways with an entourage of at least eight people.  Mike held Drew like a little prince and all of us peons trotted behind.  Mike pointed out each plant to Drew until he was satisfied with the description.  Then the master would let out a shriek and we'd move on to the next one.  We definately provided a lot of entertainment for any onlookers!

Here we are again folks!! We officially left the US early Monday morning and arrived Tuesday evening in Shanghai. This time we flew continental and had a great time. Drew's speech therapist flew with us and did a fabulous job entertaining our three year old. Luckily, Drew's “cadillac” stroller was not destroyed this time either. We also only had to bust out with the benedryl once and it was a 15 hour flight!!! Diane was lucky enough to sit next to an older gentleman in tight white pants and patent leather dress shoes...kind of like on The Griswalds Summer Vacation movie. It definitely made my trip right then and there.

Our car ride from Shanghai to Hangzhou took about 3 hours and Drew found it hilarious when people waved to us when they drove by. He loves it when people do a double take, he knows he's gorgeous and he likes to work his magic. This time they picked us up in a huge tour bus that could easily seat 12 people...we felt like movie stars.

Welcome to our website, HopeForCP.org and we hope you have found it as useful as we had fun creating it.  With all the information in the world at your fingertips today my Wife and I found that much of the information about treatments/therapy/etc for children with Cerebral Palsy varies greatly in quality and presentation.  Medical journals we found with information on CP were great but intimidating to read and often too detailed for a person without a PhD.  Other websites with information written in layman terms were good but sponsored by law firms and not caregivers, therapists or those diagnosed with CP.

Our goals with this website are to:

• Educate family members who care for a loved one recently diagnosed with CP;
• Inform caretakers, parents, therapists and those with CP about various therapies, treatments and equipment
  
• Foster communication that results in better treatments and therapies
  
• Improve the quality of life for those living with CP

As a visitor to our site we ask that you help contribute in any way you can whether it be sharing your experiences, writing up or evaluating a piece of equipment that's worked for your daughter or son or inspire others to help.  If you're someone living with CP, taking care of someone with CP or want to help improve the lives of others with CP this website was created for you!

-Mike & Kristin Ricci