a Stem Cell Chinese Experience

A day's Special Thought - Out of Thin Air

2012-01-28T13:36:00.000-05:00

Go all the way, push people. Make it happen. If you can think about it, you can do it. What is your excuse? Drop it. Dance as if no one can see you. Sing as if no one can hear you. Cry as if no one can feel you. Help. Extend your will, share your power. Talk, never shut up. Your friends are the family you get to choose. Smile. Embrace. Love. Win. Always win no matter the outcome. Smile, tell a joke, inspire. Think, execute and do not regret. Listen. Love. You!

5 Eternal Years...

2011-11-09T11:10:00.001-05:00

There she is, somewhere, watching closely. Not liking all she sees but trusting those she trusts. Always expecting the best and giving all, unconditionally. Communicating through gestures, love and smiles, there she is, somewhere. If you ask she will answer, quietly, warmly, lovingly. For what she was best I am made out of it now. Not a bit less I love her today, not a bit more I wish I had another chance. For the love, the hugs, the smile; there she is, somewhere. Cheers.

Are You App’solutely Sure You Are on the Right Track?

2011-06-02T20:21:00.000-04:00

I am pretty sure we wont remember when it got to us, when it got to be part of our daily lives. Once you woke up, you picked up the paper and browsed through the news. All of a sudden we are writing, we are tweetin’. We write about others and we @mention and we use #hashtags, we are using symbols, hieroglyphics? We are curators, limited to 140 characters regardless of whatever it is we would like to say. We love to update our status, what we are thinking, what we are doing, where we are. We are selling our personal information but we are not getting paid; we’re facebookin’.

We buy phones we can customize, we buy “smartphones”. We load hundreds of apps and we spend countless hours on each one them. We engage in long term data contracts, gigabytes is our new gold; forget 1,500 minutes, unlimited nights and weekends, that’s history.

There is a lot to question about the future of voice as an application, an “over-the-top” service now? With speculations that apple for example should be looking into acquiring a mobile carrier placing FaceTime, its video and voice communications platform as the center of the iPhone, it simply blows my mind. It opened up my eyes, it makes so much sense.

Come to think about it, really, there would be no voice plan on your mobile phone service; no voice on a mobile phone! Of course not, the data-only service plan with access to hundreds thousands of apps already available, music and video streaming, VoIP becomes another native service, running just as your highly acclaimed Angry Birds game or even Facebook. Voice, as we know, it’s for singing; VoIP is for talking. Scary but true.

And so, the voice mail goes; yes you guessed it, it will go too. The so much popular service, used by so many for such a long time will eventually disappear. Why? IM. Simply IM. Why call and bother someone when you can just drop a single note: “call me, I need to tell you something.”

So I was just thinking, are we really, app’solutely on the right track?

on Maruja - Mother's Day 2010

2010-05-11T09:11:00.000-04:00

For what you are, I miss you. For what you were, I admire you. For what you wanted to be, I love you; for what you got to be, I celebrate you. For you I love and for love is to be you. You made the strong out of me and you made sense of what I am. Forever I will be grateful, and forever my love I give to you… For the greatest mother I got to have, Maruja, this is your day and this day I give to you.

A New Beginning

2009-07-30T08:41:00.004-04:00

It has been a while since I picked up a pencil and a piece of paper, or should I say, picked up my computer and started typing. It feels as if while I was getting lost in translation, I was finding peace and tranquility; now that I am back home, I am lost in the routine. I was brought back to this filthy place where it seems things are happening for us and not by us. It is almost as if we where reprogrammed the minute we stepped out of the airplane.

It is good though, back with my beautiful daughter and amazing son which I missed so badly while being away for so long. My office, my desk, my environment; those things that when I breathe, they provide me with such positive energy that a smile builds up around my face. But it's only a couple of things that really have such an effect on my daily routine while so many step on my way uninvited. It is good to have learned to admire the good and the bad, the nice and the ugly, to accept the challenges as facts and turned them around for a profit. It was good to think straight for a while, to organize myself, my thoughts, my behavior, it was all worth every millisecond.

Now life goes on and the challenge still remains. It has been about a month and a half since we got back and we have noticed very little changes in our baby, although little changes can become big changes if we do not let ourselves run out of patience. My wife has been so dedicated to this little person that it is simply admirable and I could not doubt for a second that with her persistence and determination, there is no other way but up.

I am in constant research in order to find solutions and answers; little by little, step by step. And there are solutions out there, only that not a single one will produce real results, but it is when in concert that they will shine up in brightness and color. Wait, and execute, wait, and execute some more.

For the past ten years my life has trained me to be a scientist, a man in constant look for logical answers into every problem and situation I face. It actually brought me to think and to write: if it doesn't have a scientific explanation, it's a religion. How and why did I come up with such a statement? It doesn't really matter, it is a way of looking at things specially when your professional life demands it.

So I get the chance to resolve many technical issues every day of my life because my job demands it. See, we are in a business that has been evolving since the early nineties and it's still not homogenized or standardized. All elements across a network are not close to compatible to each other, yet we make them work. It's as if you go to an international convention and for the purpose of making communications easy, it is held in the widely popular english language. However, there is the guy from Denmark with its own perception of the english language, having a conversation with the Russian who is not agreeing with the German because the French, yes, the French, has to say no to everything. So there you have them all speaking in English yet not understanding the intentions in their words to the full extent; it is an english speaking communication environment to the 67.42%. I get the chance to make things work, I twitch them, I change them, I kick them until they get to do whatever it is I want them to do. I get to repair the conception of many of my colleagues that a simple "that does not work" will do for them; not for me my friends, not for me.

The challenge presented is somehow more controversial. The chance and opportunity presented has been now to repair a human being, to give it the right we all have to live a normal life and enjoy everything this universe has to offer. The challenge is to play God and to play the doctor. Although I'm neither, I have been taught to seek and constantly seek for answers, and to try everything with every possible variable until all resources are exhausted. It is what I am, it is built in me, and I thank the universe for giving me such a challenge to prove myself that if you put your mind into something, you can really get to its achievement. Everything has a logical explanation, nothing is just "what it is". So I will dedicate my efforts and resources to see this through and only to prove myself and to show myself that in this huge and black-holed aligned universe, there is a way to succeed.

Well my friends, that time has come. The time in which I get to work and face all my challenges. But something has changed in the process, I will be heart and mind, body and soul, and not just an individual piece separated from the core. So I leave you here and hopefully see you soon.

Love you all, always and forever.

Tuto.38

Back Home But Not From Where I belong

2009-06-14T08:53:00.006-04:00

I left China last Friday, that's why I did not have the time to write here. I left China and I feel a part of me stayed there, it feels weird. It was a very long trip, from the moment we left the Hospital until we got home, took some twenty nine hours. It was a little over two hours to go from Hangzhou to Shanghai where we flew thirteen and a half hours to Atlanta, Georgia. We had a three-hour layover in Atlanta, which turned into five because they had to close the airport due to very bad weather around the area; a very long day after all.

I got home at around 2AM but I was able to sleep during the long flight so it didn't feel that bad. In any case, 2AM here in Miami, but my body was already set to the far away eastern time zone, so it was really 2PM. I was a bit worried that it was going to be hard to go to sleep, but I worked around it and it just went fine.

When I got home, the first thing I saw was beautiful bottle of an eighteen-year old Buchanans, my favorite scotch, which my beloved brother Guillermo had left for me as a welcome gift. As you might recall, I only had a few beers during my trip (and may I say, terrible Chinese beer) so the small detail turned into a big surprise. Simple things my friends, simple things. After setting up all the luggage inside the house, I poured some over ice, no water, just ice, and enjoyed the amazing moment while relaxing and thinking about my past thirty days. It felt weird; I felt weird. There was a very strange mood around me, even the air smelled different. I kept thinking about China, with my eyes closed, and thanked for having such a wonderful opportunity. I realized how different this journey had been, but not because of the purpose of the trip, that is just obvious, but how it had changed me. And change is a process, a very complicated one, so everything that is going through my mind is completely opposite to what I expected. My mind is taking long and complex shifts, not even knowing what is it that I really want. But so I read, it is completely normal and expected and it should be OK in time, just more patience and it will come.

It is obvious that the first thing I did when I woke up (and after taking a shower of course) was to run and pick up my kids which I missed so badly. I felt the urgent need to see them, hug them kiss them. I missed them so much it was starting to bother me, but after some forty eight minutes driving, I got to do all that! The very next thing would be to grab some lunch, after all I had not eaten for a long time. So I met Guillermo my brother at our favorite restaurant, Graziano's of Coral Gables, an Argentinian steak house comparable to none and we all had lunch. There, I satisfied some other important needs I have missed for so long; a perfect cut Vacío (Argentinian Imported Flank Steak) which cannot be left out without a perfect Muga Reserva (a Rioja, red wine from Spain) to go with it. It was a meal I cherished from the moment I left, and I got to enjoy it so much and in such good company. The third thing I missed very much as well was my office, and that I get to do this Monday; maybe you don't get me, but I can't wait to go work!

Now that we are back, we have to play the waiting game. According to the doctors, we will see some improvement on Marujita after three months following the treatment, so patience is required. I am pretty sure everything will go as planned, but obviously you always want things to happen now, no waiting. So I will follow some of the principles I studied while in China, and I will live the moment and not worry about the future. I will remember China as one of the things that made an impact on my life, and I will enjoy those memories because they are nothing but good. A dream of happiness my dad would say, and tomorrow, a vision of hope.

I am extremely grateful to everybody and I cannot thank you enough for all your messages of optimism and hope. I was there alone, physically yes, but thanks to you I felt surrounded of your good and positive spirit and that is more than any human being can ask for. I kept thinking on the purpose of the trip and some words kept coming to mind. My beautiful mother always had to say this, but in Spanish, so I don't know if it will make much sense: the worst effort is that which you do not make. And it is so true, we just have to move, to shake our world, to go out and do it. Period.

I will leave you for know, I have to prepare breakfast for the kids who are very particular at this important meal. Pancakes, eggs, bacon, orange juice, the works! I will see you soon, love you unconditionally, always and forever.

Tuto.38

Por La Amistad (Spanish Only)

2009-06-10T22:30:00.006-04:00

Para mi gran sorpresa, algo increible acaba de ocurrir. Acabo de recibir un email con un documento anexo que sencillamante no podía creer. Trata de un email que envié hace ya once años a mis dos queridos hermanos, Alejandro Burgaña y Othman Gamero. Realmente no recuerdo el por qué, solo recuerdo el motivo por el cual escribía ese email; estaba celebrándo quince años de amistad con ellos.

Para quienes no saben, yo entré en el Colegio San Ignacio para primer año de bachillerato, proveniente del Jefferson Academy. Mis dos primeros amigos, ya adivinaron, ellos dos. El Colegio San Ignacio de Loyola definitivamente está en mi "top five" de las mejores cosas que me han pasado en la vida, y me siento una persona con mucha fortuna por haber tenido esa oportunidad. De cinco colegios a los cuales apliqué y fuí aceptado, el Colegio San Ignacio fué la constante insistencia por parte de Maruja. Poco sabía ella el gran impacto que eso iba a causar y no solo por el tiempo que estuve ahí, sino por el legado que eso ha dejado.

Todavía, después de veinte años de graduados, celebramos una vez al año el ser Ignacianos, a través de un día familiar en Miami donde participan todos los exalumnos del colegio; somos aproximadamente 100 familias, es algo increible.

Entonces yo creo que todo ésto dejó mucho, porque como muy bien dice Othman, el destino nos unió a los tres finalmente, en la misma ciudad y a no más de quince minutos en carro (eso dice Burgaña...). Todo pasa por un motivo, cada vez creo más en eso porque cuando comenzamos a poner todas las piezas juntas de éste rompecabezas infinito, todo comienza a hacer un sentido increible.

Acá los dejo con el email que escribí hace once años, celebrándo mi amistad de quince años con ellos:

QUINCE AÑOS DE AMISTAD > Por Carlos F. Lahrssen > Para: Alejandro Burgana y Othman Gamero

Con doce apenas con que contar, a un mundo nuevo acabo de llegar. "Colegio San Ignacio" comentaban los de gran conocer, un buen colegio decian todos los demas.
En una tarde Caraqueña como cualquier otra, un descanso merecido nos acaban de dar, claro, los tan reconocidos Apostoles de nuestra institucion "los padres" del Colegio San Ignacio se les solia llamar.
Se acercan dos individuos con una gran peculiaridad: me pregunto, quien es el blanco que la playa debe desconocer, quien es el que tanto habla que no deja al blanco hablar. "Que mas chamo?" en sentido coloquial dice el blanco cuando el otro lo dejo hablar. Alejandro Burgaña, pero me dicen Burga; Othman Gamero, pulga. Que tal? contesto yo, Carlos F. Lahrssen, Tuto. Quince años. Quince años fueron creados en tal anterior minuto coloquial. Quince años llenos de verdad, quince de honestidad. Pero mas importante aun, QUINCE ANOS DE AMISTAD.
Para unos fue, aquel hermano que nunca sus padres trajeron. Para otros fue, dos hermanos aun mas con que contar. Contar sin que importe la cuenta, porque en realidad se resume todo en QUINCE ANOS DE AMISTAD.
A Dios gracias le tengo que dar, pero ni Dios sabe en que cantidad. Por lo mismo expreso mi extremada gratificacion, a mis dos amigos por QUINCE ANOS de amistad.
Siendo esta una extraña ocasion, mis ajenas palabras anteriores quedan resumidas en la siguiente expresion: Son mis dos hijos de puta mejores amigos del alma, son mis hermanos, son mis mejores QUINCE ANOS DE AMISTAD. Son el apoyo que siempre me hizo falta y que siempre me hara; son los mejores panas que cualquiera quisiera tener. No, maricon, no estoy rascado, estoy disfrutando hoy, 16 de agosto 1998, de QUINCE ANOS DE AMISTAD!!!!!!
Y una historia tan larga queda resumida, porque solo una palabra describe el puro sentido de esta intencion. Amistad.
Ahora si a Dios gracias doy, por el tiempo que queda y no por el que paso. Por aquel dia Caraqueño que nuestras vidas cambio, cuando el par de individuos a mi se presento. Burgaña, Pulga, y? "Y?", no existe razon, valor, diccionario, enciclopedia, u otra forma de definicion que a tal simple letra significado le puedan dar, mas que claro para nosotros tres, "Quince Años de Amistad".

