Day 27 - Piotr & Dagmara, my Polish heroes

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I returned Ashamed to my sickbed. This was not good. Cardiologist is pissed, and rightly so. The exercise of the stairs was maybe a little unnecessary. Okay, I will try to sit on the edge of the bed and be spanked on my fingers.  

Piotr Pawluczuk

My concerns proved to be unfounded, Piotr came with a big  smile into my room one moment later. It's good, the procedure went well yesterday. He examines me thoroughly. I had to do a number of neurological tests. If I'm not mistaken was also an ultrasound examination. 

He says that the surgery went well. Blood flow in the jugular vein was restored to 70% from almost non-existent. He had found several constrictions that he had successfully expanded. He also said that the next month is important to see if the blood flow will function over time. He says he will write me out of the hospital in a few hours. 

The last hospital lunch

After a while the nurse with a syringe. She wanted to exercise injection technique with me. I asked her where she wanted syringe? She looked horrified at me and said, It is YOU who will have the syringe - Not I. Okay, where should I have it? In the stomach? Subcutaneous? I opened the package and put the used syringe in my stomach flesh. She watched with open mouth and exclaims - that was unnecessary. I replied that I took daily injections for several years. She walks out of the room smiling. 

Next visit the room was neurologist. She reviewed my medical records and MRI images from yesterday. She gives me about the same draw as I received of my neurologists in Sweden. She thought that I was able to experience some improvement after the successful surgery yesterday. She also said that I would be aware of that some improvements may go back. 

I was discharged in the afternoon with a bag of syringes and tablets. I hobbled down the corridor with my roller bag and my crutch. When I got out of sight of the medical team and the staff I gave me the crutch and the bag to my wife. I went by myself, slowly but by myself. 

We return to the hotel in Warsaw. I had with great appetite tossed in my mouth the chicken club I had for lunch at the hospital.

Now we are at the restaurant at the hotel. I was hungry and thirsty. Party time. We did not even go up to your room, but right into the restaurant. 

Club Sandwich and a giant beer, please. And quickly. Once the food has been served, I were token the sandwich in my right hand and the large beer glass in left. I eat and drink at the same time. My wife stop talking and sit quietly and stare at me in surprise. I ask, what? She replies thoughtfully, Dennis, you´re holding the glass in his left hand and drinks. 

That I have not seen in many years.
To be continued..

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Today at the Rehab

Dagmara Somow

The last full training day. I had to admit, I am a little bit tired. (please don´t tell Dagmara) I has been training 27 days in a row.

All days has been full days except for one. It was a half day.  I will wait until I reach Swedish soil before I give my final statement. But I guess, you know what it will contain.

Now I am sitting in the bar, and writing the last post on Blogger from Poland this time. 

I am looking at the glass of beer above in this post... No... I can not... Or can I... No I can´t... Maybe a glass of vine... It contains no sugar, gluten or red meat. Or maybe I go for the vodka... No I can´t, it contains alcohol... 

I go for the wine. That´s only vegetables.

I want to dedicate this post to Dagmara and Piotr. They really meant a lot to me. The improvements I did on my first visit to Poland in 2011 still largely remain. The fucking crutch I had with me four weeks ago, I leave in Poland. :)

 

Day 26 - Liberation

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CCSVI Liberation 
It was a little uncomfortable when Piotr punctured vein in the groin. A moment later, I thought of the text of Eva Dahlgren's song. "It lives somewhere else in my body"... It was a strange feeling when Piotr drove the probe up through the body, with the accompaniment of Queen, "We Will Rock You". It was rock-n-roll for real. 

It was very interesting to see on the monitor is exactly what happened in the body. He showed and told all the time what he found, and how he corrected the stenos-is. After the last enlargement, I felt that my feet were getting warm again. 

The procedure was completed in less than an hour. When I came up to the room again, my wife ordered pizza. Last meal has been breakfast. I was hungry as a galley slave. I had to lie still on my back for 12 hours. I was certainly not supposed to get me up or tighten my stomach. My wife fed me pizza, the Coca Cola I drank with a straw. After my feast, she went back to the hotel. 

I wake up after a few hours and was pee for real. I waited a while, maybe the nurse would come in and look at me. The alarm button had dropped on the floor, so I had no use of it. I could scream, but at 2 o'clock at night, it would bring the entire department to a standing position. 

The nurse comes in at 3 o'clock. I told her, I have to pee NOW! She smiled and shoved the pelvic bottle at the shelf on the bedside table. Completely within my reach. I fill the bottle to the brim, empties out a bit in my coffee mug and a little to the empty glass on the bedside table. Then pee a little longer. It was liberation for real. After that I fall asleep until morning rounds came and woke me up.

The bandage was removed and replaced with a small swab. I was still not aloud to get up before the doctor looked at the wound. She arrived a moment later and gave me the green light to gently go up and take a shower.

