About three or four years ago at our wonderful conference held in Oxford where we learn so much about new treatments and things that are being looked into now one of the topics was about stem cell therapy for those with pulmonary arterial hypertension. This is what which I have and lots of us on these sites. Sadly it was still in its infancy then as a potential to cure our disease. I took the name of the young man currently researching this and rang him a few days latter. I asked if I could go on the list to trail when that stage was reached and he was happy to do that though he did say we are a few years off yet. Well a few years have passed and darn it I cannot remember his name at all so can’t get in touch with him. Instead I did what lots of us do and researched on Dr Google and here is the latest data I personally can find.
https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/10.1161/ATVBAHA.120.315052
I did also talk to one of my specialists who himself confirms there is still a way to go yet. I have decided though to add this to my blog as I know somebody, maybe in America was on a trial for this and I wondered how she got on. I have not seen any content relating to it since so maybe if you know who it was she could give us an update? it would be very interesting for sure. Stem cells can cure so much and if only they can find the key just think - we could be cured. Our lungs would remodel to how they should be. Oh what a perfect world it would be for sure for lots of us. It would not cure any other things wrong in our world but the biggie would be gone - one day.
THE DOG LIVES
A few weeks go on one of my walks I was an onlooker to an awful thing ( I cannot say accident cos I don’t know if it was deliberate or not} As I was walking along the Promenade I saw a lady crossing the road with a dog on its lead. The dog was a gorgeous collie { I love these dogs ) and the lady was about three feet in front of the dog. A BMW car came around the wide corner sooooo fast and ploughed straight into the dog - how he missed the lady I have no idea. The car then did a u turn and sped off leaving the carnage behind. I could not believe that in a few seconds or less this poor dog would suffer so much. It was clear that he was badly hurt and the lady as I did not then know her name was screaming. There was nobody else around and anyway it mattered not. I went straight across to her and she was babbling, nothing really sensible but I knew she was taking the dog to the vet. I offered to hold him on my lap in the back of the car so she could concentrate on her driving. She had a car rug so i settled myself down with the rug and she put the put dog on my lap. He wasn’t screaming, rather he was mewling if that makes sense. Off we sped to her vets which is two miles from my house. She kept asking me if he was OK the truth was he was a mess. All the fur and skin and muscle had been pulled away from the left side of his body but was hanging off! It was clear even to me that there were broken bones. I was so worried that this poor innocent dog would have to be put down.
It seemed to take ages to get to her vets but the reality is we were there in minutes. She had rung the vet on the way in on her car mobile and said she was coming in, her words were garbled as she was in shock but I think she got the message over. On arrival I just handed her the dog and without really a word from either of us she went straight into the vets. I then had to get home with blood all over my legs and arms. I just walked and hoped nobody thought I had committed an horrendous crime. I wondered for a few weeks how he had coped, did he die, what was happening. I did say to Colin I believed I would see her one day on my walks. Last week it happened. Colin dropped me off where I generally would not walk, close to where the poor dog was hurt but another road. There was the car and there she was too. The lady it turns out is called Staff or Steff didn’t quite catch it as she was busy tidying up her sons clothes for school, tucking his shirt in etc. She was so grateful for my part and asked for my address so she could send me flowers. I refused as i would have done the same for any animal. Anyway it turns out the dog is called Jasper or Jazz {he answers to both) and he LIVES. Yes his wounds were traumatic and he has a broken pelvis and a broken leg along with having all his muscle having to be stitched back. He needs lots of physio and it will be a while before I will see him walking but oh my the relief. Friends have asked did I get his car reg and the answer is no as it all happened so fast. I noted the drivers face as he sped off but could I pick him out in a lineup, likely not. How cruel others can be to such an innocent creature as him. Be sure I shall be looking out for Jasper on my walks when he is recovered. He is only one year old so I do think that went in his favour.