>>Sinceramente,>>>Carlos F. Lahrssen> (Tuto)

Ésto es sencillamente increible "...por el tiempo que queda y por el que pasó..." veintiséis años después y acá estamos juntos, prácticamente en la misma redoma; el tiempo que queda...

Bueno, un nota referente a la amistad, cortesía de Othman que no sé que pacto tendrá con Steve Case y logró excavar lo suficientement profundo para encontrar algo así. Por la amistad, por mis amigos, mis hermanos, y por Angelito que sencillamente hay que nombrar.

Un abrazo a todos y se les quiere profundamente, eternamente.

Tuto.38

21 Million

2009-06-10T09:53:00.006-04:00

Seventh injection, mission accomplished. I think I survived the ordeal but I will not know until I get back! Getting back means getting half-way around the planet; it means a fifteen hour flight over the North Pole and then heading south to Miami. It is not a direct flight though, it's going to be a very long day. We start by traveling from Hangzhou to Shanghai (and I am writing this with fried noodles in my stomach and a fresh cup of green tea) which is about a two and a half hour drive. We will then fly from Shanghai to Atlanta, GA, and after a three-hour layover, we will fly to Miami. Total travel: 24 hours.

Well, on the good news now, Marujita had her injection just as if she had a bottle of whatever it is she drinks; slept before and continued sleeping after the treatment. I hope she will pull an all-nighter because last night I did not sleep that much.

We have watched three movies today because it is the only way to speed up the day. See, the closer the departure date, the slower the days. I can't concentrate so reading is a bit boring. I read three books anyways so I think I covered an important quota for this month.

Twenty one million cells have been transplanted into Marujita's system. What is next, you might ask. Well my friends, it is a waiting game. It is a time in which nothing but hope, optimism and positive mind will have to be our priorities. I feel very comfortable because with friends and family like you, I have no doubt this is an award-winning, happy ending story.

I will go flat on my back now, I'm really tired and for the first time in twenty nine days I actually feel the need for some sleep. But expect me to invite you home for green tea and have a chat. Someone mentioned when I get back, we should get together and have some whiskey. I need your help here, what is whiskey? How does it taste like? I think I heard about it before but nothing comes to mind right now.

I will leave you again with words that my favorite person alive, my dad, wrote to me some twenty five years ago. I know I already posted it, just want to keep on repeating it because every time I do, it makes more sense:

Yesterday is already a dream and tomorrow only a vision.
But today well lived makes every yesterday a dream of happiness
And every tomorrow a vision of hope.

cflv

I leave you all for now, love you all unconditionally always and forever.

Tuto.38

Massage in West Lake

2009-06-08T23:10:00.014-04:00

I got my massage yesterday and it was both very good and very relaxing. There is a very nice place for all these kinds of treatments, near West Lake. The place is called Dragon Fly and although it is a high end massage therapeutic center, it is very inexpensive. As I mentioned before, it costs RMB135 which is around $21, and this for a full deep tissue, Japanese, one hour massage.

It is hard to tell if the lady was from Japan or China, but one thing is for sure: she was very tiny but had the strength of a big Norwegian woman. She could squeeze all those pressure points really hard, making my muscles almost feel numb and totally relaxed. If you haven't taken a massage, you should, specially if you feel any stress. The reason I am telling you is because you can feel when she starts putting some pressure on a specific area where the muscle feels tight, almost as if it had a knot. As she goes around that area, you can feel your muscle stretching out and almost becoming flat, back to its original shape and position. I am not sure of what amount of pressure is good, but every time she would ask if the pressure was OK, I would say yes; despite a little discomfort at first, it is worth all the while later. Perhaps even a massage goes buy the same principles I have written about before: To enjoy pleasure, you must experience pain. Well, it goes for a massage, no doubt there.

After the massage, we went to another local market to buy some presents to bring back, as well as more green tea and Jasmin tea. I have now an acquired taste for Chinese tea, and besides being very healthy, it is actually good. It was very warm and humid yesterday so we didn't spend much time there. We grabbed some dinner and headed back to the hospital.

I almost went crazy because I thought I lost my blackberry, which was later found on the driver's car and brought back to me. If you have a blackberry (and I don't mean a cell phone or an iphone, I mean a blackberry) you know what it feels like to loose it, specially being far away from home. The little time I can dedicate to work with my office in Miami, I do using my blackberry.

Marujita is doing good during daytime, but waking up in the middle of the night, every night. I have a problem, and it is that if I wake up in the middle of the night, it takes me about two hours to go back to sleep. There is not much to do around here at 3AM in the morning, not even reading because if I turn on the lights than nobody goes back to sleep.

Today I had to fill out a survey from Beike, the biotechnology company behind all this. I felt a little confused because based upon what the doctors have told us, we can see any improvements to start showing up between three and five months after treatments. The survey kept asking if I saw any improvements on different aspects and behaviors of Marujita; I guess that not everyone is the same, and since this is still an experimental procedure, anything can happen. Actually, CNN had a report on stem cell treatments outside the USA and basically telling that it makes no sense to pay for a treatment anywhere if it's something not proven yet. Well, I guess in the acronym CNN there is no "H" for hope; all numbers and figures, the US way of handling things. And of course, since all research and development was banned until recently when Obama lifted the ban, I guess they are realizing all the revenue they are loosing to international medical centers who have adapted this treatment and are conducting it on a commercial basis.

I don't know if I mentioned this before, but Duke University in North Carolina has spent years doing research on stem cell treatment, and they have treated kids with conditions similar to Marujita's. Well, we contacted them, applied for treatment and sent them all possible medical history records, including MRI and CT scans. Although they have successfully reversed the condition on some kids, we where rejected. Marujita did not fit the profile based upon their research criteria. What a waste don't you think? Being able to give someone the opportunity we all have but having to back up for some bureaucratic policies.

Anyways, we are here, she will have one last injection tomorrow before we leave on Friday. I really want to get back now, I am tired and I miss my life!

I took some video of part of West Lake. This is just one part of the lake, it is actually at least five times as big, but since I mention it so often, I took a short video for you to see how it looks like. You can see one of the Pagodas far behind, just as the video starts. There are several around the lake, as well as temples and museums. It is a very interesting place to come visit, if you don't mind the eternal flight over here. Also, I took some pictures of the park adjacent to the lake; it i very well taken care of and perfectly groomed everywhere.

Well, it's going to be a slow day today. We can't go out because she has an injection tomorrow. Besides it is raining outside so we might as well stay indoors.

I will meet you here next time, but for now, love you all unconditionally, always and forever.

Tuto.38

Madrid, Montego Bay, Coffee and Gazpacho

2009-06-07T12:12:00.004-04:00

It was a slow, warm and humid Sunday. It's starting to feel a lot like Miami around here, although we are not getting all the rain. We had a good night sleep last night, Marujita woke up only once and for a very short time so we went straight up to 10:30Am!

We went out to West Lake with the Klump's for lunch and some sight seeing. The truth is, it was way to warm and humid to just walk around, so we had lunch and went to the Shangri-La Hotel to check it out. Let me tell you, for a Shangri-La Hotel, I am completely disappointed; this looked more like your local Hampton Inn.

In any case, another funny thing happened today. We were walking around looking for a place to eat lunch, when we saw this place called Jamaica Coffee Shop. The outside menus had pictures of some good looking sandwiches, so we just got inside to check out the place. It looked like a normal coffee house, like any other Starbucks, so we went ahead and got a table. We got our menus, and to my surprise I found Spanish Tapas, a list of Spanish wines, Gazpacho, Paellas and Jamón Ibérico sandwiches! They even had Tortilla Española, but wait a second, Jamaica Coffee Shop? I am not pretty sure if geography is a subject they put interest too in school here, but as far as I know, Jamaica seats on the Caribbean while Spain, well you know where Spain is. It was funny, but I got myself some tortilla, a cold Sangria and a jamón ibérico sandwich. If anything, it was completely unexpected.

I'm going to tell you something, I am going to miss all of this when I go back home. Simple things are just popping out almost on a daily basis and I am truly having all the fun. Also, another group of Chinese ladies surrounded us to check out the babies. I might have some Chinese aura around me because they started talking to me in in Chinese. Well, very simple, for every time they looked at me and said (or asked...) something in Chinese, I answered in a longer sentence but in Spanish. So there we where, some five ladies in their early fifties talking to me in Chinese and I was just getting back in Spanish; sort of like walking into a Jamaican Coffee place and having a list of plates from Spain. Weird day, confusing.

Well, I will have to go flat on my back now. Even though tomorrow is kind of a slow day around here, I will go out for a massage so I have to wake up early to get through my daily routine fast. I am pretty sure I will have some story in relation to that massage; I don't no why, but things around here turn out to be different, like bizarre, something always happens!

Love you unconditionally, always and forever.

Tuto.38

Not Much, Just Bauer on 24

2009-06-06T11:15:00.003-04:00

We've been watching 24 all day, not much a do here today. We couldn't go out because she had an injection yesterday, so we will go out all day tomorrow Sunday.

She had a great night of sleep, so we did too! I woke up at 10.30AM, and here that is so far a record. Most of the week is going to be slow because she will have her next injection next Wednesday. She will have her regular therapies, including acupuncture, on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday; Friday we are on for the fifteen hour flight to Atlanta and from there to Miami. It would be a very long day and the twelve hour difference will make it, well, twelve hours longer.

So I will see you here tomorrow; I will try to take as much pictures as possible from West Lake so you can have an idea of how it looks like. We will do some local market shopping and probably head down to the Shangri-la Hotel for drinks.

Love you all unconditionally, always and forever.

Tuto.38

One More and Off We Go

2009-06-05T02:57:00.014-04:00

Marujita had her sixth injection today, and everything went as planned. No crying, no pain, the proces took no longer than fifteen minutes. However, she did not sleep well last night, so neither did we. I don't know if all those fifteen million cells working there have anything to do with her poor sleep. She is not hyper or has any kind of insomnia, she just goes to sleep and wakes up very often crying. It's as if something is hurting but I have asked her sevent five million times and no answer yet, she does not pay attention to me!

We didn't come here to sleep and this is not a hotel. We just have to carry with these events as they come; eventually, everything will be alright. At least we will be back home very soon and getting back our normal lives will help us plenty. The bad thing about not sleeping is that I can't seem to organize my thoughts and it takes a deal to concentrate and read. I am trying to relax through other methods of reading by going into news web sites and other blogs. This way, I can read short paragraphs, dedicate my attention and when I loose interest I can stand up and walk and do it again later. By the way, I have been reading news about my country, Venezuela, and it seems things are getting far worse. I feel pretty bad because I had the opportunity of spending some 23 years in my country and I had the chance to enjoy almost everything it has to offer; still do actually. But I feel bad because that is not the case for many of Venezuelans and that is just not right. I do not know anything about politics, it has never been my field of interest, but anyone can see how a single person destroys a country on his own agenda.

I would like to tell you about a web site I use to read the news because it is so convenient you might want to give it a try. It's called DailyMe (www.dailyme.com) and it belongs to two good friends of mine, Eduardo Hauser and José A. Zozaya. Basically it allows me to preselect which kind of news I want delivered to my inbox in a perfect .pdf format. You select an industry or a subject and then utilize keywords to tag those news that are of your interest. For example, if you are into technology, you would select: Technology>Software>Hardware> Cisco>Apple, and every time there is an article from a source they utilize (and they do have plenty) it will be on your news brief. Give it a try, it's easy to use and it's free.

OK, back to me now. I am going a bit crazy I think. I am talking to my computer. I love the classical board game, Backgammon, and there is a free version that comes installed on apple computers which is so good. Now, the thing is that you play against the computer but with a virtual opponent, Luna. There is a point in the game where I can't move my chips if she had played it right and when I do so, she goes: ñañañañaña! Like a baby, and today Alejandra caught me giving her the finger and cursing back at her. I am starting to think that this treatment will balance in terms of the results; it will reverse Marujita's condition but it will drive me crazy! the worst part is that there is no stem cell treatment for nut heads, so I guess I will end up in a mental hospital. It's just another bad joke, but I am in fact talking back to Luna.

Our friend Brad from next door left today. He has a condition that is totally degenerative and stem cell treatments can promise so much. However, he is a young man with all the will and faith to have come to China for treatment and for that I am very proud of him. Sometimes we feel bad, like the world is on our shoulders. It can be a bad relationship, problems at work or just a simple bad and crappy day. But let me the one to tell you, there are people with greater problems than that and are still pushing forward, stopping for no reason. they don't care if doctors said this or said that, they saw a tiny light at the end of the tunnel and the stepped on the pedal. I think we all have to think about this because we cannot let the small stuff ruin our day, and let alone our lives. Things are out there which we do not control, we have to learn to accept them and learn from them. If you want to feel pleasure, you have to experience pain. If you want to see the light, you must experience darkness first. And so the story goes and I think you get the picture, so let's try this and see what happens!

