Patrick received his third stem cell injection today. This one was even quicker for him than previous days. We have been VERY impressed with the skill of the Dr's inserting the IV into his arm. They get it in quick, and always on the first try. No digging or probing for the vein either. Which is a huge relief for Patrick!
He has been used to having his vein missed in the past with multiple attempts or a lot of probing around. This has been going so well for him. Tomorrow is his last stem cell infusion before we fly home on Saturday.
We are both noticing increased speech. In fact, Patrick is talking pretty much non-stop. He is also singing kids songs pretty much non stop too. He was so excited on the train ride! He just loved it. It was really neat. We had the driver take us to the city of Colon' on the Caribbean side of the country. We rode the train along the entire Panama Canal. This went through a lot of rain forest and we also saw boats locking through the Mira Flores locks. The ships going past our hotel are huge!!!
Patrick is still very "stimmy" but he is also very excited by all we are doing here too. Between swimming, the train and the playground at the hotel he is having a great time. I think he has decided the few minutes at the Dr office is worth the rest of his trip! Luckily we have a TGI Fridays here at the hotel; we have eaten every meal but one here. Of course, Patrick thinks it is great because he eats "grilled chicken and fries." However, Pat and I have decided that we will probably never eat at one again after this week. HA.
The little girl that is receiving stem cells this week that is also staying at our same hotel got sick yesterday. Her dad said they had a long night. One of the occasional side effects we read about is flu like type symptoms. Patrick has been A-OK. In fact, his appetite has been great and his energy level has been high. We will run new labs when we get home to compare with a set we had taken two days before we left.
We have an earlier appointment tomorrow then Luis, our driver, is going to take us up to the Gamboa Rain forest and the Red Frog area (each about an hour from the city). We really like it here....if our other kids and our dogs were here I think we would stay longer. Until tomorrow......
Thursday, July 1, 2010
Panama Day 5 "Interesting Observations"
We have a big day planned after Patrick's treatment this afternoon. I am going on a tour of the Stem Cell Research lab this morning. I had a quick minute to type a few observations about the country and Panama City.
We are staying on the outskirts of the city near the Canal. It is beautiful here. The weather is pretty much the same year round....80's day time, 70's night time. What a climate! The trees and flowers are beautiful..vibrant green, colorful flowers. The animals native to the country are boa's, pit vipers, pumas, jaguars, toucans, iguanas, armadillos, to just name a few. We are across the river from a dense rain forest and there are crocodiles in the river. Interesting huh?
Other than the traffic in the heart of the city, everything here is laid back. Spanish is the primary language but there are a lot of pockets of small languages from islanders in some of the small regions. There is a large American presence here with people who have moved here for climate, retirement or to work in the very stimulant economy.
When I told people we were coming to a hospital and clinic in Panama they acted like I was going to a third world country without running water. Ha. :) Well my husband and I have both been shocked at the construction going on. We both commented that we have not seen construction of this magnitude going on in the US for years. I bet there are at least 20+ high rise buildings going up at once. The city skyline is amazing....think Miami etc. Several local Panamanians we have met have compared Panama City with Miami.
There are very poor sections....same as our cities but we probably plan more to "hide" these areas whereas here they are right next to exclusive condominiums or shopping areas. UNESCO came in and made the old city a protected area and now there is major re-hab and projects going on to restore these mansions and churches. We were in a church yesterday that was built in the 1600's and the altar was solid gold from floor to ceiling. The story is when the Spanish took over back then the villagers painted the gold black so it wouldn't be carted off back to Spain.
The old city reminds me of New Orleans...balconies, lattice work, beautiful wrought iron. Today we are taking the train that runs the length of the Panama Canal. We have a driver taking us to Colon' (we are told this is a dangerous "Caribbean side city") and then we will board the train for the hour ride back to the Pacific side.
One thing we did not expect is the vast amount of luxury cars and luxury goods shops. One of the main malls the "Multi Centro" has as many (if not more) luxury shops then you would see on Worth Avenue or Rodeo Drive. This is just one mall too. We walked in and I was shocked to see Chanel, Jimmy Choo, LV, D & G, Salvatore Feragammo, Tiffany, Armani, and this it just to name a few. What really surprised us though was how BUSY the mall was and that people were "shopping." I would say 95% were Panamanians and money appeared to be flowing freely. The designer Carolina Herrera had just made a stop in her shop to deliver her "newest handbag" personally. I found all this interesting to view as an outsider so to speak.
The hotels seem to be springing up, a new Hilton is under construction right down the road and the casino business seems to be thriving as well. We noticed that police presence seems to be increased right now too. The President of Taiwan and (I think Spain) are both here visiting Panama's President.
Very stimulated economy, very modern city. I will post more on the stem cells tonight.
We are staying on the outskirts of the city near the Canal. It is beautiful here. The weather is pretty much the same year round....80's day time, 70's night time. What a climate! The trees and flowers are beautiful..vibrant green, colorful flowers. The animals native to the country are boa's, pit vipers, pumas, jaguars, toucans, iguanas, armadillos, to just name a few. We are across the river from a dense rain forest and there are crocodiles in the river. Interesting huh?
Other than the traffic in the heart of the city, everything here is laid back. Spanish is the primary language but there are a lot of pockets of small languages from islanders in some of the small regions. There is a large American presence here with people who have moved here for climate, retirement or to work in the very stimulant economy.
