Thursday, September 27, 2007

China Day 6: Bone marrow operation (9/27/07)





Today Dan had the operation to retrieve the stem cells from his bone marrow for processing. They extracted the bone marrow from his hip, with an incision on the left front side. Dan was awake during the operation as only a local anesthesia was used. He told me that they removed about 4 tubes full of the bone marrow substance and that it was magenta in color. The entire operation took about 20 minutes, including the anesthesia.

After the operation, it was required that he lay on his back and rest for 3 hours. They told us when they do the lumbar injection to put the stem cells back into his body (via spinal fluid) that he will need to lay flat on his back for 6 hours. We may need to watch a movie or something to help speed up the time going by! Today we watched the Success Formula training on the Nu Skin site. It was really good – it talked about having clarity and focus when working toward our goals. We need to write down our goals, and keep them in front of us so that we focus on what we really want to achieve. Good stuff!

Because of the operation we did not have occupational or physical therapy today, but we did have some Traditional Chinese Medicine. Our favorite doctor (Dr. Wisdom Guan) and his associate (William Hou) came to our room and worked on Dan while he rested. They performed acupuncture and moxibustion treatments. We have included some pictures so that you will have a better understanding. It was like smoking a cigar, except that they held the burning herb up to Dan's leg at a certain acupuncture point. At the same time, they put about 5-6 acupuncture needles into his head! This is supposed to help Dan's energy flow better and increase his energy levels. I have enclosed some pictures of todays events for your enjoyment...!

Today is also our daughter, Heather's birthday! Happy Birthday to Heather! It is strange being on the other side of the world and having a full day of events happen before Heather's birthday even gets started in the USA! It is 5:26 p.m. on September 27th here in China and my computer tells me that it is 3:26 a.m. on September 27th in Utah! So HAPPY BIRTHDAY to HEATHER! We LOVE you!!

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