12:30pm Costa Rica time, they wheeled him in, very groggy and a little out of it. I'm going to start with the good stuff.
He has more movement in his left hand and arm which had gone lame. He can open his left hand and rotate his wrist. Which is amazing, he also could give a left hand thumbs up!!!!!
The nurse came in and his blood pressure, tempurature, and pulse all were great. Another nurse came in and check the incision and everything is fine.
I will post more info when we have it, not much to tell because he isn't allowed to move his leg for 4hrs and he is taking a nap.
Thanks to all for the prays and well wishs
Thursday, August 19, 2010
Just killing time
Here are some photo's of our Costa Rica trip
Beautiful Flowers
The Ground at the Hotel
Beautiful Flowers
The longer he is out the more veins they are opening up, currently 3.5hrs out of his room. Will post as soon as he is back.
Day Three - The shave
Hello everyone, thank you for your well wishes and prayers.
We were up and on the road by 6am. The best part of this trip so far has been the company that was hired by Passport Medical to pick us up and drive us to all the appointments. The staff are very friendly, fun and calm while driving. After two days of being in Costa Rica I know that I will never, ever drive here. The road are narrow and with car eater pot holes (I call them small sink holes). One of the drivers said to us "in your country people that swerve on the road are drunk, people in my country are drunk if they drive straight"
We made it to the Hospital no problem. The Hospital is beautiful, everything looks so brand new and Don's private room is huge. It has an Ikea like futon, a big comfy chair and huge bathroom.
Nurse came in and helped get Don into his gowned, then the shave. We were told yesterday by someone who just had the surgery that my mother should shave Don's groin area. They usually enter through the left leg just below the crease in your groin area but shave the other side incase they can't enter through the left. Well this turned into a joke that lasted the whole day. How much to shave, don't nick anything, Brazilian? or landing strip? Well turns out they opted for the nurse, a trained professional to do it.
Next was a neurologist who ask Don some questions about general health. Does he have any allergies, do you smoke, eye sight... pretty much the same as yesterdays neurologist.
Then we had a part of the surgical team come in and talk with us. One of the reasons to come to Costa Rica (using Passport Medical, no way we could have don't all this on our own, no way) was the cost, the proximity, physiotherapy, and the Doctors here are doing it right. They are going above and beyond and here is why. The surgeon said that there is currently no guidelines for the amount of stenosis in a vein so if there is ANY stenosis the doctor will open it up. The nurse/interpreter told us that yesterday she was in a surgery and the Doctor was opening small viens around the back of the heart. She thought that was amazing.
Well that's where this update stops, they just wheeled Don out to surgery so the next update will be in a few hours.
Info email and they want to keep in touch
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
Day Two - A day of rest?
Day one was a day of travel, Day two recoup from travel and check out the hotel and grounds, Day three PreOp and surgery. Sounds great!!!!
Day Two, everyone was up early. We head down to the restaurant and have breakfast. Fresh fruit, cheese omelets, toast, and waffles, very tasty. After breakfast, Luis (From passport medical) took us around the gardens. Wow, there are some very nice hotels in Costa Rica but The Hotel Bougainvillea must have the most beautiful gardens of them all.
10 acres filled with butterflies, flowers, coffee bushes, orange and banana trees, even bird watching towers. Luis said that Costa Rica has more species of birds then North America has total. The gardens have a path bricked path winding through all 10 acres so Don can drive has scooter and enjoy them.
We checked out the pool and weight room where Don will be doing his physio after the surgery. The pool looks amazing and the weight room is quite big. We met Gabby who runs the physiotherapy and she was very nice. Turns out she tried to do a physio assessment on Don this morning but we were out for breakfast.
Well it turns out the day of rest is a full day of PreOp stuff. We arrived in Costa Rica late, had a snack and went to bed last night. What we should have done is check the information board, it would have told us that Don has surgery tomorrow at 6:30am and needed to have all the PreOp stuff done today.
We met up with Gabby at 11am and she tested strength in Don's arm's and legs, circulation and feeling as well. She was very nice and explained that Don would start in the gym and when his incision healed he would do physio in the pool. If we had any questions Gabby's email address would be provided for us to write and receive answers.
After we left Gabby we all piled into a van, Don, Donna, Gary, Betty (new friends) Me and Luis (driver) and we drove over to a private clinic that they just started using. Don and Gary were the first Passport Medical patients to be sent there. It was amazing, far nicer than a clinic in Vancouver. It was a bit of a waiting game as the doctor was running behind. As soon as the doctor arrived Don was taken into an exam room.
The doctor was great but didn't speak a lot of english. No worries as Passport Medical had a translator there to ask our questions and explain what the doctor was telling us. The Doppler exam (ultrasound) took about 50min. Way more thorough than the False Creek exam with a more advanced Doppler machine. But, the same outcome, there is something wrong on your right side, the Venogram will show more.
