3-20-08

This is my last night in Texas for a month or so. I have been packing and cleaning to prepare to leave. I have so many thoughts and feelings about my upcoming trip to Lima, Peru, to get umbilical cord stem cells. Am I scared? Yea, maybe a little. Its my first time out of the country and I do not know what to expect. Am I nervous? Yep. I'm getting an experimental procedure with stem cells. $24000 has already been paid for this procedure, so I feel like the pressure is on to recover. Am I happy? Oh yea I am. I'm super stoked and optimistic about where the stem cells will place me in my journey to recovery. I almost can't imagine what it would be like to be back on my feet and walking around. Oh how I want to be back to my crazy, energetic self... out of this chair and bouncing around that before my injury. Will I have a full recovery? Probably not a complete recovery. By this I mean, I will probably not recover to the point that I'm walking around with no signs of an injury. Maybe Ill be walking with a walker, or maybe even without one, but being able to stand when I need to, or being able to climb steps would make my life much easier. Even better, regaining sensation and function of my bladder and bowels would be the ultimate return if anything from this procedure. I am so ready for something. A sign.... a Miracle! I know that God is my ultimate physician, so I pray that He would mold these stem cells into my spinal cord & nervous system and bring me back to my feet. I'm so ready for this.... Come along and join me on my journey to Peru and recovery. Night from Texas! XOXO

3-30-08

Today is the first day of our journey to Peru. My parents and I left the house around 4am to catch our 6am flight to Houston, TX. Thanks to my smart scheduling, we had a 8 hour layover in Houston before we flew out at 4pm. Brad and his parents met us in Houston so we could enjoy the 6.5 hour flight together. We had a great time boarding with the other "16 wheelchairs." Ha. I have never seen so many people concerned about so many wheelchairs. The Continental staff were running around all worried like we had told them a bomb was on the plane. Not really, but they were so worried... and come to find out, Brad and I were the only 2 who could not stand from our chairs. Kinda funny! We have a good time joking about it, but it really is frustrating at times when people want to call themselves "handicapped" or "disabled" when they can easily jump up and move around from their chair. Its the same as people who have handicapped hanging tags for their vehicles. I just love watching someone park in a disabled spot and hop out and walk into a store, or watching someone take the spot because "they will only be a minute." Sometimes I just want to park behind them to teach them a lesson, but knowing my luck, they will be crazy and back right into my truck. They are "disabled" remember? Ha. Anyways, I'm getting off track... back to my trip. 

We arrived in Lima Peru at 1030p and we soon found out how different it was from the US. I think the language barrier is the hardest part about visiting another country. One advantage of being in a chair was that we got to move to the front of the mile-long line for Customs. Even though the flight staff moved in front of us. Once we got our luggage, we exited the airport to be greeted by what seemed to be the entire country. Ha, not really, but the crowd was very large. Everyone was holding signs displaying the names of people they were waiting on. We found our names and proceeded to the vans. Of course, these vans were not equipped for wheelchairs or accessible to get into. Brad's van took off and we sat in the parking lot. Confused about what we were waiting on to leave, we tried to communicate with the driver, but no luck there. Finally, someone else got into the van and we began our adventure to the clinic. 

Driving in Lima could scare someone to death. No one followed the street signs or lights. its like a game of chicken. Its also fun to see 3 lanes on the road but yet 4 cars driving next to each other. I was just glad to NOT be driving us to the clinic. Once arriving at the clinic, we were directed to our rooms by the staff who did not speak English. It was REALLY hard to tell the staff that my room was not accessible, such as the step into the bathroom or the bed that was about 4 feet high. We finally got the info across to them and I was moved to the first floor to a room that would work. Still not fully accessible, but fortunately I am able to transfer better than others so I could make it work. 

After our first night there and realizing the language barrier and lack of accessibility, I began to ask myself "What in the world did Brad and I get ourselves into?"  We will see what happens.... More to come!