Janice is now three weeks post stem cell infusion and here is an update. She had headache, nausea and vomiting for 3-4 days post infusion, and complained of back pressure for about 2 weeks. Janice is quite flexible, and this was significantly decreased post infusion as bending over to blow dry her hair in an upside down position was impossible. Never did she have a fever.
Today, she is back to pre infusion status. Her flexibility has returned, and she has no negative effects. She has not seen or felt any improvements at all. She still has fatigue, and numbness to her left hand and to somewhat of a lesser degree to both feet. Prof. Slavin said "The effect of MSC's is not rapid. Cells must differentiate and home to target areas so no effect is expected so soon." I am thinking that since she has so many lesions this may take a while. While we are anxious to see results, it will be months, not weeks for the stem cells to do their work.
Of the four girls that received stem cells on that day, the other three all thought they saw change soon after the infusion, although one said it didn’t stay that way for long. We hope to stay in touch with them and we wish them the best possible outcome.
Janice continues working at Enterprise Car Rental, and is in her second semester of the Speech Therapy program at Nevada State College, (where she previously earned her BS). She continues with her exercise although not to the extreme she had done prior to her diagnosis of MS.
Melinda
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