A homeless came knocking on some wealthy person's house. It took a couple of minutes before someone answered the door. Finally, this individual opens the door, dressed in a well built expensive black suit, and asks the poor man "Who are you and what do you want? Why are you knocking on my door? And the homeless answered "Sir, I am sorry if I disturbed you in the middle of the day, but can you spare me with some food and water, I am very hungry." Completely amazed by the situation, the wealthy man answered "Why should I give you anything old man if I don't even know who you are; nobody here knows who you are." The poor man looked down, as if lost, but suddenly lifted his face and saw the rich guy straight into the eye and said "But I know me sir, and I know myself, and that is far better than anything else. What good would it be if everyone around here knew me, including you, but I would not know myself?"

There is no end to this story, just a small reflection on what the world has put us to believe and to follow. I just wanted to tell it, it helps me think that if we don't know ourselves, if we do not recognize our face in the mirror, it's going to be tough to live and enjoy a happy life. I've said it before, we have to start giving and loving ourselves before we even try to give it out. It is hard, it is taking me lots of internal resources to start getting close to this, but I will try and I will succeed. It looks like a very rewarding task!

I hope Marujita has a good night sleep today so everyone can rest. In any case, she has to be tired the next day if she doesn't get any sleep, so it will be good for everyone. Tomorrow is Saturday, and it will be a slow day for us as she doesn't have acupuncture or any therapy until 11AM. We can't go out because like I said before, she can't go out one day before or after the treatment, so I will try some reading, to relax during the day. On Sunday we have to go out, we have to clear up our minds and breathe some fresh air. I think I will have a massage, after all, it is very inexpensive here even in a very nice place. A one-hour massage at a nice spa goes for RMB 135, which it's about $21 give or take.

So, until we meet next, love you all unconditionally always and forever.

Tuto.38

Days Go Slower and Slower

2009-06-04T04:27:00.012-04:00

It seems time is taking some time because days, hours, minutes don't seem to pass. Most of our friends have returned home already and it's only four of us who usually get together to go out. The new people that have arrived here are from different countries and do not socialize at all. I guess that there are no more families with kids so it's a little different. When we got here, we where five families with kids and basically treating our kids for the exact same condition.

We went out last night to a local market where we could find Chinese arts and crafts among other stuff. I have become a fan of green tea, so I bought different kinds to try them out. I bought green tea as well as Jasmin tea which in particular caught my attention. The Jasmin tea comes from a flower, so basically the tea consists of the dried flower that looks almost like a little ball, a marble perhaps, but when mixed with hot water it opens up and delivers the flavor. It is very good and I was told it is very healthy.

The main difference with the tea they drink here is that forget about the little tea bags where the crushed leave is inside. Here, you will find the leaves themselves and sometimes seeds that you just mix directly with water. There are of course drinking cups in which you put these tea leaves inside a filter so you don't end up chewing them. Not the case with me, I am drinking green tea a la Chinese, leaves and all floating around my glass. I feel I am going to get some between my teeth and end up looking as if I ate guacamole with too much cilantro. Do you get the picture? Imagine one smiling after that!

A funny thing happened yesterday and I had to capture it on video. Remember how I mentioned that for the Chinese we are completely strange people and that they will stare at you just as if you where Matt Damon walking by Sawgrass Mall any given Sunday? Well, it happened to us yesterday, but they don't just stare at you, they gather and block you and start taking pictures and everything, it's very weird but very interesting to experience. Some even want to touch the babies which we of course do not allow; it is not a racism reaction, is just that we don't know where those hands have been, specially with a flu going around. First there is a picture of how the local market looked like, then the video so you can understand what I'm saying:

After going shopping around there, we went to a pizzeria located on West Lake. This is the same place we went for lunch last Sunday but let me tell you, there are few places where you can have a pizza as they do in this place! It's a thin crust, oven baked to perfection with just the enough amount of cheese and toppings. After all, I have to let go of the Chinese food for a while, it's what I have for lunch and dinner almost everyday at the hospital. By the way something I didn't mention before and you might be asking, is why do we spend so much time at the hospital when there are no injections. They have restrictions in terms of us going out one day before and one day after an injection, so we have to take advantage of those days that allow us to go out. The treatments for stem cell transplantation are done only Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, so if we have treatment tomorrow, we can't go out today or Saturday.

Another thing I discovered is the rooftop access for this hospital, so I went up there and took a short video of how this part of Hangzhou looks like. This area is called Xiaoshan and it is within the city of Hangzhou.

Marujita is having her sixth stem cell treatment tomorrow (fifth spinal), and the last one will take place next Wednesday. I guess everything will be good because she can be properly sedated now and shouldn't feel a thing. All I hope is that she will sleep because if she sleeps, we sleep; if she doesn't sleep, we don't sleep, very simple. And FYI, I think I have slept not interrupted two nights only, so I will take revenge when I get back to Miami. I'm tired, really tired.

Here's a picture with one of the nurses (there must be around twelve in total) taken on the night we had a little party for Pedro who was going back home the next day.

All I can say right now is that I miss my kids very bad. I miss my family, I miss my friends, my house, my bed, my shower, my car, my office, damn, I miss everything so much! Hopefully this eight days remaining will pass quickly so we can go back home and rest for the weekend while we get our lives back to schedule. It took me around three days to get used to the twelve hour difference, and I am not expecting something different once we are back in Miami.

I will tell you all about the spinal tomorrow, but for now, love you all unconditionally, always and forever.

Tuto.38

For Those on Flight 447

2009-06-03T02:04:00.009-04:00

It was a very sad night, one that did not allow me to sleep as much. My thoughts where with the passengers and crew of Air France Flight 447, which disappeared mid air and apparently crashed into the Atlantic Ocean. For up to the time I am writing this, there are no confirmed reasons for such a terrible accident taking the lives of 228 people on their journey to Paris.

I've been reading a lot on the subject of fear. As you might have read on past blogs, I've described in a very simple way the differences between being a coward or a courageous person and that both bring about the same amount of fear. According to Osho's thoughts a person who's is afraid of dying, who is scared about death cannot live a happy life. He describes death as part of the process and compares the unexplained afterlife with the magic of birth. Basically, when were we born? The moment we came out and the doctor slapped our cheek, the second we were conceived, when? It is a valid question but the uncertainty of death still remains stronger on our thoughts. He emphasizes on the fact that those afraid of death will not live a fruitful life because it is pointless to avoid death; it will eventually reach us all.

I kept on thinking about it last night. Yes, I will focus on the present, I will lead a happy life and I will not let things I cannot control affect me. But what about family and friends of those victims, how are they supposed to manage such a loss? How can they accept this as part of their lives, what about their aligned universe? If things happen for a reason, what could they possibly think will come about all this? I could not stop thinking and I wanted to cry so hard. My mind would not stop processing, it would not stop thinking and I am not pretty sure how much or what will I get from this experience. I thought about it as some sort of meditation, but how can you engage in a sadly meditation, one that does not allow you to focus? It was hard, and still is.

I guess that this whole experience of coming to China has let open a big whole on my vulnerability allowance. I have heard about tragedies before, much worse things have happen and more suffering has been involved. I have experience a huge loss myself, but for some reason, this kept banging on my door consistently and predominantly. I wanted to sleep but at the same time I didn't. I let pain come in completely welcomed, I understood the reason and I accepted it. Although this does not relate directly to me, and thank God it did not, I felt for everyone who will be permanently affected by this terrible accident.

All I hope now is for the reason to be found, what caused the airplane to crash, for the famous "black box" to appear so those affected can start closing this chapter in their lives. Also, for the safety of future travel because this is something that we will continue to do, regardless.

I am pretty sure that you have heard that traveling by commercial airplanes is much safer than driving a car. That the probability of getting in an accident on your way to the airport are far greater than that involving your flight. In the past ten years, the probabilities of air travel accidents has reduced dramatically, from a 1.8 in a million to 0.4 in a million. That is great to hear. Does it make me feel better, not at all. Is it going to make friends and families of the victims feel better, safer, I don't think so.

So today I take my time and abuse your own, to dedicate our thoughts to these people. To the ones who left their beautiful lives and for the ones who were waiting for them. It is a horrible and sad story, but we cannot ignore it. It happened to them and it happened to us. No matter if you pray, meditate, talk with your loved ones or simply write about it, we need to think about this for a moment and we have to thank for the opportunity we where given to enjoy this beautiful life.

Simple things was the title of my previous blog. This is such a turnover, a one-eighty you might say, because this is no simple thing, this is huge. All we can do is live our present, forget our past and do not think about the future. All we can do is live; do not conjugate the verb, leave it alone.

For the first time I will like for everyone, and I really mean everyone to please write a little paragraph on the comment area of my blog. Regardless if you want to express yourself in English or Spanish (or "spanglish" for that matter) I kindly ask for you to do so. It will not only help yourself, it will allow others to see things from different perspectives, helping each other.

I will leave you with these thoughts and thank you for taking the time out of your busy schedule to read my blog, it truly means a big deal to me.

Love you unconditionally, always and forever.

Tuto.38

Simple Things

2009-06-02T00:01:00.021-04:00

Simple things

We take pleasure in the simple things

We take pride in little victories
And we wear our simple crowns

Oh, tugs of war, we battle ships and thunderstorms

And naked is our uniform

It’s our simple hand-me-down

It's just blows my mind off when you experience the laws of attraction. If you haven't read "The Secret" or watched the movie/documentary, laws of attraction means that all that we really desire and everything we set our positive minds to, we attract, it will come a reality. Basically, we attract all those things we put our heart and trust into; you must picture yourself in your mind, experiencing that which you want, and it will be yours, guaranteed. That is the simplest way to describe it I believe, but let me tell you it has surprised me more than once and it's a very fascinating thing to happen. You must believe though, you have to trust it will become a reality for it to present itself, but it does happens. Give it a try, start by watching the documentary and see for yourself that such a simple concept really works.

It works for both your material conscious mind as well as for your subjective subconscious mind. What I mean by that is, that if you want something so hard and constantly believe it will be yours, it will happen. But most importantly, the subjective part of your mind also works in the same way. If all you give is love, positiveness, optimism, truth, respect for others, this will come back at you when you least expected.

The paragraph on the beginning of this blog is a part of a song from a very talented writer and singer that I met via youtube.com. She has probably been posting videos for a long time, but it was now that I came across her music. I was not searching for anything specific, I was looking for a video that showed the guitar tabs for a song I want to learn how to play on my guitar. And for some reason, there she was; there was her music and her amazing talent, presented to me in a completely random pattern. The lyrics can not be more true, and the feeling of peace and positive mind that her music provides is something amazing, very relaxing. Her name is Amy Kuney, and if you search youtube.com for her songs, you will too be amazed.

Simple things. How many times do we take those for granted, but yet when we pay attention, it makes such an impact. I can't say this enough because for the fact that they are simple, we ignore them. Calling an old friend, enjoying a fresh squeezed orange juice instead of one from a bottle, greeting someone you don't know, writing your thoughts in a piece of paper. Simple things, yet so powerful. Go ahead, try your own version and see what happens. Live it, enjoy it, embrace it. It will make your day, I will guarantee that because it has happened to me and you and I are not different. We are both human beings who deserve a happy and gracious life. We are not machines, we have feelings and we have senses, we must exploit these senses.

I believe the universe is completely aligned with us, don't let the fear of the uncertain slow you down. After all, an uncertain simple thing has to be completely harmless, no bad can come out of it. It is its nature, its way of being and existing, no more, no less.

Marujita had a great night, she slept almost all the way through, waking up at about 6AM. But it's good because in this far away side of the world, the sun comes out at 5AM. One thing I can notice and I have no idea if its got to do with progress, is watching her smile. I think I saw her smile once, but never before. Her mood is loosing up and probably she will develop more social skills in time. Well, she has to, it's her job in this planet just by carrying that name. She has to be hyper, not letting people talk; she has to be on top of everything and everyone, just as her beautiful and loving grandmother. There is no other choice, her universe is aligned, but this time, aligned to the spirit of the most fun living person I have ever met. And I am so proud to be her son, I cannot start describing it, it will take a whole book.

Simple things; sometimes a smile is such a simple thing, but what a difference!

Tonight we have a little party for our friend Pedro who is going back home tomorrow. He is done with his boy's seven injections and ready to go back; lucky him! I will be cooking for every one tonight and I have chosen a mix no different than the place we are now. Remember Marco Polo was the first western person to come to this place, he called it "City of Heaven"? Well, in honor of Pedro, all the staff at the hospital, Marco Polo himself and all our friends, I will cook a Chinese-Italian dish. Basically, this will be a tomato-based cheese sauce, but instead of regular pasta, of course, Chinese noodles! I will tell you all bout it tomorrow, I have no idea what's going to come out of this. Chinese people are not very cheese-like, so finding a good cheese is almost impossible. I came with an idea and I hope it works, otherwise it's going to be dog food. No wait, there are no dogs in China, can anyone tell me why?

As usual, love you all unconditionally, always and forever!

Tuto.38

To Have Courage. To be a Coward.

2009-06-01T04:09:00.022-04:00

Today I was reading a book on the subject of being afraid, the feeling of being a coward or being courageous. It is very interesting because both are considered by some, a feeling of being afraid. It is a quite complicated subject but it can be explained in simple way, or at least the way I could understand it seems to be very simple.

Basically, the difference between a coward or a courageous state of mind does not lie on the fact that the first is about being afraid and the second of being intrepid, both feel the same amount of fear. So where is the difference you might ask. The difference is that the courageous moves forward despite feeling afraid, whereas the coward freezes because of being afraid; both experience the same amount of fear. How can a courageous person not feel fear? He would have to be a machine not a human being. Only machines lack such feelings and how can you describe a machine of being afraid?

To be courageous only means that despite the fear, he can act, he can move. They utilize fear as a bridge and does not stop for the unknown. On the other hand, to be a coward means to stop, to be static, it destroys the essence, it destroys the possibility of resurrection.