I felt good, and could feel that the body response was a little better. Obviously I want to test my ability. I walked slowly back and forth in the hallway. It went much better than yesterday. To increase the difficulty level a bit, I went out into the stairwell. I went up two floors. No problem.  

On the way down I met Piotr in the stairs. He looked very sternly at me and shakes his head.

DENNIS - BACK TO YOUR ROOM - NOW!
To be continued...

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Today at the Rehab
I will always try to do everything a little better. In particular if I can do a exercise good, I will try to make it a little harder. All the machines in the gym has a build-in computer. When you enter the machine you put a small USB key in the machine.

This morning Dagmara took my stick. I did not use it yesterday, and she asked me why. I told her the weights and the count was lady-wise. She re-programmed it and gave it back to me with the words, Dennis now you can do the machines.

Pull-down

I took the stick and putted it in the pull down machine. The display told me to put on 25kg and do 15 repetitions. 

Good now we´re talking. I used to do 10 at 20kg. The machine then told me to take 1 minute break. I passed the message after 10 seconds. Next set 30kg and 15 repetitions. Puh, that was heavy. Next machine... No... I was not finished, Rest for one minute. I used the full minute. The third set 35kg and 15 repetitions. Well I can handle the weight but 15...

Rubber-band

Next it was my turn to make fun of my self. I ordered 5 meters of red rubber-band from the shop. Then I put the rubber-band under my feet and tied it around my leg.  

The aim was serious, I would help my left leg to release some weight from it. 

Everybody did laugh at me, but it worked. I was just looking for the feeling that the left leg will follow the right. It succeed.

We did an extra walking test today to verify the results from yesterday. MS is a strange decease, not two days are equal. Today result were better than yesterday. I can feel the difference between the days, but it is hard to explain to others.

Now I have it on paper.  

Item 3, Quality

What ever you look at, put in your mouth or take in your hand is very well done. It is 100% quality, no compromises. For example, the training pool is seventeen meters long made in stainless steel without joints. Impressing. The indoor climate is good and comfortable. The WiFi is covering every square inch of the building with good speed. There is soft music in all common surfaces with good sound quality. My guess, it is as good as any Design Hotel in the world.

Now it is time for me to go back to my room. 

Tomorrow is the last full day.


 

Day 25 - Final tests

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St. Anne's Church, Warsaw

CCSVI 
When I came home from Africa began planning my trip to Poland. I had tickets booked to the 25/4-2011. I had a long flight to and from Africa in recent memory. It was a long distance between the gates at the airports. I practised a tactic to find a shopping cart in the Duty Free shop and have it as a walker. Even so, I spent all my energy trying to make it in time to the gates. The walks did indeed I slept well on the plane when I got on board. 

It was with great anticipation that I and my wife went to Warsaw that morning. My expectation of the surgery was sober. My condition could not very be worse if I were described for surgery. 

When we arrive to Warsaw, we were pick by ambulance at the airport. I was both frightened and impressed. We was driven to a hotel inside the Warsaw to rest overnight. We took a taxi down to the city for dinner. We tried to walk a little in the old city, but after a few hundred meters, my legs say stop. Taxi again, back to the hotel. 

Hospital

The next morning we picked up at the hotel for transport to the hospital. It was with some scepticism I went into the ward. Premises felt a bit 60's, with the dreary and cold colors. Once inside the clinic, I was greeted by the warmth. I was shown into a private room. The staff comes with coffee and explains what will happen. 

There were many studies and tests. Everything from blood tests to ultrasound and MRI. My knowledge of Polish was non-existent, but I knew something was wrong when I did the ultrasound examination. The doctor rattled off a long time and well here she looked at the right side. The left side was almost entirely without comment. 

Surgery
It was not until late on Wednesday I was told. Cardiologist Piotr Pavluczuk come into my room to report the result of the investigations they have made. He says that the jugular vein on the right side was completely blocked, but there was a very small flow when I lay on my back. All other values ​​were okay. 

You are qualified for surgery! We do the surgery at 19:00 this evening. 

The afternoon was devoted to preparing for surgery, shaving, drip, and some little red pill that would soothe the psyche a bit. Just before the surgery, I am moved to a roll. The journey through the long corridors to the basement and I end up in a state of the art operating room with equipment and monitors everywhere. 

Right as it was, I heard loud music. Queen. Piotr had started the stereo at high volume, and comes up to me in his lead clothing and asks if I'm ready. 

I answer - HELL YES
To be continued...

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Today at the Rehab

Find the right ticket... Ass-hole!...

I can feel this period is nearing the end. It is not that I am lacking anything here, but I miss my family.

Today we have continued to document all exersises on video. Dagmara has documented and commented every move.

We also did the walking test again, and compared it with the previous one when I checked in. The result was acceptable, my spine has not been corrected much, but I use the left leg in a better manner. That is why I don´t need my crutch indoor now. 

