Friends can do wonderful things.

I am in the hospital for 7 days.  And then another 7 to 14 days of inpatient physical therapy.  The hospital staff has been excellent. Nothing has been overlooked.  I even have steady, reliable Internet.

Visitors have been something different.  Three groups have visited me.  My wife has come and checked on me.  She has her two jobs, PhD classes and the kids, animals plus the house itself.

My mother stressed me into an exacerbation.  I had a terrible night after her visit.  I will request that she stay out so that I can rest for a very long day to follow.

What does tomorrow bring?  Another plasma transfer.  Surgical procedure to remove the tubes.  Packing my toys (computer, mp3, clothes and all supporting cables).  Moving to another hospital and the settling into a new facility. 

Sounds stressful to me.

I will ask my mother not to see me today, despite it being mother’s day.

The third group was the most fun.  My godmother and her husband visited.  I concerted to Catholicism late in life and I did not want some overbearing Godmother who saw it as her life’s work to make a perfect Catholic.

Godmother and I have been friends for twenty years.  We never dated because we were closer than that.  Why introduce sex into a great friendship?  We have supported each other through life events.  And our friendship has blossomed beyond any other besides my wife.

Godmother and husband brought Chinese food and daiquiris.  The food tasted great and the daiquiris hit the spot.  After week of treatments and being away from family can make one depressed.  But I have not been depressed, rather focusing on little improvements.

I am having plasma exchange.  The doctor inserts a tube into your bloodstream and over a series of days; I have had my plasma exchanged with a synthetic.  And I am feeling and walking better.  Not CCSVI better, but I am toying with my walking.  Can I walk without a cane?  I have since the plasma transfer.  Not far only because I do it alone in my room.

Back to Godmother and husband.  All we did was tell stories and laugh.  Laugh hard.  I realized that I had enjoyed very little of my food and amazingly little of my drink.  I did not care.  I was having fun with friends laughing.  

I was a skeptic of the plasma transfer.  Now I am favorablely impressed for how it is helping me.

I must stress that my results are both unique preliminary.  Other have found help from Rebif. Rebif was in my body when my walking first started going down and erectile dysfunction became part of my life. 

The procedure has been easy.  Just lie down and let the machine do the work.  And I am feeling better.  I can walk a short distance without a cane.  My right knee had locked, and now I can bend it.

That is progress.  And I value progress.

The next weeks will hopefully continue to build improvements. 

What comes next?  I am hopeful that the growing continues.

God Bless All of Us.