When I told people we were coming to a hospital and clinic in Panama they acted like I was going to a third world country without running water. Ha. :) Well my husband and I have both been shocked at the construction going on. We both commented that we have not seen construction of this magnitude going on in the US for years. I bet there are at least 20+ high rise buildings going up at once. The city skyline is amazing....think Miami etc. Several local Panamanians we have met have compared Panama City with Miami.
There are very poor sections....same as our cities but we probably plan more to "hide" these areas whereas here they are right next to exclusive condominiums or shopping areas. UNESCO came in and made the old city a protected area and now there is major re-hab and projects going on to restore these mansions and churches. We were in a church yesterday that was built in the 1600's and the altar was solid gold from floor to ceiling. The story is when the Spanish took over back then the villagers painted the gold black so it wouldn't be carted off back to Spain.
The old city reminds me of New Orleans...balconies, lattice work, beautiful wrought iron. Today we are taking the train that runs the length of the Panama Canal. We have a driver taking us to Colon' (we are told this is a dangerous "Caribbean side city") and then we will board the train for the hour ride back to the Pacific side.
One thing we did not expect is the vast amount of luxury cars and luxury goods shops. One of the main malls the "Multi Centro" has as many (if not more) luxury shops then you would see on Worth Avenue or Rodeo Drive. This is just one mall too. We walked in and I was shocked to see Chanel, Jimmy Choo, LV, D & G, Salvatore Feragammo, Tiffany, Armani, and this it just to name a few. What really surprised us though was how BUSY the mall was and that people were "shopping." I would say 95% were Panamanians and money appeared to be flowing freely. The designer Carolina Herrera had just made a stop in her shop to deliver her "newest handbag" personally. I found all this interesting to view as an outsider so to speak.
The hotels seem to be springing up, a new Hilton is under construction right down the road and the casino business seems to be thriving as well. We noticed that police presence seems to be increased right now too. The President of Taiwan and (I think Spain) are both here visiting Panama's President.
Very stimulated economy, very modern city. I will post more on the stem cells tonight.
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Panama City, Panama Day 4
Today has been great. Patrick received his second stem cell infusion today. He did great. It went even more smoothly than yesterday if that was possible. We have met a lot of other people who are down here receiving treatments. We met a lady with MS who has been here for two weeks but is going through a month long therapy. She is already doing better.
We met a man who is in his 60's that has MS. He is doing a lot better. He said that he is now able to change his clothing without being held by another person. He has been here for a week. We met a retired police man from New York who has brought his thirty year old son. His son has a rare type of viral infection (I had not ever heard of it) but they knew three others from the support group they attend that had the treatment. One recovered significantly and the other two not as much.
We have met two other children with autism that are here this week. Patrick is doing great. I am not sure when to start expecting results. Friends whose son has done great said it takes about a month but another family saw results in a week or two. I think it varies per person.
I have to say that Patrick is talking A LOT. He got in our bed last night and was singing his "Sunday school songs." One thing I did notice this morning is that he was making up a story about two of the animals in his book. He told me the "friends" a dog and frog were going on a trip together. This was interesting because he typically is not real imaginative about making up stories. In fact, this would be a first.
He has enjoyed swimming all day. Tomorrow we are taking a train ride to Colon' down the Panama Canal after he sees the doctor. I will keep everyone posted.
We met a man who is in his 60's that has MS. He is doing a lot better. He said that he is now able to change his clothing without being held by another person. He has been here for a week. We met a retired police man from New York who has brought his thirty year old son. His son has a rare type of viral infection (I had not ever heard of it) but they knew three others from the support group they attend that had the treatment. One recovered significantly and the other two not as much.
We have met two other children with autism that are here this week. Patrick is doing great. I am not sure when to start expecting results. Friends whose son has done great said it takes about a month but another family saw results in a week or two. I think it varies per person.
I have to say that Patrick is talking A LOT. He got in our bed last night and was singing his "Sunday school songs." One thing I did notice this morning is that he was making up a story about two of the animals in his book. He told me the "friends" a dog and frog were going on a trip together. This was interesting because he typically is not real imaginative about making up stories. In fact, this would be a first.
He has enjoyed swimming all day. Tomorrow we are taking a train ride to Colon' down the Panama Canal after he sees the doctor. I will keep everyone posted.
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
Panama City Panama, Day 3
Patrick received his first stem cell infusion at 2pm today. He did just great and the whole infusion probably took less than ten minutes. He will get three more this week. Patrick sat in his dad's lap and was a real trooper while the nurse gave him the "stick."
I promised him that after he was finished that we would go the mall. We ended up at the one by Punta Pacifica Hospital (which was very nice). He rode a train that takes kids all around the mall and he picked out two books.
He is doing great tonight. We did not expect any side effects to begin with so he is basically just swimming and playing right now like he has been since we arrived. We are staying at the Canal Country Inn and Suites. Another great part of this hotel is that a TGI Fridays is connected to it. Packy has been eating his favorite meal of grilled chicken and fries there two times daily. Ha.
He will have his second IV tomorrow at 2 PM. I will keep everyone posted.
I promised him that after he was finished that we would go the mall. We ended up at the one by Punta Pacifica Hospital (which was very nice). He rode a train that takes kids all around the mall and he picked out two books.
He is doing great tonight. We did not expect any side effects to begin with so he is basically just swimming and playing right now like he has been since we arrived. We are staying at the Canal Country Inn and Suites. Another great part of this hotel is that a TGI Fridays is connected to it. Packy has been eating his favorite meal of grilled chicken and fries there two times daily. Ha.
He will have his second IV tomorrow at 2 PM. I will keep everyone posted.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)