After the Doppler, Gary went in for his ultrasound and we waited. Once Gary was done we were all tired and were ready to go home. Except that we were told that they both had to have EKG readings on their hearts. The kicker, the EKG Doctor wasn't there.... So we waited some more. The Doctor arrived and it took him 10min to get a reading on both and we were out the door.
I think we were there for about 4 and a half hours, half of that time waiting. Funny thing is it didn't matter. Everyone is so happy to be here, and everyone understands that they have double the patients because of the "balloon incident" and having to rebook everyone.
After the clinic we jump back into the van and drove back to the hotel, about 5mins away. Before we could walk through the front door we were greeted and told that the Neurologist was waiting to do her assessment of Don and Gary.
Holy cow, for a day of rest this is turning into a marathon. We all go to Don's room and the Neurologist starts asking her questions. Do you have trouble with your eyes, Bladder issues, Balance, Strength, Can you walk unassisted.... That with the knee tap test to see his reflex and she was done. Don is a 6.5, yup means nothing to us to. I guess the higher the number the more dependant you are on others.
There you go, a full day of PreOp. Up early tomorrow, I've been told that the hospital has internet access so I should be able to post in the afternoon on how everything goes. Also if something doesn't make sense or you would like more info about something please just leave a comment and I can fill in the blanks. Sometimes the brain doesn't work well on little sleep and lots of anxiety.
Day Two, everyone was up early. We head down to the restaurant and have breakfast. Fresh fruit, cheese omelets, toast, and waffles, very tasty. After breakfast, Luis (From passport medical) took us around the gardens. Wow, there are some very nice hotels in Costa Rica but The Hotel Bougainvillea must have the most beautiful gardens of them all.
10 acres filled with butterflies, flowers, coffee bushes, orange and banana trees, even bird watching towers. Luis said that Costa Rica has more species of birds then North America has total. The gardens have a path bricked path winding through all 10 acres so Don can drive has scooter and enjoy them.
We checked out the pool and weight room where Don will be doing his physio after the surgery. The pool looks amazing and the weight room is quite big. We met Gabby who runs the physiotherapy and she was very nice. Turns out she tried to do a physio assessment on Don this morning but we were out for breakfast.
Well it turns out the day of rest is a full day of PreOp stuff. We arrived in Costa Rica late, had a snack and went to bed last night. What we should have done is check the information board, it would have told us that Don has surgery tomorrow at 6:30am and needed to have all the PreOp stuff done today.
We met up with Gabby at 11am and she tested strength in Don's arm's and legs, circulation and feeling as well. She was very nice and explained that Don would start in the gym and when his incision healed he would do physio in the pool. If we had any questions Gabby's email address would be provided for us to write and receive answers.
After we left Gabby we all piled into a van, Don, Donna, Gary, Betty (new friends) Me and Luis (driver) and we drove over to a private clinic that they just started using. Don and Gary were the first Passport Medical patients to be sent there. It was amazing, far nicer than a clinic in Vancouver. It was a bit of a waiting game as the doctor was running behind. As soon as the doctor arrived Don was taken into an exam room.
The doctor was great but didn't speak a lot of english. No worries as Passport Medical had a translator there to ask our questions and explain what the doctor was telling us. The Doppler exam (ultrasound) took about 50min. Way more thorough than the False Creek exam with a more advanced Doppler machine. But, the same outcome, there is something wrong on your right side, the Venogram will show more.
After the Doppler, Gary went in for his ultrasound and we waited. Once Gary was done we were all tired and were ready to go home. Except that we were told that they both had to have EKG readings on their hearts. The kicker, the EKG Doctor wasn't there.... So we waited some more. The Doctor arrived and it took him 10min to get a reading on both and we were out the door.
I think we were there for about 4 and a half hours, half of that time waiting. Funny thing is it didn't matter. Everyone is so happy to be here, and everyone understands that they have double the patients because of the "balloon incident" and having to rebook everyone.
After the clinic we jump back into the van and drove back to the hotel, about 5mins away. Before we could walk through the front door we were greeted and told that the Neurologist was waiting to do her assessment of Don and Gary.
Holy cow, for a day of rest this is turning into a marathon. We all go to Don's room and the Neurologist starts asking her questions. Do you have trouble with your eyes, Bladder issues, Balance, Strength, Can you walk unassisted.... That with the knee tap test to see his reflex and she was done. Don is a 6.5, yup means nothing to us to. I guess the higher the number the more dependant you are on others.
There you go, a full day of PreOp. Up early tomorrow, I've been told that the hospital has internet access so I should be able to post in the afternoon on how everything goes. Also if something doesn't make sense or you would like more info about something please just leave a comment and I can fill in the blanks. Sometimes the brain doesn't work well on little sleep and lots of anxiety.
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
Day One - Travel
Hello everyone,
Today was the first day of our trip to Costa Rica. We were up at 5:30am and out the door by 6:15. Everything was really smooth for the most part. The cab ride we beautiful with zero traffic, the airport was a breeze, check in, security and customs all zero issues. The first flight was great, no turbulance and a prefect landing.