TRIAL DATE
Well the guy who is in court for harassment has pleaded NOT GUILTY. Quite how he thinks 200 pages of abusive email sent to three people but copied into all in the people in the apartment block each and every time is not harassment. The lies and the content are bad as is the language. The court date arrived and when he pleaded not guilty of course another date and in the case another court had to be sorted. Well of course it had to be didn’t it that it was slap bang in the middle of our holiday dates and as Colin is chief witness he has to attend! We are gutted but so be it, we will move our holiday to a later date and in some ways it works quite well. We now must leave at the end of October for six weeks rather than the two months I had hoped in Spain. The guy never leaves well alone. He has been shouting out at the window you fu..ing wan..rs to those in the car park, deliberately banging doors at 6:40 in the mornings as he leaves to go to the all night Tesco to collect yet more booze and twenty minutes later returns to more door banging and shouting. Because of issues in the past with him it has been decided that we need security cameras on every floor. He is the only person EVER to cause any issues here and it costs a lot of money to deal with all the things that he does wrong. We need to try to stop him in his tracks. After his last court case where he was found guilty I would have thought he would have learned a lesson but it seems the demon drink is making him feel invincible . We feel pretty sure that just before his court date he will plead guilty to lessen the sentence he surely must have if the jury reads all the content of his mail. We will not give him the satisfaction of letting him know how our holiday plans have had to change. Our cleaner and her hubby are still happy with the new daters we have chosen to move in and house sit so that is one thing settled. Our ferries are booked as I do not want to fly right now and we will take many covid testing kits and loads of masks. As we will be staying at our cousins villa we are cut off from the world if we choose so will take care. We are also hoping the change of dates is still OK for Paul and his wife as we are hoping to spend a few days in our old villa and with them. They are so nice. We hope all runs as planned but there is always an issue and mine now is my back - again. We were also heading off to Scotland stopping off to see Paula (a fellow ph er) and her lovely hubby but that too is shelved for me. I cannot imagine being in a motor home with this pain, I need to walk many steps at night, in and out of bed so I prefer to stay here whilst Colin goes off and does the walking for us both! He will do lots of biking and lots of photography but for me no, I need to stay here.
MAYBE TIME FOR SURGERY
The pain I experience now is horrific Nights are spent walking the floors and my hands and arms are numb so it is taking ages to write this. The pain radiates all down both arms and my fingers feel numb yet burning at the same time whilst also feeling as if they are filled with glass splinters. Once again thanks to my lovely A Team I am being seen next Thursday by a pain specialist - oh happy days. Prof David Kiely rang me to tell me he was very pleased with my ph, he was jubilant and a lot of that is down to the denervation. I am so thankful I was given the chance, yes scary, yes painful but also how it has helped to keep my pressures low is amazing. So there we were, we were walking on the moors and David was so enthusiastic about my ph but listened carefully and took very good notes when I explained quite how my back had deteriorated so much over the last few weeks. He wrote a letter to my pain clinic asking them to see me urgently and told them he has my MRI’s which were done thanks to another member of the team, Robin, so if surgery is required to fuse my spine and I need further testing they are happy to do it. He now states my ph to be level 2 which is a great change from a year ago when it was 3/4 but most of us know how quickly this can change so if surgery is required I would want it done asap. I doubt they would wish to do it at my local hospital but Sheffield likely would as they have all the people that know how our hearts and lungs work with pah and anaesthetic.
Well enough from me now as my hands are really not wanting to work well at all and I have a chilli downstairs on the hob that will need stirring at some stage! We also have a lady due to arrive to hopefully buy a bike that was Izzys but she has outgrown it now and we need the space it takes up in the garage. At the moment we have four bikes in there along with my mobility scooter and car they take up loads of room.
Feel sure we will be interested in the mach tonight against Denmark. Hope the game goes well with nobody doing anything bad at all. It would be great to win the cup but if not well done lads for the great games. Sorry to watch Andy Murray loose at Wimbledon in his third match but good on him for trying. How i wished Hazel Roberts who lost her life when having her transplant was alive, she too loved Andy and we had many discussions whilst watching him play before he had his his hip op.
Take care and warm love. Thank you for reading.
Carole xxxxx
