“I’ve been here now for 11 days. My improvements have been absolutely phenomenal. So on day 1 my cognitive behaviour, just like every MS warrior, all over the place. I struggled with the simplest tasks, I had lots of pain, I was dealing with headaches, I was dealing with tingles in my legs and feet, I was dealing with numbness of my arm, as well as obviously not being able to think properly and crying over the smallest things.
11 days on, this is how quick it is, I really cannot believe it, 11 days on I’m here, talking to you now. I haven’t forgotten a word I said, where’s before I would forget my sentence. I’ve not experienced a headache when talking, which again I used to be thinking of what I’ll be saying next, which would cause me a headache, which would then cause me to forget what I’ve just said. So I’ve got none of that going on.
11 days and the progress has been absolutely phenomenal. I’ve got no numbness down my arms. My legs are still a little bit… Well, my legs are OK, my feet, which were on the pain level, I’d say they’re 10, and now they’re on the pain level of maybe 2 or 3. So they’ve gone really down.
The stem cell procedure itself, as you can see, all they do is a few cannulas go in. They take your blood, they give you some liposuction and take your stem cells from your fats in your belly, but again, I was expecting a big thing when they give you liposuction, it is… You can’t even see it on the outside… Where is it? There. It’s only a tiny little wound. Does it hurt? Not really. So the only thing that really hurts is the injection, but like all injections hurt, it no different from any other ones. The same with the bone marrow, I don’t know if I’ve still got a mark, but they take it from the back. Again it’s just a pressure injection. It doesn’t… Well, I can’t say that it doesn’t hurt, because all injections hurt, I hate needles, so I think everything hurts, but on a pain scale, it’s nothing really.
So they take those fats and bone marrow stem cells, they harvest them and they give them back to you within the same day, which I couldn’t believe, ‘cause I thought it would take a while to get the centrifuge to split them up and things, but all in the same day. And then they give you a drip and let those in. And now, while they’re doing this, that one goes in, every day though, you have a daily infusion where they give you 3 bottles of drugs, mostly vitamins and minerals to detox your body and help the stem cells grow. So that happens every day.
And they also give you, what I think is really cool, a laser injection. So they inject you with a cannula, this needle goes in with a bit of string attached to a machine. They turn the machine on and then this laser goes in. You’re not allowed to look at it, so I did. But you’re not supposed to look at it. So that I think is fascinating.
And then the last thing is pain management. Now, they tackled this two ways with me. The first method is they put you into a deep sleep using again just some sort of injection. Now that does hurt a little bit as it’s going in, but there will be a vein and then within 5 seconds, you close your eyes and 2 hours have gone passed and they’re walking you back into your room. What I can say about it is, you feel a little bit ropy afterwards, but within an hour you’re back to yourself and I think that has really improved the pain that I’ve had.
The other way is a gas mask that they put around you. You feel like you’re in “Top Gun”, like a pilot, they pull it around you, you’re breathing in and out and it’s very relaxing, you don’t go to sleep, but you’re just there, relaxing, taking it all in. Unfortunately, because the mask was really tight, it gave me a headache, which lasted a day, so that was the reason why I don’t think I had it again.
So that’s the pain managements if now I can tell you about the actual clinic itself. The clinic, first of all, the rooms are fantastic. I’ve been given 2 room, luckily enough. My first room was across the hall and it was a lovely room with a bathroom, a big TV, everything that you wanted. However, due to my feet being crap, they get really hot at night and I explained to the doctor that, you know, it felt like my feet were in the oven and I couldn’t sleep, well I’d woke up at night because of it. So within 15 minutes he went away and came back and offered me this big room, which is a two-person room, it’s got a fridge/freezer, it’s got a table, it’s got a double bed and it’s fantastic. So the facility is absolutely brilliant. I’ve not experienced anything like this in my lifetime and I’ve been to many hospitals, in many different countries.
The last thing I’d like to say is the staff. Now, I’ve never ever felt like I do about the staff here. They are just absolutely fantastic. You probably hear this on every video, but that’s ‘cause it’s true. There’re there to help you. It’s not like… Well, I come from England, we have the NHS, where if you see a doctor in a week you’re lucky. I mean, you’ll see doctors every day, constantly, you’ve got this little buzzer here that if we press it I bet the nurse will come in within minutes. And all the nurses are absolutely fantastic. Not only are they fantastic, they speak English… Speak of the devil and the nurse is here now! So as I said… That was about 10 seconds. I’ve never seen that sort of care in the UK. The nurses in the UK are good, but the nurses here are brilliant. They are here to help constantly, they joke and laugh and smile and are just friendly in general. So that’s for the nurses.
As for the doctors and the professors, they explain everything to you clearly. If you’ve got a problem understanding like I did have in the first few days, before my stem cells kicked in and I could speak like I am doing now, they’re quite willing to sit down and wait and listen to you. There are translators here that, again, will help you translate and get your point across. I think that’s all I’ve really got to say.
I’m just absolutely ecstatic I came here. I had to self-found to get here, but that’s not important, what’s important is that I’m here, I’ve had the treatment and I am 110% better I’d say. Not just 80%, not 70%, a 110%. The fact that I can go through a whole day without having to fall asleep. I’m not tired, I’m not in pain. So I would recommend this to everyone. You don’t need chemo to cure MS.“
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Medical Advisor, Swiss Medica doctor