Dallas was hot, I mean really hot. Exiting the plane onto the skywalk way, holy smokes. All of 15 seconds the walk took but you started sweating after the first 5 seconds. The only minor blip at the Dallas Airport was they changed our gate of departure. Fortunitly it wasn't to far and that's probably the one airport after YVR that I know my way around, (D terminal at least).
The second flight was better for me as I had a whole row to myself (which is good karma as I gave up my seat so a little girl could seat with her daddy on the first flight). Don and Donna had it good up in business class sipping champangne and eating Sirloin and Crab. Although maybe to good as Don's body decided to not hold him up and he went a$$ over tea kettle and smashed his elbow.
Well after a pasenger picked him up and the flight attendants patched up his arm, he took a nap on the plane and is feeling much better now.
We were picked up by Wilfred (from passport medical) and he drove us to our hotel and gave us the five cent tour along the way. At night Costa Rica is beautiful so i can't wait to see it in the daytime. The best way to describe it for me is it smells like the Bahama's (humid and lush) and looks like the Algarve in Portugal. Now if that means nothing to you, you need to start booking trips because they are both beautiful.
The hotel is great, the staff are very friendly. The rooms are HUGE and very clean. We stopped in at the bar (restaurant was closed) and had a drink and snack. While we were there we met Claudette who had the surgery done three days ago and doing well. Claudette hasn't seen any overwhelming difference in her symptoms but is very upbeat. We also met Steve who is from Quebec and his wife Suzy had the surgery yesterday. Steve told us that Suzy HAS seen overwhelming relief from her symptoms. She is walking without a walker, has warm hands and feet and has taken back control of her bladder.
Everyone here is so happy it is addictive, you can't help but smile at this hotel.
I am exhausted so if any part of this ramble didn't make sense i'm sorry and i will edit it tomorrow. Here is film of Don at the Costa Rican Airport.
Today was the first day of our trip to Costa Rica. We were up at 5:30am and out the door by 6:15. Everything was really smooth for the most part. The cab ride we beautiful with zero traffic, the airport was a breeze, check in, security and customs all zero issues. The first flight was great, no turbulance and a prefect landing.
Dallas was hot, I mean really hot. Exiting the plane onto the skywalk way, holy smokes. All of 15 seconds the walk took but you started sweating after the first 5 seconds. The only minor blip at the Dallas Airport was they changed our gate of departure. Fortunitly it wasn't to far and that's probably the one airport after YVR that I know my way around, (D terminal at least).
The second flight was better for me as I had a whole row to myself (which is good karma as I gave up my seat so a little girl could seat with her daddy on the first flight). Don and Donna had it good up in business class sipping champangne and eating Sirloin and Crab. Although maybe to good as Don's body decided to not hold him up and he went a$$ over tea kettle and smashed his elbow.
Well after a pasenger picked him up and the flight attendants patched up his arm, he took a nap on the plane and is feeling much better now.
We were picked up by Wilfred (from passport medical) and he drove us to our hotel and gave us the five cent tour along the way. At night Costa Rica is beautiful so i can't wait to see it in the daytime. The best way to describe it for me is it smells like the Bahama's (humid and lush) and looks like the Algarve in Portugal. Now if that means nothing to you, you need to start booking trips because they are both beautiful.
The hotel is great, the staff are very friendly. The rooms are HUGE and very clean. We stopped in at the bar (restaurant was closed) and had a drink and snack. While we were there we met Claudette who had the surgery done three days ago and doing well. Claudette hasn't seen any overwhelming difference in her symptoms but is very upbeat. We also met Steve who is from Quebec and his wife Suzy had the surgery yesterday. Steve told us that Suzy HAS seen overwhelming relief from her symptoms. She is walking without a walker, has warm hands and feet and has taken back control of her bladder.
Everyone here is so happy it is addictive, you can't help but smile at this hotel.
I am exhausted so if any part of this ramble didn't make sense i'm sorry and i will edit it tomorrow. Here is film of Don at the Costa Rican Airport.
Saturday, August 7, 2010
On the catwalk
He may not be a super model but he sure can strut his stuff. 10 days and counting!!!!
For anyone reading about studies done in Germany and Sweden, I'll through it back in there faces. Show me the study that debunks Zamboni's discovery in a double blind research study with more than a 100 patients. That's what you ask for and you don't even do it yourself.
As for the articles in the Edmonton Journal and Ottawa Citizen, every single person with MS wants research done to see how the Liberation Treatment could assist in curing MS. We don't believe this puzzle is finished. We believe that this treatment is a piece of that puzzle and we just found that piece lying on the floor.
Every single person with MS would pay for the Liberation treatment. Self funded research if that is what it takes. We all want to know how this new found missing piece fits into the MS puzzle.
Sunday, August 1, 2010
Arm strength before the operation
Here is a video of Don's arm strength. It was done in the morning so he's pretty fresh. I will also post a video tomorrow of his walk.
After we reach Costa Rica, I will take some more footage of Don worn out from the trip to compare against this one and the post operation film.
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