I want to keep everyone updated here and on my own blog at http://davidsmsstemcelljourney.blogspot.com.
For those of you who don’t know I have had MS for 16 years and have been in a wheelchair for 10 of those years with no sensation or motor function below my waist. On the week of March 27, 2012 I had both liberation therapy and multiple stem cell transplants at CCSVI Clinic. My first blog on this site was on May 22, just a little over a week ago. I wasn’t going to blog again until I had a video to show everyone, but I felt the need to share my personal thoughts today...so here goes.
I finally got over my stomach illness (unrelated to my stem cell transplant) so I can work out again. But even though I haven’t physically exerted myself over the past couple of weeks, I can feel that my legs are even stronger. Naturally, on their own, without working out. I can easily stand now but I have to re-teach myself how to balance again because I’ve been reclining in a wheelchair for a decade. So I know it won’t happen overnight. My balance is off but I’m working on it and it definitely has improved over the past week. In fact my leg strength has improved so much, that today I did some deep knee bends without holding onto my chair, something I probably couldn’t have done even last week. The core strength is all coming back rapidly and I’m almost ready to take those first unassisted steps...without a walker, without hanging onto a chair. As a result of my past disease, my left side is just a bit weaker and although my left leg has improved greatly, it tires easily. Endurance will come with a bit more time. In the meantime, all of the deficits that I described in my last blog have continued to steadily improve: my vision, my speech, my cognition, my hand dexterity, my energy and strength..
And with my promise to be frank and honest in my post, I need to tell you all something else that I got back along with my bladder control. My sexual function has returned with a great deal of vigor! And it’s gotten much stronger in the past week since I last blogged. Today I told one of the researchers I felt like a high school kid again, and that could be dangerous! For someone who has witnessed this ability diminish greatly over the years, words really can’t express how grateful I am to have these natural ‘feelings’ back that will allow me to dream about being a husband and a dad someday. This dream was literally cut down at the knees (well, maybe just a bit above the knees) some time ago. Before my marriage sadly ended in divorce three years ago, I found I had to react to my wife in whatever feeble way I could, rather than the other war around. Before I even realized how life is supposed to be...I knew what I was missing intellectually...but what can you do when the desire has died? Now in the past week, yes, I’m thinking about girls again. I’m not going to apologize for it. I lost the years that would have normally put me into fatherhood... raising a son, a daughter if I was real lucky, watching her sing in her school play, having a catch with my son in the back yard...maybe a game of football or baseball with the whole family during an Independence Day holiday? Suddenly with a great deal of clarity...and authentic emotion... I realize what I am missing from my life and I the reality is...I want it and I believe I can have it! Surely God wouldn’t put these thoughts in my head if it wasn’t possible. So it’s now a goal and an expectation. I’m just starting a little late, that’s all! I have to believe that my dream girl and those dream kids are just there...patiently waiting for me to walk out of here and have them join me on this amazing journey of mine!
I’m working out today and I promise to get this on video for all to see as soon as I can get a routine down. I’ll post it here hopefully in the next few days, or at the least within a month.