For me that is a big victory. I will continue with the exercises when I get back home.

Today I could provide Dagmara with some new input. To help the left leg we used some rubber bands to help lift up the foot and leg when walking. I did a similar test at Frykcenter in Torsby Sweden, but tomorrow we will take it a little bit longer.

Today ended with a good back massage and then the needles. I would have provided some pictures last week, but they got lost. 

I am happy we were starting with the massage... :) 

Day 24 - Film

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... April 2011, part 2 
I had my doubts about this trip to Africa. Would I be able to keep the pace of the trip. It was a business trip combined with pleasure. I had great trouble walking, and lifting the feet. It's a long flight between Stockholm and Johannesburg. Although there is no time difference, it is a long trip. 

We arrive at Johannesburg in the morning. We did go directly to Nelson Mandela Square. When there, we eat a good lunch at a meat restaurant. Then direct the cars to Mabula Game Lodge, located about 200km from Johannesburg. The farm is located in a national park. I was hoping to see the "Big Five". The animal I have left on my list is the cheetah. The others are checked. 

We were out on safari in the morning, in the evening and at night. It is a magical feeling in the savannah during the night. All sounds and smells. I can guarantee that everyone jumped high when hyenas approached in the darkness. When the lion came towards us in the evening sun, all sat flash still. 

The image etched into my memory was from morning safari. Approximately 15 Zebras are grazing when the sun is coming up. Further away were some wildebeest. Closest to the Jeep, poked some wild boar in soil.

Cape Town

After a coupple of days at Mabula the journey continued to Cape Town. There began the visit with a visit to one of the townships. There, we visited a local bar with beaten earth floors and a single 3-liter bucket to drink their homemade beer in. Someone paid a couple Rands, and then the waiter dipped the bucket into a barrel half full of brew. The bucket went all round, then another Rand and it went on down the barrel again. 

Shantytown school

The next visit was to a school. Ninety children between 3 and 6 years was employed by the three teachers. They had some stuff to play with, the were few. We had bought some footballs, they were gone as quickly as the kids. Soccer match with five balls, was in full swing. Misses were then able to show us the school for a while. 

The next child who whines at the school back in Sweden, I will personally give a very long detention. 

Township is an organized chaos. It is a spectacle of colours, scents. A maze of alleys and yet a certain organization. There are people everywhere, and all the cooking is done on the streets. It is still clean and tidy everywhere. People are curious and helpful. 

Hells Angels 

The next morning we were driven to a beach café for breakfast. We all was about to putt the morning coffee in our throats, when a 50's Harley Davidsons parked outside the café. We get orders to go out and choose a driver. The journey went up along the coast road. The journey ends at a small port. 

RIB boat 

Regrouping the RIB. We went at 50 knots towards the south pole. The aim was to round Cape Horn. This is where the Atlantic and Indian Ocean meet. The waves were 10 feet high, so I had to keep my self in everything I could find. When we got to the harbour again, some my friends have to lift me out of the boat. 

In addition to what I already told you it was very good lunches and dinners. Something I got hooked on the menu was a springbok. A really nice deer with half meter long sharp horns resembling clone on an earwig. Will running buck cornered, he just turns his head and laces his opponent. There will be an African kebab skewer. 

To be honest, it was a nightclub visit in Cape Town.

Africa is a powerful and wild country, and Cape Town is a very odd city. 

I will try to take me there again. There is so much more to see and experience.

I would like to thank everybody who supported me through the trip. My legs will not let me do this again.
To be continued...

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Today at the Rehab

Well, stop dreaming, back to Poland and rehab. Today as always, the schedule was full. This morning Dagmara was back on duty. Then I know, vacation is over. All exercises are documented on film the last days.

We was starting with Redcord and the gym. Then down to the pool for water aerobics. Short break and lunch, then change clothes for horse riding.

Stable
The session in the stable went OK today. I was in good shape, but the horse wanted to have a day off. She was listen to me, but as soon as Renata moved, the horse followed her instead of mine commands. Renata told me to increase speed, and I tried. Nothing happened. She just stand still and looked at Renata. Then Renata started to run, and so did Gwiazda, the horse.

Thanks god, there is no pictures from that. Gwiazda started to trot, and I was all the time meeting her half way. Now I understand what it means to get it from behind...

Item 2, Rehab planning

Now I get the whole picture how the training was planned. The first day at the Rehab, was used for testing and measuring my ability's and disability's. From the test results the training program was made. I also got a twenty pages report showing with 3D pictures and describing in words what is not working. I understand why I have no pain in my arms and chest. Those parts are function as the should. No energy has been waisted on them. Just legs and cord. That has been very effective.

Every exercise I do aims to strength my cord muscles. I had almost lost the feeling for the when I got here. Now I can move indoor without crutch or cane.

Just three days left. ;(