Life is full of uncertainties; every step we take, every move we make is another step towards the uncertain. It's like a bet where nobody will know the results. But the fact of not knowing, the simple fact of stepping into the uncertain, the unknown, is just beauty at its core. If our lives were predictable, what's the fun in that? It would make no sense to be here, to live, to experience. We would not be human beings, we would be machines; there is certainty only for the machines. As human beings we are free, and freedom implies uncertainty and insecurity. We must be ready to respond, that is what "responsibility" is all about. It is not an obligation, it is our capacity to respond, to make decisions and to respond.

So why am I getting so deep into the matter? Very simple. I feel I made a decision that will impact my life. I feel I made a decision that will impact someone else's life. And it was not easy, I felt scared, I felt the uncertainty lying beneath myself; I was afraid, and by being afraid it will all pay off. It might pay off in the long term, but it will pay off. The courage inside me was able to beat the coward when I was presented with the uncertain, with the unknown. I stepped forward, I moved, I made a decision, I felt responsible. All this will help me to grow on the inside and more importantly, on the outside so I will have the ability to help others.

I have received messages from some friends telling me I was very courageous just by coming to this place. But let me tell you, and do not even hesitate for a second, you would've done the same thing! So guess what, we are already much the same, and I am very happy for that. I want to share with you all my thoughts in relation to my experience because even as yours might be different, all the principles are aligned; the courage and the coward inside us are present, and I know you will make the right decision. You will be responsible. And I feel the responsibility to share this with you.

Well, enough with life strategies, let's focus on the local events. Marujita had her spinal injection today, and she behaved like a champ. The needle for the IV went in pretty fast and she did not complain as much. The two sedatives did their job as she went almost numb immediately after they where supplied (one goes through the IV). The doctor said she took the spinal injection very good; she did not move nor complained during the procedure. I guess that leaves us with two more spinal injections for her before we start playing the waiting game. The next spinal will be given next Friday June 5TH, followed by the last one on June 10TH. That will leave her with a total of six spinal injections and one IV which if you remember, was the first one she took.

Our friend Mike from California just gave me another video which he took last Saturday at the zoo. This is not about feeding live birds to other animals, this is actually feeding the bears with carrots. This video is particular in that I threw a piece of carrot and the bear catches it in mid air, just as a trained dog. Take a look.

I truly appreciate all your support and constant messages of optimism. I can't say this enough. I am forever grateful to everyone for this, and I really want to thank you today.

Love you unconditionally, always and forever.

Tuto.38

Brunch For Tigers, Brunch For Us

2009-05-31T03:38:00.024-04:00

This Saturday it was just an amazing day. We got to spend almost all day out, from 12PM until 9PM as we went to the safari zoo and after to a huge brunch at the Hyatt. See, most of the week we are eating a lot of Chinese food and I have no complaints, but change is always good, for me and for you.

As we sat down in our table, I had a very cold and refreshing beer after a long day at to zoo. I think I went for the buffet about four times, eating almost everything but Chinese food, from steak to mashed potatoes to cold pasta and sliced prosciutto. It was awesome. Like I've said before, we take for granted the most simple things in life, things that otherwise are available to us on a 24/7 basis, but in this case I enjoyed them as if they where presented to me for the first time; what an experience. I wonder what is it that we have to do when we are on our normal routine, day after day, to get to enjoy everything we have available but pay so little attention for.

The big experience, the real big difference of the day was our visit to the zoo. This place is huge, amongst mountains and hills and it sets up on a very big open place. It has a safari which you drive around with your car and get to see all kinds of wild life, including the tigers and lions who of course, are well below in a separate area and surrounded by water and electric cables so they can't get out. And they can get so hungry that what we did next was truly a unique experience. We get to feed the lions and the tigers, but not by throwing pieces of meat or anything like it, we threw them live chicken which they ate much the same way I would eat a nice steak. Only that they go after them because they are alive!

But don't let my words serve as a description to this event, just watch the videos and you can see for yourself.

As if this was not enough, we headed towards a real close encounter with the tigers. This was not about going to their cage to feed them, this was more a closed safari adventure of no kind, something you will not find anywhere. This time we walked towards another tigers cage that was located within the actual zoo, not from the safari area. Basically, this is a big cage holding some 5 tigers inside. What we did here is unbelievable. You get into a 1954 Jeep (that's my best guess all I was hoping for was for the car not to break once we where inside) and they open one of the cage's doors for the car to drive around on the inside with the tigers.

The Jeep was all covered by metal wires so that the tigers cannot get inside where we where. There was only a difference though, raw chicken was hanging from both sides of the Jeep as to tease and attract the tigers close to us. The tigers eat within inches from where we are as they climb into the Jeep to bight off the chicken pieces with their huge jaw. I have never been so close to this animal, and they are huge let me tell you. You could listen to the bones oh these pieces of chicken cracking upon the tigers bites. I have a couple of videos here, one is from the inside of the Jeep so you can understand exactly what I am saying, and the other from the tiger approaching us and biting the flesh and bones out of the chicken. Take a look.

As you can see, the Chinese don't have an ordinary way of doing things. I wonder what it is that I have been eating all this time? Why has the word "Dog" suddenly came to your mind?

There are a couple of pictures that I wanted to share as well. One is a close-up of the tiger while he bites off a piece of that chicken. There's another with all of us (Pedro, Mike, Aleesha, Gryphun, Jocelyn and us). The other picture is about Pedro our friend from Spain who wanted to take a picture with the driver. Just take a close look to the driver's pants...

Today we went out again to West Lake but to a different area. We were looking where to eat, whatever looked more interesting, and we came across a very nice place that had coffee shops and restaurants. It was like walking along a huge garden full of trees and bamboos and very well trimmed flowers. All the restaurants where throughout this place and most of them where all glass walls and ceilings so you could enjoy 360 degree of the place. We went to an Italian restaurant so we had some variety in the menu; also, they had English speaking people and English menus. That is almost a must all the time around here. I even found a Segafredo, here in China! Here, take a look, this is the first time you will see how Segafredo spells out in Chinese:

Well my beloved boys and girls, I hope you enjoyed this, I certainly did. Tomorrow Marujita has her 5TH injection (fourth spinal) at around 2:30PM. I think everything is going to be just fine as the doctors have a better idea of what sedatives suit her best. I will tell you all about tomorrow.

I wanted you to know that I do read all the comments you leave here in this blog, it's just that there is no way of answering to those comments directly. Again, I really appreciate your constant support, it makes a world of a difference when you are all the way half planet.

Love you all unconditionally, always and forever.

Tuto.38

No Valgo Nada...

2009-05-30T09:21:00.003-04:00

I am so tired I cannot feel my hands. Last night was a very hectic one as the little girl woke up at 3, 4 and 5AM crying for no particular reason. Once I wake up, it's hard to go back to sleep; I felt I was going to go crazy.

Last night we went to eat at an Italian place on West Lake. Today, we left for the safari / zoo at 12PM, spent like 4 hours there and then we headed for the Hyatt to take advantage on an amazing brunch. I threw live chicken at the tigers and lion and even we did something unexpected. I will tell you all about tomorrow as I post pictures and video about this place. It was crazy, cruel and crazy.

Right now I have to go sleep, I am extremely tired to write here, we just got back from brunch.

Love all unconditionally, always and forever.

Tuto.38

TGIF!

2009-05-29T00:33:00.018-04:00

I used that title because is such a cliche and so typically used for when the famous and well known Friday finally arrives. I have enjoyed something here that I must share with you. I have had the privilege without even knowing, to enjoy time out of its essence and virtuosity and I don't exactly mean I have used my time properly. What I am really saying here is that for the first time in my life I have experienced time just as it is. I have not thought or felt what day of the week it was; time goes by, days go by and weeks go by, but for me this is just a complete integrate journey that needs no division or time stamp. Five minutes ago, after Marujita was ending her electrical therapy, the nurse left the room by saying "goodbye, see you Monday, have a nice weekend", and I though to myself, wow, what's really the difference here? Monday, Wednesday, Sunday, what is it? Nothing, not a thing, just a journey in which I find my way back to me while in the process, assuring Marujita's future.

I wonder how this is going to feel once I go back home. I don't mean how a timed life will feel like, I certainly know that, but rather how's it going to feel when I think about this place and what it felt to have the mental awareness I am having know. My beloved readers, I insist we all have to take time to ourselves, one way or another. It may be an extra six minutes in the shower or it maybe on that business trip you have to take. It can be while you exercise and even better, if you go running or riding a bike. I hear that jogging is a type of meditation, so why not try that? Weird feelings, weird thoughts, but with no doubt, completely extraordinary. Now I know what a journey means; not a trip or a vacation, it's that endless time feeling that stays within you along the way; remarkable. I really have to double thank the universe for this opportunity that has been presented to me and I can not be more sure that this sort of things happen for a reason, what a trip.

As time goes by and our returning date comes closer and closer, I can say that the accumulated feeling of joy has been a very good experience. I have practiced many new ways in terms of how I interact with people, how I talk to them, when I talk to them and what to say. I have grown a stronger feeling for my family and for my friends that I never thought possible. But most importantly, I have received the gift of accepting people how they are and constantly trying to always be in a position to contribute to their well being. It's an amazing feeling, I hope you can get there too. I have never tried any drugs in my whole life (well OK, scotch, beer, you know... legal stuff) and I am pretty sure even as I speak out of my ignorance, that nothing can come close to beating this natural high.

Something very strange happened to me today. I don't know if any of you knew my very best friend, Cristina Trivella (Bibi). She was like a sister to me a long time ago; it must have been since 1984 until 1991 when she left us. She had a fatal car accident and died two weeks after. During her stay at the hospital's ICU, her mom gave birth to her sister Isabel. It was completely ironic, terrible. I cried for months and I still miss her the same way I did eighteen years ago. If I close my eyes, I can actually establish a conversation with her and I will never forget her smile because I never saw any other face. I thought I always wanted to know Isabel as she was going to be her sister's legacy, but I never had the chance. For some weird reason, Bibi was all over my mind today; for some reason I remembered her vividly. I went to facebook and requested her sister; not thirty seconds passed and she already confirmed. A metaphysical connection made us virtual friends. I am still convinced that there is more than meets the eye, way more.

And so life goes on around here and so are the many pictures an videos I take. I will describe them individually so you can have a glimpse of our exceptional experience here.

This first picture was one of my first impressions about this culture and I said to myself "thank God we know we are at the twentieth floor!"

This is basically the view from our room window. It is a huge place and if I were to show you a 360 panoramic view, it will almost look like this with a few tall buildings around.

This is Marujita before going into the "Stem Cell Transplantation Room." Just look at her face, she is completely sedated but aware; no sleeping drug business here, no way.

This is Marujita with Anna her Physical Therapy Doctor. That is the face she will always use when rolling over practice comes. This is at the end of the therapy. You will see Anna in a video below.

Yes, you guessed, this is acupuncture time. This is done every morning at 10AM, every day of the week.

This is a short video I just took today. In the back, you will see Anna her Physical Therapy Doctor with Alejandra. The guy bouncing on the medicine ball is Sid. Sid is one of the translators and coordinators around here. Any help we need with translation, going out, anything, he is the person. Excellent human being, I have come to appreciate his job very much. After I go out of that room, I am heading towards Pedro's (our friend from Spain). Markus his son is about to get an injection, so I was checking on him. The person I greeted "hi Sam" is one of the drivers. They take us anywhere we need to go for whatever reason it might be. For shopping, picking up food, sightseeing and restaurants. Great guy, excellent person, very human, but knows very little English and we still get around and understand each other. When there is common purpose, nothing but good feelings and complete commitment to unconditionally make someone else happier, friendships like his and mine are born.

And that is that for the day. We are going out tonight to have dinner at a very nice Italian Restaurant around West Lake. The local tourism magazine says that it's not the best Italian restaurant around, but its got the best location and outdoor setting around. I faces the lake, so I guess it must be pretty cool. I will post some pictures tomorrow as well as document any credit card incident that might arise.

Tomorrow we are going for brunch at the Hyatt but only after throwing live chicken to lions and tigers at the zoo! I sound completely cruel, and I apologize completely to the poultry and their relatives, but I am sorry, I came a long way to have new experiences and this is something I must see.

I will see you tomorrow right here. Love you unconditionally, always and forever.

Tuto.38

Our Inside and Outside World

2009-05-28T02:57:00.014-04:00

Since not much happened today, I took a couple of videos so you might have an idea of where we are. One video is from the inside of the hospital, on the 20TH floor which it's where we are; the whole floor is taken by the biotech (www.beikebiotech.com). The other video I took when I went out to the local supermarket, the RT Market. By the way, remember I got to buy a very expensive green tea? Well, let me tell you this: that must have to be the most healthiest tea in production in this planet because it tasted so bad I can't even begin to describe. It was bitter and dry as a piece of paper. I had it hot and I felt I was going to throw up, it was simply disgusting. I asked one of my translator friends here and he told me: Carlos, green tea, good for body, good for soul. Very healthy, cleans body. Cleans body, yeah right; cleans body, mind, soul, thoughts, anger, happiness... I mean, not two hours passed and I don't want to be specific here, but I heard fireworks of all kind. I lost gravity, I cannot believe how light I felt afterwards. OK, sorry, to many details!

Anyways, we slept through the night, Marujita had a good sleep. It seems that the sedatives yesterday did a better job because she did not complain and had no problem falling asleep. Again, no fever or vomit, so she is taking it good as before. I did wake up this morning at around 5AM so I could dedicate some time to work. I called several people at my office in Miami, which is twelve hours behind. I also got to talk with some of my people in Lima, Perú, who are thirteen hours behind. Everything seems fine, but I can sense the voice of stress and frustration on almost everybody. I guess we all need to take a break sometimes and I don't mean vacation. I mean personal time dedicated completely to yourself so you can read, think, breath, connect. It is so easy to loose focus on yourself and the worst part is that if you loose focus on yourself, you loose focus on everything around you.

