AVN Regenexx Stem Cell Therapy Procedure Day 2 & 3 – Blood Draw

Did you miss my previous post about my prolotherapy injections? Catch up here!

I had no medical appointments on Tuesday so we were able to spend the day sight-seeing. I anticipated my knee would be stiff and swollen, since I had woken up in the middle of the night with it that way, but I actually was completely fine! I had no discomfort whatsoever. I was surprised!

We drove to Estes Park, a little ski town about an hour away from Boulder. Estes Park sits at the base of these beautiful snow-capped mountains. Rocky Mountain National Park is one of the main attractions to this little town, so we went to check it out. Little did I know that having a permanent disabled parking placard would grant me access to our nation’s national parks… For free… For life! That was a nice surprise. Have to take advantage of the perks, right?

So with my Lifetime Free National State Park Pass, we headed into the beautiful park. Because of snow and ice, we weren’t able to make it all the way to the top, but we had a lot of fun exploring the outlooks that were open. Just beautiful, breathtaking views. Pictures could NEVER do these views justice. It was much colder up in these mountains than it was back in Denver/Boulder and it actually started to flurry a bit while we were driving through the park.

After taking in the healing mountain air, we came down the mountains and stopped for lunch in Estes Park. I do try to avoid red meat because it tends to make my joints ache, but buffalo doesn’t seem to affect me as much. When we sat down for lunch the waitress told us that their specialities were elk and yak burgers. I mean, when in Rome… Right? So I took the chance and hoped it would affect my body like buffalo does.

My Dad tried the elk burger, I tried the yak burger and my mom went with a safe choice and had beef brisket. She’s not always so adventurous 😉 haha The yak and elk tasted so similar and we’re both very delicious. Extremely juicy and flavorful. BUT, about 15 minutes after eating I started to feel awful! I’m not sure if it was the digestive enzymes that I took that made me feel sick or if it was the meat, but my stomach started hurting and I felt extremely dizzy and fatigued. Ever since I got to Colorado I felt like every time I took my digestive enzymes my stomach would start bothering me. I would get really bad heart burn and just feel off. I’m not sure if my stomach acids are now neutralized or what? After this experience I stopped taking the enzymes and actually have been feeling pretty good without them. On the way home I did some breathing exercises and held the crystals I had brought with me over my stomach. The pain started to dissipate and I began to feel better.
All in all, my knee felt completely 100% fine on Tuesday (the day after I had the prolotherapy injections).

 

Wednesday, I woke up and had to head in to get my blood drawn. I had to fast so I just made sure not to eat anything when I woke up. The blood draw happened at the clinic and took a whole 10 minutes. They took 16 vials of blood that they were going to use to spin down and extract the parts of my blood that they needed for my re injection. The guy who took my blood was extremely nice and funny… Although he was from Baltimore and was a Ravens fan though. Boooo!

While I was at the office I signed all my paper work consenting to the procedure and paid the balance that I owed the clinic. The rest of the balance owed for the procedure would be paid to the outpatient surgical center.

After reading through the paper work I came to realize the following things:
– When they reinject the stem cells there are small amounts of prescription drugs that are in the injections. One is an anti-biotic and the other is a TINY amount of a steroid. I raised concerns with the doctor over these drugs and he said there was nothing to be worried about. That the amounts used were so minuscule and they only used the exact amount that they’ve found they needed.
– If they don’t use all my stem cells they may keep them to use for research. I thought this was extremely interesting and I was totally ok with them doing this. The more research they do, the more they can benefit others. I told him if they ever need any guinea pigs for some experiments, to call me.
– I also found out that my reinjection procedure would be about an hour-long.

When I had woke up it was actually snowing! We were surprised because it had been beautiful the days before. We weren’t sure what to do for the day since it really wasn’t nice outside. We decided to drive to Breckenridge and check out the ski town. My Mom and I really wanted to go down to Colorado Springs, but when I had called down asking what it was like the woman I talked to said if we could wait for a different day to come down we should because the Cog Railroad (one of the things we wanted to see), wasn’t going all the way to the top and the weather conditions weren’t making it great for sightseeing.

Our GPS ended up taking us a back road that was completely snow-covered and very steep! It was an extremely windy road, but we got to see how the locals live! We passed some absolutely gorgeous houses!

Once we got into Breck, we ate at the Breckenridge Brewery (man I wanted a beer sooooooooo bad!), we rode the gondola up to the resort and watched the skiers having a blast! I wanted to drop my crutches and pick up skis stat! I can’t wait to go back one day and actually get to participate in the outdoor activities Colorado has to offer.

Snow capped mountains are some of nature’s most gorgeous masterpieces. I could have sat and just looked at the mountains all day long. Something so healing about being in such a peaceful, energizing place.

Up to this point it seemed like I was just a vacation… But I knew I’d be going to sleep that Wednesday night and my life would never be the same. For the better!

Most people say they’re nervous when they are going to have a procedure done. That night before, I prayed that my angels and pap pap would be with me and help the procedure be as successful as it could be… But more than anything I just kept saying thank you. I was so grateful for the experience, I was so grateful for the opportunity and I was so grateful that someone was giving me hope.

It took me awhile to fall asleep because I was so excited and grateful. I felt like the next day was Christmas morning and I was a 5-year-old waiting for Santa Clause to come! Interested in how the procedure went? Click here!

Wishing You A Pain Free Day!

 

 

 

Check out how the procedure went:

 

Procedure:

Want to know how I found the procedure? There’s a post for that 😉

Day 1: Did you miss my previous post about my prolotherapy injections? Catch up here!

Day 2 & 3: Want to know more about when I had my blood drawn for my injections? Read this one!

Day 4 – 7: Interested in how the procedure went? Click here!

Day 8: Want to read about the last day of the whole process and my journey home? This is the post for you!

Monthly Recovery Posts:

Month 1: 5 tips from my post 1 month Regenexx recovery right here 😉

Month 2: In my 2 month follow up, I talk about 3 noticeable differences I’d identified!

Month 3: 3 month follow up and 3 things I’m grateful for.

Month 4: 4 months post Regenexx I’ve been caught saying ‘this is the first time in a long time’ A LOT!

Month 5: 10 NEW things I did 5 months post Regenexx!!

Month 6 & 7: MRI update on how things are regenerating and how I’m doing without my biologic Humira

Month 8 & 9: Spent 3 Christmases on crutches and it feels DAMN GOOD to be crutchless this year!

Month 10 & 11: Back to living a normal life & celebrating things I haven’t done in YEARS!

One Year: One year celebration and update on getting a platelets treatment for a different problem!

One Year + 6 Months: I traveled to the NIH to speak at an FDA hearing regarding regulations and guidelines on stem cells. Watch my testimony!

Two Years: Celebrating 2 years of a mobile and pain-free life!

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