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.

Hello Everyone,

In a couple of weeks (March 30th actually) we will be taking our son Drew back to China for a series of eight stem cell treatments at Beike Biotech's treatment facility in Hangzhou, China.  This will be our second trip there after having seen satisfactory results from the first series of six treaments that were a combination of intravenous and spinal injections.  Significant results experienced by our son included significant reduction (if not elimination) of delayed gastric emptying, increased head control and ability to eat normal foods without the use of thickening agents.  Gains experienced in the months after his initial treatment included increased abilities with fine motor skills (such as pointing and extending a single finer) and small gains in speech such as vocalizing known sounds easier and a few new animal noises.

We will keep all friends and family up to date during our 6 week stay through this site under the Blog section at the main page.  Be sure to keep checking back soon!

-Mike, Kristin and Drew

Drew has a couple of different diagnoses that i've seen in the past 18 months.  We've seen "cerebral palsy" and "globally delayed" on separate forms in his medical records.  He continues to be delayed in the gross motor, fine motor, and speech categories.