Some of the good things that I have been practicing from my readings is that. In order to portray any feeling to the outside world, one has to tune up internally those same feelings. If you feel accumulated anger, you will express anger; if you feel sadness, you will express and attract sadness. If you feel love, you will spread love and attract love to your life. And sometimes (or most of the time I should say) we don't pay attention to such a simple concept, we rather go day by day excusing ourselves and justifying our lives as victims of problems of our past. I have learned but yet need to practice so much more, that any incidents life throws at you are lessons to be learned. A mistake is only a mistake if it happens only once; after that you need to take action. So if we take bad experiences from the past and learn from them rather than victimize ourselves, we are doing nothing more than investing in personal and internal growth. And as we learn how to do this, something even better happens, we teach the outside world to do the same. I hope to become a better person every day, yes, but I will not achieve this simple goal if I don't contribute to the outside world.

Benefit from every experience you have to enlighten your darkness and in the process let others feel the same way. I read something in one of these books that really caught my attention. As I am a man of science (and a rookie spiritual human being) numbers serve to better describe any given explanation. So I read that the heart's electromagnetic field is five thousand times more powerful than our minds'. So imagine if you could just try to exteriorize this force by simply smiling to someone letting them feel you care. If you exploit this on an every day basis, let me tell you, you might conquer yourself and hence, the world! If you happen to know how to do this, please teach me how.

"Namaste." How many of us haven't heard that word before. Today I get to know what it means and it is so important because we only have to look at that person passing by and say it out loud in our heads. While there are many meanings for this powerful word, namaste can be resumed to "I honor the highest and best of you". Wow, what a powerful statement to transmit to someone else!

OK, enough of my frustration and rationalization, let's go to the fun part. Here are the videos that I took using my blackberry, so I apologize for the bad quality and resolution.

As I mentioned before, this was taken on my way to the RT Market, the local Kmart here. As you can see the preferred method for transportation are motorcycles and bicycles.

This video is taken inside of the hotel as you can see (did I just say hotel, I meant hospital) and it occupies the whole 20TH floor of the building. On my left as soon as the video starts, are the rooms. Then you can see some rehabilitation equipment, one of the kitchens we use every day and the TV and entertainment room where I do most of my reading.

And so I will leave you for some sweet and sour chicken and steamed rice which was delivered to our room. Yes, that's right, I did not come so far to eat at KFC, Mc Donalds or Pappa John's (only when menus are impossible to understand).

Go ahead read, think, meditate, enjoy. Love you all, unconditionally, always and forever.

Tuto.38

"The City of Heaven" - Marco Polo

2009-05-26T22:37:00.024-04:00

Is pasta Chinese or noodles Italian? Or the other way around? Or, maybe, the same thing?

I just wanted to share with you this time, a little bit about where we are in China. I have to tell you this, I was not expecting a big city or anything like it so it has definitely helped out a bit. The culture shock is something unavoidable, there is no way to get around it in terms of language and some other details. Here, they will stare at you in the same way as if you where eating dinner at Graziano's in Coral Gables and Harrison Ford would just walk in. I just realized how much I miss my favorite place; a nice "vacío" with a bottle of Muga Reserva (Rioja) or a nice bottle of Luigi Bosca Malbec (Mendoza), am I hungry know! They don't get much of the Western action around here and I really appreciate that from them. To have the integrity that this culture have, to have the idiosyncrasy that they have is something I continuously think about.

Another funny thing that happened yesterday. I went out with Pedro our friend from Spain and Mike from California, over to West Lake (you will read about West Lake below) to grab a couple of beers, only for a little while; to go out and breathe and see something different. When we got the check to pay for our tab, I pulled out my wallet, opened it up and gave him my Visa credit card. Let me tell you this: if I would've taken a machine gun instead, the reaction would've not been as much as by pulling my credit card out! It was as if I insulted him or something, but his reaction was so funny I could not stop laughing. And to further keep the joke going I said "no Visa, fine no problem, here's my American Express, enjoy" and the poor guy kept on waving both hands saying "no, no, no, no". The whole thing was very funny and so we had a couple of laughs; no harm done.

Well, anyways, here's a brief description of Hangzhou, the city we are in China so you get to know a little bit more about this far, far, far, far away place:

Hangzhou is the capital of Zhejiang province and its political, economic and cultural center. With its famous natural beauty and cultural heritages, Hangzhou is one of China's most important tourist venues. The City, the southern terminus of the Grand Canal, is located on the lower reaches of the Qiantang River in southeast China, a superior position in the Yangtze Delta and only 180 kilometers from Shanghai. Hangzhou has a subtropical monsoon type climate with four quite distinct seasons. However, it is neither too hot in summer nor too cold in winter making it a year round destination.

The West Lake is undoubtedly the most renowned feature of Hangzhou, noted for the scenic beauty that blends naturally with many famous historical and cultural sites. In this scenic area, Solitary Hill, the Mausoleum of General Yue Fei, the Six Harmonies Pagoda and the Ling Yin Temple are probably the most frequently visited attractions. The "Ten West Lake Prospects" have been specially selected to give the visitor outstanding views of the lake, mountains and monuments. Also, this is the place we go to most for bars and restaurants. Actually, the major hotels are located around West lake in the kinds of Hyatt, Shangri-La and Sofitel. This Saturday we are going to the Hyatt for brunch as it is supposed to be the best around.

There's a Chinese saying that goes "shang you tian tang, xia you su hang" - up there is heaven, down here is Suzhou and Hangzhou. The first Westerner to visit Hangzhou, Marco Polo, marveled at its beauty. At the end of the 13Th century, he described Hangzhou as "the City of Heaven, the most beautiful and magnificent in the world."
Today, tourists from around the world as well as many expatriates based in Shanghai looking to escape for the weekend flock to the capital of Zhejiang to drink in its beauty, making it one of China's busiest resorts.

Legend has it that a golden dragon and jade phoenix once found a precious jewel in the mountains. The highest goddess noticed this jewel and had it stolen from the dragon and phoenix. She kept the jewel hidden until her birthday, who she unveiled it at her birthday party. Once the jewel was exposed for all to see, the golden dragon and jade phoenix attacked heaven to claim the jewel, but in the process, the jewel fell down to earth, to the spot where West Lake is.

So, enough of history and legends. Here I posted a couple of pictures taken from any given day at the hospital. The first picture is about Marujita in her standing therapy where she is strapped into that bed while horizontally and then is brought up to an almost vertical position. This is basically to shift from an always horizontal position as she does not walk yet.

The following in picture describes what this culture has already done to my wife. I guess I don't need further description for this picture...

This is just fooling around with her, a couple of "cuernos" that Pedro bought for the kids around while we where at West Lake. As you might have noticed, she's everything but happy with it!

So she just had her fourth injection, three to go and we fly back! That will happen next Monday, Friday and Wednesday of the following week. After that, we go back on June 12TH. She was better sedated this time so she came out fine. She fell asleep after she came out, but she didn't seem to be in any kind of pain; I guess we will wait for tonight to see how she behaves.

Today I went to the RT Market (the local KMart) in order to by some green tea, real green tea. To my surprise, a simple bag of good green tea leafs (about the size of a grounded coffee bag) costs RMB100 which is about $17. I mean, this is locally grown (actually in Hangzhou) green tea and it's expensive as a bottle of vodka! It must be good; I'm hoping it's going to relieve stress, burn fat, speed up my metabolism and get rid of all of my bad cholesterol, otherwise it's just an expensive tea.

So I leave you with that bit of history about Hangzhou and that very nice picture of Alejandra's new acquired taste for "cholas a la china".

Love you all, unconditionally, always and forever.

Tuto .38

Healing Through the Magic of Reading

2009-05-26T02:19:00.005-04:00

I could not emphasize this more than I have, but I encourage you to pickup a book and read. It does not matter if it's some sort of a novel, a business book, a publication related to your industry, a self-improvement book or plain science fiction. But you have to read, period. You have to read because you have to trigger that inner thoughtfulness of yours; you have to start reading so you can train your mind to be just where you are, right now, not yesterday, not tomorrow.

I will not pretend to transmit or let alone teach you what I have read, because I am just a beginner. I will however tell you that on my personal (and short) experience my mind has shifted from the "what ifs" and the "what will be" and the "what's like it at the end" to a just plain "why not". And what I just described can be narrowed to a very simple concept: the connection between mind and body. As far as I understand, to live now rather than in the past or future, connects the body an mind in ways I have never felt before because you start to experience every moment, every occasion, every opportunity that presents to us unannounced; you pay attention to every detail in your day and you come to understand in a very strange way that everything happens for a reason. That the life we have been granted makes all the sense but not by pretending to be or expecting to be or regrets you may have, but rather by accepting everything we receive as a lesson to be learned. One of these books quoted some important author I quite don't remember (and I really don't care) and it goes something like this: in order to see the light, to be enlightened, one must experience and accept darkness. Is this a philosophy of life? I don't think so, I don't know, but do I understand the general concept? Yes I do.

There are plenty of authors out there that teach you guidelines, and let me make this one clear, "guidelines" not rigid rules to go by. I have read three books from three different authors and three different perspectives on the philosophy of life. But they all concur on the same principles and they all mention that in order to lead a better life and understand others and love others, one must understand itself and more importantly, love itself. They all agree that the universe is a stronger force, a balanced rhythm, an orchestrated synergy, and that we must accept ourselves as we are and follow our instincts. All we express in life, when we live in the little trapped life we live in, just like all the anger we express, is anger we have accumulated in the past; So we must forget the past and we should not depend on our future, but rather we must live today. Of course it goes deeper than that, but I will not bore you with over seven hundred pages of reading, I just want to pass on to you the general principle, as well as the fact that you have to read! There it is, I said it again.

I guess that the next step after all this literature digestion, meditation must be practiced. I don't know how and I don't care; I do know that meditation is for everyone, there are all kinds of it. We just have to identify ourselves as the racehorse-like types or the turtle-like types in order to find the best method. I will try that because the world around me no longer controls my life; I control my life and I will get the best from it. Life is too short to be little, one must live big, in greatness.

If you feel you don't know where to start, and if you don't find much interest in a particular subject, let me recommend one of the best books I've ever read. Not because of the title, don't let it fool you, it has nothing to do with it. There are no rules, no guides, no bullet-point theories for you to put in practice. It is rather a tale, like a story, like a little novel but with so much for you to grasp. Actually, this book was given to me by the most wonderful person alive, my father. He gave this book to me back in 1999 when one of the biggest responsibilities in my life had just arrived; Tete (my first son) was born. And guess what, and it's up to you to believe it or not, but that very same year and a month after I read the book, I started LDTeleCom (aka solollama, nexogy). It came out of nowhere, it was a push I still cannot explain. And with no money in my pocket (that's a lie, I have a copy of an ATM receipt from back then, it shows a grand total of $0.79 on my bank account, true story) but with a tremendous amount of determination and support from my family, it all came out a reality. Not only it's my work (and actually now that I state it that way, it is not my work or my job) it is rather my passion and my way of living and my way of enjoying this short time we are allowed. So, I will pass this on to you hoping you will take even more advantage than I did. The book's title is "The Instant Millionaire: A Tale of Wisdom and Wealth"by Mark Fisher.

I hope this little note does not bother you that much, but that's what's happening around here, in Hangzhou, China. Marujita is having her daily therapies as planned, and she seems to enjoy them a bit more every time. She is still not getting that much sleep, but guess what, rather than complaining I'm taking it as an advantage point, I get up at five or six and the morning and dedicate at least three hours of reading and thinking and sometimes even listening to my heart beat and to myself breath. What a weird thing to happen.

She will have her third spinal injection tomorrow and we will not let her in, that's right, I will play doctor this time, until the sedative puts her into deep sleep; I am not letting that to happen again because after all it does not matter how little we will sleep, it matters how uncomfortable she will be.

I will tell you all about the injection tomorrow up to the tiniest detail, so I guess I will see you then.

Have a wonderful present BUT f#%& the past and don't even think about tomorrow.

Love you all, unconditionally, always and forever.

Tuto.38

5/25/09 Hangzhou, China - 5/24/09 Miami, FL

2009-05-24T22:13:00.028-04:00

It is just another Monday, foggy and humid; it looks as if it was a Venezuelan Sunday. I had a great time yesterday for my birthday as all friends gathered in the entertainment room for some pizza, cake and of course, beers.

I celebrated my thirty eight birthday in a completely unexpected and unknown place. I made a decision to come over as soon as we had the opportunity and I knew it meant that my birthday was going to take place there, away, without Tete or Emiliana. I miss them so much I can start feeling and internal bruise growing ever more purple. But I know it's for the best and I'm so proud of having such great kids that it is all worth my while. I am proud because even though they are just kids (ten and eight) they understand why I'm here and the provide support and most important, love. I miss Emiliana's good morning kisses, when she wakes me up on any given Saturday because she is an early riser. I will tell her "gordita, go to sleep it's early, I am tired..." Well, I miss that so much that I think that the next time that happens I am going to kiss her so many times that it may become obsolete. I miss fixing them a huge breakfast with pancakes and bacon, and coffee and juice; I miss my Tete constantly asking me for coffee, he likes it so much!

Marujita on the other side lost a very precious commodity and it is getting into our patience here. She wont sleep, period. She will wake up every 20 minutes, crying for no particular reason and it's almost impossible to make her go back to sleep. Today I asked the doctors for some medicine, natural or otherwise that can help her sleep so everyone can rest. It is a side effect the doctors said, that after the stem cells injections kids tend to go hyper and over excited. Well that worries me a bit because we have four more injections to go and we are at a 20Th floor with many windows, it can be very easy to jump! Just another bad joke, not going to happen!

