Lab Rat #19

 

 

This post should explain my recent absence at My Odd Sock.  Enjoy!

 

 

 

Maybe you have had the urge to give back.

Maybe by making a donation.  Or taking part in a benefit MS walk.

Well, since I don’t have money to spare….and walking has become as awkward as chatting with a priest, I decided to do the next best thing…..and volunteer for a research study.

 

Little did I know the study my doctor asked me to join would be so dang important.

Turns out this was the Phase One clinical trial of mesenchymal (What the?) stem cell transplantation in patients with multiple sclerosis.

Twenty-four MSers were chosen.  And I am lucky number 19!

 

 

My doctor said it was the first study of its kind in North America.

And the most comprehensive study of its type ever conducted.

(I began to feel like one of the original NASA astronauts.  I even like Tang!)

 

The description of the study contained a lot of scientific-medical jargon which had to be dummied-down to my level of understanding.

 

In essence, they will take stem cells from my bone marrow…culture them to be fruitful & multiply…then, infuse them back into My Odd Sock.

Apparently, early tests worked in mice with a mouse version of MS (Just imagine the tiny wheelchairs!) with positive results, so why not try it on humans.  (The success with mice explains my recent affection for cheese!)

 

I figured what the heck, might as well give it a shot.  Shots of FDA-approved medications haven’t done anything to help, so why not let the body try to heal itself…using mesenchymal stem cells (What ever the hell they are!).

 

But before that could happen, I had to be medically-screened.  This amounted to a battery of tests.  Seems I had to give everything except a stool sample!

They looked at my history & previous medications.  They took vitals.  I had vision tests.  I did the nine-peg test so many times I had calluses!

 

An MRI confirmed I had nothing between my ears.

Blood tests.  Chest X-rays.  EKG.  25 foot timed walks.

I gave a urine sample….and needless to say, because of a shy bladder, I kept them waiting!

 

Last, was a test called a VEP (Visual Evoked Potentials) which involved having electrodes attached to my head, then watching a flashing checkerboard pattern on a monitor.

 

I told the technician he would need more electrodes for my gynormous head.

In fact, I offered to get the jumper cables from the trunk of my car!

The VEP test determines how quickly your processes the changing checkerboard on the TV.  (The test sounds cooler than it actually was.  Pretty boring, I say.)

 

 

My bone marrow aspiration happened several days later.  The doc collected marrow from my hip bones in a quick & pain-free 30 minutes.  (Can’t get a pizza that quick!)  I didn’t even take off my shoes!

Now, we play the waiting game while my stem cells party & culture in a laboratory crock-pot.

Hopefully, the infusion will happen in a couple of months—and hopefully yours truly will have some positive results to report…..not just for me, but for YOU as well.  As Phase One is a small, shuffling step like that of an MSer.  But with success, the future will allow bigger leaps and more wide-spread studies.

 

 

Till that day, you can find me in my cage as lab rat #19.