She just had her acupuncture and let me tell you, if you where to stick needles upon my head, I will be crying even louder and complaining twice as much so guess she takes that like a real champ. Andy, the acupuncture guy comes in from Monday to Friday, every morning at ten. He puts the needles for some twenty minutes and then comes back to take them off. I have no idea how this thing works, but then again, I trust it will be the sum of all parts and not the parts itself that will really make a difference here.

We just had another session of standing therapy and it all went perfect. She was comfortable and sleepy but she did not cry a tear. I must imagine that being hassled around from one person to the other, from one treatment to another; to an IV through her little veins and to a spinal injection, I will be mad and tired! But it's all for the better and the best here is that she wont remember a thing (I will every time I look myself in the mirror watching all those new batches of grey hair coming from everywhere.)

Here are a couple of pictures from last night; the first one is from the Pappa John's delivery guy who came in just in time for some hungry souls around me. I did not eat pizza, I'm in China and I enjoyed once again, my chicken with steamed rice. On the second picture you can see Pedro, our friend from Spain makes who jokes about everything and it's so funny how you can be standig there cursing and insulting in Spanish and nobody gets a word! In the back, Mike and Alice with their son and all the way back, Brad.

Pappa John's Pizza Delivery Guy

Sharing My Birthday cake With Friends

The Chinese Happy Birthday Cake

We are looking forward to Wednesday injection, which will be her fourth. We are hoping this time she will be better sedated so she can go in her sleep. Also, that will help her sleep afterwards so she wont feel any back pain.

It all lies on her next injection I guess, and we wont know the outcome until then. One thing is for sure though, this can't do anything but good. There are no harmful side effects or risks of any conditions in the future. If you have read about stem cell treatments, you might know that there are some called "Embryonic" that if not treated properly can create tumors or even worst, accelerate growth of cancer cells. This is not the case with umbilical cord stem cells which is what she is getting. Both have the same abilities, but the umbilical cord have proven to be more effective treating neuro-disorders.

Again, I am truly thankful for all your birthday notes. I hope I was able to answer to everyone, if I didn't, I apologize. I spent 2 hours writing back, what a pack of good people I've gathered!

Enough for the day, I will continue my new acquired taste for reading. It has been two books since I got here, and I just started the third. Funny story, the third book came as a present to me, the knock on my door today was not from the nurse, it was the DHL delivery guy; unbelievable. An incomparable gift from a true friend and I have the feeling I will enjoy this book so much, let alone the fact that it's going to change my life in some strange positive way. I mean, the title reads "The Saint, The Surfer and The CEO". How can this go bad!

Love you all, mind body and soul, always and forever.

Tuto

Sunday Boring Sunday! And It's My B-Day!

2009-05-24T07:05:00.007-04:00

Nothing happened, we did nothing. We relaxed, ate some chicken and steamed rice (twice), had a couple of beers and watched a couple of movies. I cannot tell you how bad those movies where; mind me if I sound rude, but "Rachel's Wedding" with Anne Hathaway sucks! And what about the freaking Benjamin Button, Brad go do off-broadway, please!

Anyways, I'm sorry to disappoint you but we did not get a chance to go to the zoo and throw live chicken at the lions and tigers. Some of our friends here where going back home, so the drivers where busy taking them to Shanghai and we did not have someone to drive us around. See, here I would not dare step out a grab a cab; I would have to be out of my freaking 38 year old mind to do that. Imagine if this itself is a constant battle with the nurses, I can't think about trying to explain or ask a taxi driver where to go. If I ask him to go to the zoo, I would probably end up in a duck processing factory or some rice field, completely lost.

So instead, my beautiful wife came up with a cake for everybody to sing happy birthday to me. Everything was fine until I saw the cake and something just caught my attention: the number three (3) and the number eight (8), together! Damn I'm getting old, thank god it is not eighty three yet.

We had cake and after that we had some beers and music, so it pretty much felt like my birthday. Everyone here is so great, no matter why they are there or if they just work here; we had a very good time.

I must tell you a funny story, and whoever came up with "you don't know what you've got until you loose it" has to be a complete and utter genius. Forget about Einstein, Da Vinci, Alexander Bell (which I owe a couple of things right? no.) Newton, anyone. This phrase, so simple yet so true, was the reason of another true experience today. One so different, but it felt good. Sometimes we need this kind of things in our life because even the most little tiny thing can make such an impact. It goes like this: A couple of friends went out to town for some sight seeing which we did not go because they where leaving way to early. Anyhow, we where watching TV at around 5:30PM when they knocked on our door. I paused the movie and went out to see if it was just another nurse singing "temperature, temperature" and me: "picture, why picture?" no, "temperature, temperature". Dude... They do this 5 times a day, come in unannounced and take Marujita's temperature! So, I opened the door and to my surprise there where our friends with yet another extremely surprising and original birthday present. You are not going to believe what they where holding in their hands, but let me tell you (and as I do, I'm getting goose bumps) sometimes life comes at you so fast that even the smallest detail can make your day. Hell, your week for that matter. They where holding a fully wrapped up, warm, foot-long, Subway sandwich! Can you believe that?

As you might have seen, and if you haven't please do so, an even greater surprise was the video prepared and edited by my very good friend, Kakum Morean. I don't want to tell you what it is about to encourage you to go to facebook and look at it. I am only going to tell you this: In a way I need a change from this burn out scene; another time another town, another everything. Remember one of my past blogs? Well this is exactly that; It was again proven that I can break, and I can break until I shatter!

Well, I think you all get my point. In life, the true meaning of life lies beneath simple details. Simple details than can make such a great difference just because you found out how important and significant your daily life is. Well, we take that for granted. Again, I insist you take a moment, a step back in your life; try gather an eagle's eye view of yourself and pay attention to all those details there, the small ones because believe it or not, they mean so much to us that and we just don't pay attention anymore.

I want to thank everybody for your beautiful birthday messages, it was simply unbelievable to see how many there are. I have taken some time tonight to answer to everyone individually but right now I am beat up so I will continue with those tomorrow.

It has been thirty eight incredible and interesting years of my life and I could not be more proud this very moment to be your son, brother, friend, cousin, nephew, son in law, husband, boyfriend, anything that ties us up. You make me want to be a better person, you give me strength and will and for that I will forever be in debt with you.

I love you all, unconditionally, always and forever,

Tuto .38 (shit)

Quiet and Rainy Day

2009-05-23T04:47:00.005-04:00

Nothing much happened today, it has been raining all day and the completely covered with clouds. Thanks to technology, we where able to watch some TV from back home, just flipping channels as if we where there at our house. It's called "Slingbox" and it's simply a device that is connected to my cable receiver on one end to the internet on the other end. I have a program running locally at my computer that basically controls the cable box, so not only I could watch every channel available back home but also control the DVR function and watched some recorded programs. I have 3 episodes of 24, so I guess we will not be bored on days like these.

Marujita had all her usual therapies except acupuncture. It was funny because she actually fell asleep during physical therapy. Last night she did not sleep at all, maybe 60 minutes at most. She was not crying or anything, nor she had fever or vomiting, she was just eyes wide open as if she had three cups of Italian espresso.

I guess that the stem cells got into her because one of the symptoms is hyperactivity. That means that all those three million cells where active in there, doing their powerful and complicated job. If no symptoms show, it does not mean that they are not causing any effect, is just that every time can be different depending on her.

I went out to the RT Market which is some sort of a Kmart around here. I went for basic supplies such as bread, diet coke, tea, juice and of course, beers. Tomorrow May 24TH is my birthday, so I packed up on a case of a local beer to have some drinks at night with our friends here. We will go out tomorrow during the day to do some sight seeing and perhaps even to the zoo. I will try to get us in to the Hyatt's brunch since I've heard food is very good and they have all kind of varieties. It might be a little expensive but let me tell you, this town is not. Everything is actually very cheap; $30 take far if you go shopping for groceries and to order delivery food (even from places such as KFC or Pappa John's) good not take you down for more $6 for each.

The zoo seems like an interesting place because I've been told that we can feed the lions and tigers by throwing at them live chicken. It sounds a bit cruel I know but hey, we ate snake and I'm far away at this place now so I have to take advantage of those things! Keep posted for tomorrows blog because if we get to go to the zoo, you will find interesting pictures an videos there. Viewer discretion is advised!

Well, I hope everybody is having a blast this weekend and taking your time to enjoy with friends and/or family. I will sit down and watch a couple of movies since today there is nothing much to do.

Sorry for my brief story today, see you tomorrow, right after my 37!

Seven, the Lucky Number?

2009-05-22T01:25:00.016-04:00

It has nothing to do with luck, it has nothing to do with a number. However, we thought that since we are here risking our health eating snakes and almost live ducks, we might as well talk to the doctors and ask for an additional injection. So we did, and based upon her positive reaction on prior treatments, she will get her 7TH injection!

I mentioned it before, but to refresh your memory: each injection provides with three million cells, so we want to maximize results by putting to work the most cells possible. Of course the most cells possible will be to stay here for a year and keep on the treatment, but I guess it all lies on the next injection and future progress. China is always going to be here, but even better, the technology advances in molecular medicine is moving so fast, that we can wait for improvements on these kind of treatments. Specially since we have that other card under our sleeves, we have her own cord blood kept safely at an institution that specializes in that, CBR (http://www.cordblood.com/), and I hear so many news about exciting advances that I can only see a bright future here.

So basically what is it that we are exactly doing? Well, what Marujita is receiving are cord blood stem cells that have been donated by mothers at their moment of delivery. Those stem cells are checked for discrepancies such as viruses or any other factor that may affect their stability. They are treated for purity and then kept frozen for future use. Over the past three years, technologies have been developed that isolate the stem cells from the cord blood. These isolated stem cells from healthy type O (universal donor) cord blood produce little or no immune reactions. This research has opened new horizons for stem cell research. Cord stem cells are the safest stem cell. They are multi-potent, able to divide into a variety of cells, and they show great promise as therapies for brain injuries and disorders, especially in young people. So just imagine what her own stem cells can do; we are just going to wait patiently on order to maximize their effects.

Stem cell research has been an ongoing research for many years back. Umbilical cord stem cells have been able to provide great results. In a study done with patients undergoing umbilical cord stem cell treatments, about 85% had mild to significant improvement within a five month follow-up period. One of the first signs of improvement is muscle tone, often followed by an increased vocabulary, socialization and improved comprehension.

Marujita's condition may respond well to cord stem cells because the cells differentiate predominantly into progenitors that promote white matter repair (hence why we insisted so much on the spinal injection, so it can go straight into the nervous system.) Most of those children who have made some progress after stem cell therapy are continuing with several treatments a year. They also continue with physical, occupational and/or speech therapy. For this reason, we have faith and security that by treating her with her own stem cells in the future, her condition will be 100% reversed!

I don't want to sound boring here, or perhaps as if this is not going to work, but remember that the purpose of this blog is to both inform you of her progress and our daily life experience and to make you aware of these kind of treatments. If you recall, I mentioned that we knew about this place because a friend of a friend, who told a friend of ours, who told us. So there, you have to know this is an option and better off, you have to know this is a viable option. We are talking about curing from heart disease to atherosclerosis to diabetes to Alzheimer's, so please, keep all this details in mind for future reference.

She had her 3rd injection about 30 minutes ago this being the second lumbar. She did not fall asleep as with the sedatives as before, so the doctor told us she moved a little bit but everything came out OK anyways. Last time she slept for 15 hours with non of the typical symptoms doctors advised us (vomit, fever, hyperactivity, etc) so we will see tonight how she goes about it even though she did vomit a little bit today. This time the serum and growth factor IV had to be done through her foot because the nurses could not find a vein on her tiny little hand. The problem here is that if she does not relax her feet, the liquid does not go in, so she has to fall asleep for it to go smoothly. She looks like she will sleep now, but nurses and people keep on knocking on the door all the time. I can tell you this, if you want to drive me crazy just about now, all you have to do is a "knock, knock" on any surface and I will go berserk! I have heard of tortures, this might be an interesting one to practice, let me tell you.

I will tell you all about her night on my next blog. Today I am having some chicken wraps because with all of this Chinese food, my eyes are starting to look flat, wide shut!

I will say goodbye again, but not before thanking everybody for their hopes and constant support; this has been simply amazing, I am extremely proud to have such nice quality people around. And my family, thank you all for your emails and notes, believe it or not, they are definitely great pushes around here! As I get closer to my 38 (that is this next Sunday May 24TH) I am more convinced that the base built upon my family and friends is worth applauding for. Really, from my heart, from my mind, from my soul, thank you.

A special thank you for my eternal friend Kakum Morean for assisting on his duties of an outstanding banker and giving us a hand with an additional wire transfer to cover for the last injection.

Love you all, always ad forever!

Tuto

Let's Go Out and Have Some Snake for Dinner!

2009-05-20T22:43:00.023-04:00

And so we did go out last night to a restaurant nearby. It was our friend Trevor's birthday, so we all went out to celebrate at a place that was about a 20-minute walk from the hospital. It was rainy and humid so I felt like I was back home already, until we got to this place.

This was no ordinary restaurant and most of them are like that. This is a place that not only the food is completely unfamiliar, but the location as well. See, it is like real estate rules for a food venue don't apply. Remember those? Location, location, location! and most of the good places here are not like you and I are used to, where the place just sits there, facing out to the street. Most places here, and real fine good eateries, are located inside a building and always at a higher floor. This one in particular was at the 5Th floor of a big building, so we had to take the elevators to get there of course.

Another particular thing you find here is that you wont see a huge dining room crowded and full of people. You don't see waiter and bus boys running around, it's not like that. Actually, you rarely get to see other clients because you sit down inside private dining rooms with dedicated attendants. You seat in a big round table with a spinning surface so that all dishes are put there to go around the table. The tradition in China, and this is something you might already know because it is like that almost at all restaurants, is to share food. You don't get to have your own order to sit in front of you, no way, it spins around the table for others to share.

There are no menus here either! You go to a separate room and all the dishes are displayed there so you can hand-pick whatever it is you want to eat (and share of course.) Not only you find regular or traditional dishes here, but fish and crabs and prawns and others that could not be identified, inside huge water tanks. Can this be more fresh! Here, take a look at this video in which I walk around the whole ordering room looking for a fish to choose, a big crab or anything that might look like something we could eat (about 91% of what I saw here was completely strange to my well trained palate, although you could see some live snake waiting to be fixed.)

Snakes in China!

After I spent an enormous time trying to figure out what to order for us, I did. I chose some fried fish skin, some fried meat and onions, steamed and fried rice and oh well, a snake! Yes, I came all the way down here to try something new; the whole experience must be complete, and it would not be if I didn't pick a live snake for our delight. The snakes are kept in their own glass tank (two kinds of snake, which if you ask me, well, no idea) and I just pointed at the one with the meaner look and thought of revenge. Now it is my turn, and we will eat you! So we did, and it was brought to our table and as far as I can tell, it was chopped up and deep fried. It was presented with a sauce on top, some mix of soy sauce and some sweetener I could not know what it was (remember, here in China sugar is not an ingredient for cooking) but it tasted good. If you have eaten at a sushi restaurant and ordered eel rolls, well that is how it tasted but with more skin and fish-like spines which was the not-so-good part. If you think you feel grossed out already, let me tell you what they drink: they would take the snake liver, uncooked on a shot glass, pour in some sort of white liquor and up you go, a snake liver shot! ugh! That I did not come close to trying; I came here in search for answers and experience, not to meet death halfway. So take a look at this short video where I take a shot of the snakes, alive, sitting o their tanks waiting to be chewed upon.

And this is how the snake, now dead and deep fried looks like, enjoy!

How could I go to this place and not order duck, such a traditional Chinese plate with such a good taste (and did you know that duck has less cholesterol than chicken? Now you know.) So we ordered duck, and it was again, really good. There was something that bothered me a little though and I am not sure how you are going to feel about it, but it was out of my league. The freaking duck leg, no! Take a look at this next picture, it looks like if it was fake, like a plastic duck made but it is the ugly real thing.

But where did the leg come from? Where is the rest of the duck? Where is the duck? Well, I captured the image right before the poor little fellow was going to be cooked. Move away, dead duck walking!

Just check out to unlucky guys in the back, looking at the food and wondering "what is this, should we eat, where's the rice?"

But everybody was happy, we all shared stories and enjoyed such a particular experience. We ate the steamed rice, the fried rice, some huge crab, asparagus, the meat, the snake. It was all good, and for the first time in my life, I ate food for the soul. That's right, it all has a huge and deep meaning, so it was not about filling our bellies up, it was about the experience that comes along such a vast and complicated journey. We truly enjoyed while the captain turned 36!

Marujita will have here second lumbar tomorrow and given that her reaction is as good as the first one, I am requesting another one, so she can have 7 in total and 6 being spinal. It sounds so strange, I am requesting another one! Who's the doctor here, is this an a'lacarte hospital, bring me some vicodin please! But it is how it works. The biotech institute does not want to push you into getting as much as they can give, because there are no limits. They don't want to be seen as a money machine (because dude, is this expensive! I'm buying another 911, help!) but rather explain you how it works, and that only progress justifies more and more of this shots. Basically, each injection provides a count of about three million cells, so if you do the math, she will receive twenty one million. These cells have to do their tough and specific job, so the more help they get the better. It is like everything in life, it is about team work.

OK my friends, I will stop here and carry on with our daily routine. It has been a little over a week and it looks like such. We are on schedule to fly back Friday June 12Th and play the waiting game. This will take some time until we see results, but there will be results. How can't it be? With such a strong and dedicated support from all of you, there is simply no other choice!

I will see you here later, hope you enjoy the snake, we did!

A Little Reflexion on History and KFC

2009-05-19T03:07:00.015-04:00

As I find new and interesting ways to take advantage of my time here, I started reading about the history of the world. I might say first that I highly recommend you pick up a history book and go over the important events that have occurred before us and that has marked history in such a profound way that some of the practical stuff can be experienced today, and some of the most simple ones can still be traced.

If you have followed my blog, I wrote about a personal experience with this complex culture as I watched the people and analyzed their behavior. And I quote myself: "Open to a culture we will not get to fully understand, even if you consider yourself a historian because it doesn't matter how much theory you have explored looking for answers, you can not put this into practice."

I came across to a chapter of the book, right before the French Revolution that talked about China and their people. About their mighty, proud, orderly and densely populated and largely peaceful land inhabited by hardworking people (to refresh your memory, we are going back in a time between early 1790s and 1848.) And in this chapter it mentions a letter that was sent to the king of England in 1793. The English had asked permission to send an ambassador to the Chinese court and to engage in trade with China. The emperor Ch'ien-Lung sent a reply, that resumed contained something like this:

"You O king live far away across many seas. Yet driven by the humble desire to share in the blessings of our culture, you have sent a delegation, which respectfully submitted your letter... it is your veneration for our celestial ruling family that fills you with the desire to adopt our culture, and yet the difference between our customs and moral laws is so profound that our customs and traditions could never grow in your soil... rare and costly objects are of no interest to me. I have no use for your country's goods... Mindful of the distant loneliness of your island, separated from the world by desert wastes of seas, I pardon your understandable ignorance of the customs of the Celestial Kingdom..."

Wow. This is amazing. some 220 years ago and the Chinese still follow the principal. Of course not so in a closed-minded way because globalization has pushed way further, and the human resource here is so much an indispensable item to the rest of the world, that certain frontiers had been left available open.

And so the Chinese allowed, back then, for trade of porcelain, tea and silk, products of the Celestial Kingdom to continue as they where absolute necessities to the western culture. I am so much convinced about a phrase that my father continuously repeats "those who do not learn from history are bound to repeat it" (does Chavez come to mind? Damn, sorry, collateral damage) is such a true statement, that I will continue to study in detail the history of the world. In particular, I highly recommend a book by E.H. Gombrich titled " A Little History of The World" because instead of poor and boring text, theories and complicated terms, he chooses a narrative approach so easy to follow, that the book can be read by a child.

If you come to think about it, it must be with much proud that one belongs to a country with a culture and tradition like that. The way I see it, we all can relate to the fact that we come from many, many different cultures. My grandfather's ancestors, and his ancestors all belong from different cultures that eventually became united, but their origins vary plenty from one place to the other. Just like with the ancient Roman Empire, or new age France or Germany, they where all mixed up together, ruled by a single emperor as if the world was one. Moreover, I have not read about any of those emperors whose intentions where no less than governing the whole world.

Take me for example, I am a German descendant born in Venezuela. My parents where too born in Venezuela (actually and for your entertainment, my father's birth certificate reads: Carlos Federico Lothar Lahrssen Vollbracht, Natural de Coquivacoa. Yes, Maracucho er mardito!) but my father's ancestors can be traced from Germany and all the way up to Norway including Denmark. Furthermore, we can be traced all the way to the Vikings. My mother's ancestors can be traced to Lebanon (Darwich). My three kids where born in the US, but we can add additional layers of origin like Spain, which applies to all three. So, who are we? What are our customs and why? Why do we belong to that specific religion? It has been all put up in a huge blender only to come up with smoothie-like culture.

Now, think for a moment about the Chinese. Their identity can be traced back in a straight line, thousands of years back. They did not go through all those episodes like the 30-year war nor they had rulers taking over western empires. No, instead, they where all being Chinese. So one must understand this intensity of this culture as you explore their roots. Their traditions rely upon their own shadow. Sure they where attacked plenty of times before and that is why they had this huge wall built, the Great Wall of China. But they held, and here they are today, one billion people with real traditions and distinctive ways of living. They are China. The People's Republic of China.

I can tell you based on my personal experience that you feel that here. Perhaps not in the more popular provinces and their cities like Shanghai or Beijing, but up here it's a complete different story. We went out last night to a silk market to do something different. We gathered a couple of things, nothing significant, and then we walked looking for a place to eat. For 45 minutes we could not find a place that would describe their menu in any other language but Chinese. So how would you take the risk of sitting down, point the menu to order food based upon their illustrative picture just thinking "this looks like chicken and veggies" and suddenly what you get is frog. Yes my fellow reader, frog, they eat it here just as much as a hamburger is sold in the US. They eat snake for that matter and if you where to order something that looked like chicken and would not be a frog, you would point out to the picture with the wings and thighs, and the chicken's head sticking out... I am not a junk food eater even though I live in the country where people eat junk food the most, but I craved for a Mc Donalds or a KFC; and there it was, the red light at the end of the tunnel, a picture of a chicken wing head-free; Kentucky Fried Chicken!

All of this is good, and I could not recommend less. One has to have their buttons pushed once in a while. Reality has to come at you fast and burning hot so you can feel what it is to be alive. Our life, and I don't mean "lives", cannot be taken for granted but rather for a fact. The present we live, the past we lived and the future we will live. Sounds simple right? Forget about it, it's more complex than you can imagine. If you where able to have an eagle's view of your life right now in this very moment, what would you change?

And so I stop here so you can go back and relax and wait for my next blog which I promise it will not be this boring; it will be then again about a month's life in China and all those complex biotech stem cell treatments. I just wanted to come in to you "ala" Emeril, BAAAAM!

Marujita went through the same routine today. Doctor's visit in the morning, no fever it's all good. Standing therapy, acupuncture and physical therapy. Electrical therapy concluded the day's treatment and we are looking forward for tomorrow to be as good.

Have a great day and do not miss a second of this precious life. Go hug your friend, call your mom, kiss your spouse, your kids. Dance. Treat yourself right and others with respect. Obey your commands but do not neglect your instinct. And if by any chance you learn how to do all this, please teach me how!

Love you all always. Unconditionally.

Tuto

15 Hours!

2009-05-19T02:36:00.010-04:00

Well, as far as I can tell, we slept, and we slept straight. I would say that this was the first night that we could sleep tight, for almost 9 hours without interruption! It might sound like a commodity to you but in our case, this was platinum, no, this was plutonium. Since she was born she has never been a good sleeper. Be it for the fact that she suffered severe reflux or simply because she is a baby and will sleep short, she will always wake us up in the middle of the night. Not last night, no way, last night she went for a full 15 hour nap!

The symptoms after the spinal injection are supposed to be common in all patients. Fever, back pain, poor sleep, vomiting, dizziness and more. But she went all the way without any of those. She had a couple of degrees of elevated temperature, but that did not last an hour so she slept through the day and night and day again. I am not pretty sure what that means, if it's better or not for her, but I suppose that the more sleep you will get the faster you will recuperate. And we do want that to happen because remember that we came here for the big shots, the spinal, not the IV. I guess that doctors will not object for the treatment to be all spinal from now on.

It has been a very relaxing day for all three of us as everyone took their course. I worked some, they slept some; Marujita had some more acupuncture, this time seven little needles came to play the "blood flow" game and she behaved like a champ. After that she had "standing therapy" which consist of a horizontal table at first that tilts vertically for her to work on her feet. I am thinking of doing some of this standing therapy back at home, and I just figured out how to. What I will do is, go to the Home Depot and buy some really strong duct tape. After that, I will strap her to the wall in our family room while we watch TV. Same thing ah? Just kidding there for a while, exercising my imagination and creativity for a change, so don't worry it won't happen like that (I will buy double sided 3M tape.) And so she cried, she played and then she cried some more. To our surprise, she wanted to sleep again and so to sleep back she went. Now I sound like Joda (remember, the creepy little green ugly fellow from Star Wars?)

After standing therapy she went on to physical therapy which is conducted with the soul purpose of stimulating those areas that might be kind of idle some times, the ones she has little control over. That went well, nothing out of the ordinary and so we expect she will be tired for again, more sleep.

After the physical therapy she had her first "electrical therapy" which consist about 220 volts of pure, full blown discharges conducted by a cable that look more like a battery car jump starter. Another poor joke, ja! It is actually a very stimulating process because two nods are wrapped around her legs first, and then her arms, that in essence makes her muscle contract involuntarily for stimulation.

All these different therapies are done to further stimulate the stem cell injection process further more. If nerves of the brain are not functioning to full potential, and outside requests are being made to them demanding some sort of reaction, the stem cells magically identify the poor undeveloped cells and work with them to fully generate to its maximum potential. Man isn't this exciting! Who would've thought of that?

These different therapies are going to be conducted on a daily basis including Saturdays; Sundays we rest, read, eat and watch movies. Actually Sundays is mom and dad stimulation day, so to compensate for everything, we work on our abdominal section by having delivered to our room, a huge Pappa John's Pepperoni Pizza and a couple of beers! See, where the Chinese to follow the great words of their emperors when they rejected foreign trade (you will read about this on my next blog where I will talk about a real event in Chinese history, circa 1790) we will be bound and hence forced to eat their extremely good Kung Pao Chicken, fried noodle or rice and their amazingly sticky tasteless but excellent rice.

Until then, and for a little education on history, wait for my short writing titled "A Little Reflexion in History", I hope you have a great Monday (I already did).

Best wishes to all, today and forever,

Tuto

Small Needle Big Needle - A Medicine Paradigm

2009-05-18T01:53:00.039-04:00

Acupuncture is the practice of inserting thin needles into specific body points to improve health and well-being. It originated in China more than 2,000 years ago. As a matter of fact, In China, the practice of acupuncture can perhaps be traced as far back as the Stone Age, with the Bian shi, or sharpened stones. Stone acupuncture needles dating back to 3000 B.C. have been found by archaeologists in Inner Mongolia.

So what is this all about? How can thin, unharmful needles can make such an impact on the human body? Although it would be tough for it to be scientifically explained, it has proven successful results in practices from pain killers to weight loss increasing metabolism to stimulating blood flow in specific areas of the body. Well this is the case for Marujita as she had her first session of acupuncture today and it all went good; she cried very little as needles, five in total, where placed on top of her small and skinny head. The purpose of this treatment which she will have every day until we are done (that is until June 11Th) is to stimulate blood flow on her brain. Remember the stem cell injected via IV into her bloodstream? Well we want those to deposit themselves up there, "sulla sua testa" so stimulating the area constantly will end up being very beneficial for her. In the case of spinal injections, this will affect more directly the nervous system but then again, increasing blood flow into the brain can do nothing but good.

The small (and almost invisible to the naked eye) needle tip sticks into her head while putting little pressure into specific areas or "Meridians" to achieve what was described before. A needle so thin yet so powerful; a needle so thin, yet so harmless, rests untouched for some twenty minutes doing its little tiny and whispering job for her to enjoy. This is the miracle of ancient Chinese Medicine, dating back those couple thousand years back.

In essence, a spinal (or lumbar) injection consists of a needle, a bigger needle, applied to the back around its lumbar area directly into the spine itself. Since the spine sends and receives millions of messages through nerves, to and from the brain, this is the fastest "autobahn" from them to go straight up there, and start doing their tough and complicated job. Basically, at this point, the stem cells go corporate, all the way to headquarters and to the chairman's office! There, they work together and design the strategic plan to start working on immediately. Awesome.

This big needle sets itself as a "Catheter", a tube that's inserted into a body cavity, duct or vessel allowing injection of fluids and in this specific case stem cells. So if you are not a mother, you probably don't know (I don't) the pain experienced when this big needle goes through your spine bone, into the nerves and up its way, it's massive. I would think it would be like that very bad day at the dentist office when he accidentally touches a nerve and up we jump and scream. Pain, nothing but pain.

Hopefully, this pain means gain. This is what we came here for and we expect nothing less. Hence the process will repeat after today, four more times. These stem cell little people have a lot of work to do, this is what they get paid for, nothing less.

Marujita was first under sedation and waited for the doctors to pick her up and take her to the treatment room where we were not allowed in. Thank God, watching that must be almost as painful, but it's all for the best and this day and the following days will be over soon and everything will be OK. In the mean time, I will follow my maintenance diet of fried rice or noodles; of kung pao chicken or pulled pork in garlic sauce, all with tons of white rice, the kind that tastes so mellow but tastes so good!

This is so real, so real in fact, that the room holds the name; the name for future life conservancy. The name that carries so many controversies in so many countries amongst so many religions and pious individuals. Controversies that go from moral principles, to political to financial issues to religious thoughts. People are scared of the truth, some people I mean. Not us, no way. I vote for life, I vote for the chance that you and I had and are now thankful for. Life means living, and this is what this modern miracle, modern technology is here for. Let's embrace it, support it, believe in it. It is here for us to enjoy, and to enjoy more. The whole philosophy of happiness lies resumed under this umbrella term that it's now available to us. This is " The Stem Cell Transplantation Room". Wow! This is simply amazing, can you feel it!

The process took around 10 minutes, while they injected the stem cells into her spine. Apparently, because we were not allowed in, she did not complain of such pain by having that needle on her back. She came out asleep and the doctors are giving here now a growth-factor hormone through a IV. We hope that the sums of all parts, not the parts itself, are the key to positive results. The stem cells, the acupuncture, the growth-factor hormones; the standing therapy, the physical therapy, all in all will contribute to the whole process. A long month awaits, but one with positive minded oriented results will help make this month a very short day. I might be a little selfish here considering the pain she might go through, but it's all for her best and she will come to appreciate it very soon. I can warn the soul, the future man in her life, that I will be given away a very expensive jewel; one that can not be bought or traded or negotiated with. The responsibility of a lifetime awaits an uncouth fellow.

After a couple of hours after the treatment, she woke up with no fever which was a typical symptom after a spinal injection. It is all good because given that she is taken the spinal injection this way, we can count on the rest of the four remaining to be the same way. She might be feeling some pain and discomfort, I mean, after that experience what are we to expect?

So, in the end, we got our first shot of Johnny Walker's Blue Label, and guess what, we want to get drunk to oblivion!

See you next time, right here, right then!

A Moment of Thought and Hapiness

2009-05-16T23:14:00.018-04:00

I would like to extend my gratitude to everybody for your messages of hope, positive energy and optimism. One comes to appreciate how important it has been this long (almost 38-year) process of gathering good friends, true friends and investing quality time with my family; let me just tell you, in times like this, it pays back. It pays back not because one can read all these messages, but when I'm not I feel you are right there behind me, supporting; I can feel you pushing me forward, and that is a great feeling.

I am a true believer that loneliness is not when you are actually by yourself, but rather when you are surrounded by people you don't know. If you come to think about this, it may sound quite particular in a way. When we got here, this place felt strange, strange as if you where in hell lacking all types of resources. You feel as if you've done something so wrong at some point, that now you are paying the price. And let me say, it is good to feel that way because without a point of comparison, how would we know how to separate the good from the bad, the black and white, the love and hate. Quoting Osho, he has a very interesting theory that you might find useful to practice in thought. He basically says (and I am not getting deep into his writings because I would need to stay here for a year) and it is very simple, that for one thing to exist, the opposite has to be present. For the light to exist, the dark has to be there. For love to be, hate must also be there. For the good to be, the bad has to be present. I experience loneliness because I know you are all there, and without friends and family like that, what is our real path to follow? With or with out you, I can't live, with or with out you.

We have met an incomparable group of people here, from all corners of the world, but all with the same mission. Everyone with their own problems, jobs, interests, but with a single common goal and that kind of positiveness and optimism keeps us in a state of inertia I have never felt before. I would like to share this feeling with you because I know we take things for granted; we have them right there and we just don't pay attention to it, or at least, we do not pay enough attention to it. We have to, we have to take that step forward in order to live a happy life because even though for happiness to exist, sadness has to be there too; I choose happiness.

Last night we went out with some of our friends here. We went to the city for a nice Chinese dinner (and the duck is so good) and for a night show at a place called West Lake. It was a spectacular exhibition of lights and colors, one you can only find in places like these. The show took place on a lake, and for our surprise, the whole act took place above the water. Just as if gravity is not present, more than 300 people where dancing and acting on top of the surface. Just as if everyone adopted Jesus Christ's ability to walk on water. But there where boats too, boats floating in the water and moving amongst these weightless people. It was an amazing experience one can only live by being there. The play was in Chinese. The songs they sang, the dialogs, the whole thing. For some particular reason, I understood the plot and not because I understand the language, of course I don't, but because of the fact that I came to this place with an open mind and open thought. I came to this place full of positiveness and optimism and I was right there and then, open. Open to a culture we will not get to fully understand, even if you consider yourself a historian because it doesn't matter how much theory you have explored looking for answers, you can not put this into practice.

The feeling is strange, weird almost. We are not here to visit, we are not here as tourists with our cameras hanging around our necks and our hands full of shopping bags. We did not come here to have fun or to play, or to go out and enjoy. As I sat on the dinner table around our friends (we where a total of 10) I thought of that. I have done this before, on a cruise, visiting Europe, anywhere for that matter, not this time, so it fell strong. For the first time in my life, I think I did something for a reason, or at least I went somewhere for a reason. You could just sit right there, close your eyes and see the other side; the "good" other side I mean. The purpose, the matter, the reason, that I saw. It feels good in a very strange and particular way because like with any first experiences we don't know exactly how to manage them. It would be common sense to wait and process and evaluate but no, it just happened right there in that very moment.

So we ate the duck, drank the beer, enjoyed the conversation. A group of unknown souls bonding in a way most of us could not imagine. We made it through and we made it through in a very good mood. No bad thoughts or intentions where going through any body's mind, just positive energy and excessive amounts of optimisms, we where really happy.

I would like for you to put this into practice, but I'm not asking you to come all the way down here, please don't, ever. What I am asking though, is for you to feel every moment has a matter, a true meaning in life. And the only way I believe we can achieve this, is by just bursting out positive thoughts, laughter, happiness, friendship, brotherhood; act as son, as a father, as a mother for that matter, as a friend, always. The good is right there, shinning, almost calling you and pointing the right way. Just believe, seek out for it, conquer.

I am very grateful to have people like you around me, and I thank this life for the opportunity. I thank this life for it gave me the right to choose and I chose wisely. I thank this life for my family, for my friends, for my son and daughters, for my wife. I truly extend this feeling towards the greatest person alive today, my father, who's unconditional support I admire and for the one no longer with us (physically) the great, perfect, loving mother, Maruja Lahrssen. Today I thank you all for being part of my life and for letting me share this with you.

Tomorrow Marujita will have her first spinal injection, which by what I hear it is extremely painful. She will have local anesthesia of course, but I don't know if she will be asleep. As I mentioned before, this is the most effective way to inject the stem cells because they go straight to where we want them to go. Hopefully the five remaining injections, including this one, will be spinal.

Until we meet next, and while I keep updating this, my very best to all of you today and forever!

Tuto.

A Tale About a Diet Coke, a Beer, Whiskey and her First injection

2009-05-14T23:58:00.025-04:00

Although I am not "Addicted", I needed my Diet Coke. I needed my shot of caffeine without a drop of sugar, I needed to take 5 and feel at some bizarre level, back at home. You see, here, it is not that common to find such a drink, perhaps a Coke or Sprite, but not diet or light as it is called here.

Perhaps it is Columbus' fault to think he was going to get to India by going East, feeling it was a shorter way to get through sea than by land, just opposite as Alexander the Great thought. So I guess we owe it to him not to find such a venom here having declared so long ago that we are in fact, in America, too far away. But gladly for me, Diet Coke was conquered today.

I went out to a local Mart, which is something close to a Wal Mart back in the US. They pretty much had everything, but it took me longer to find a cash register to pay, than it did to pick up a couple of things. Once I was able to pay, the cashier kept on addressing me in Chinese; I mean, do I have the face? jajaj, is just the way a different culture has it, and I am glad they do because they reflect on their beliefs and traditions, something most of us either lost or take for granted. When she started scanning I saw numbers adding up; I checked my pockets and I had a fifty of the local currency. I felt fear, what if it goes over, I have not a penny more and how can I ask her to remove items to fit my budget? It was a close 43.55, and it all went good. Next time I'll with no doubt, bring more cash. My dad is laughing on my face right now, I can hear him!

OK, back to the matter.

The Day Just Before the 1st Stem Cell Injection

I posted this video which was taken the very next day we got here when the physical therapist was doing an evaluation on her. As you can see, she looks pretty much normal there, but lacks stability when sitting down. That body-mind coordination is the first thing she will improve thanks to this advanced treatment.

Today she received her first IV injection which went pretty well only after they could put a needle through a vein, on her forehead, because it was very hard for the nurse to find one on her wrist. Even though I say " her first IV injection" , I hope it is the one and only. OK, let me put it in terms anybody would understand and not get into medical details. We came to China to receive bottles of an expensive scotch whiskey such as Johnny Walker's Blue Label, not a six pack of Bud Lights.

See, the difference between an IV injection and a lumbar injection is that the former is induced straight into the bloodstream and will carry out across the body, everywhere blood flows through, whereas the latter will go straight into the nervous system which will produce better results. By going straight into the nervous system, it will repair specifically undeveloped cells, assuring the effectiveness of the treatment. Every shot is guaranteed to induce three million stem cells, so if you go right to the point, just imagine how much better it will be. If you put the same count through the bloodstream, they will produce results, no doubt, but they can be diluted throughout the body.

This next Monday, she will receive her second injection but the first lumbar one. After that we look forward to having four more injected the same way.

If you are wondering how the stem cell shot looks like, well guess what, it looks like a freaking shot of a very young 8-year old single malt scotch! You must be thinking I need one (scotch that is), and the answer is, yes; IV or lumbar, or oral, whatever will make me sleep and relax! I am hitting 18-hour days with just 6 of sleep, and man am I tired. Well, take a look at the picture so you are again well informed about this whole medical revolution:

The weekend starts already and tomorrow we are going out with some other parents to get to know the city, explore the culture and perhaps drink some real tea. It will be our first day out of this four walls since we got here and I am planning on taking full advantage of it, given that I will not be out again, Lost in Translation! By the way, if you have not seen this movie, you have to go get it. NOW!

As you might have noticed by now, the tone on my writing has fallen down a few notches, but like I said, I am tired. I don't get much sleep, and when I get to sit down to think about the whole day and write about it, I can't find that many brain cells to work with. I hope this improves fairly quick because I do not plan to go back home full of grey hair. A long beard, yes, I am not planning to shave it off and waste my resources on details like that. Right now I will sit back, relax, and have my first beer in 5 days. Wow, I just had my first sip; I almost forgot how good the damn beer tastes like! But it will be just the one, and off to lay flat on my back. Why in the world am I giving so much detail? I feel like I am a self-refreshing facebook status update!

I wish everyone a very nice and pleasant weekend, one to enjoy with your friends and family. Like Maruja used to say, family is family, the one that comes along; friends on the other hand, are the family you get to choose. How cool is that!

I want to make a quick quote. Again, for some reason, it just popped up:

"Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around for a while, you could miss it"

Ferris Bueller, from the Motion Picture "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" 1986.

Over and out, CHEERS!

First Meetings

2009-05-13T21:48:00.006-04:00

So we are well ahead of your time, some 12 hrs forward. Something happened already that you still need to find out. See, we get there first, so we already know! Just a bad joke because here in China today is tomorrow for you; confused already? Try paying the Mc Donald's delivery guy...

That brings to mind something I want to share with you, it just came up. It has nothing to do with Mac Donald's of course it has to do with the wisdom of my father's words. He wrote this and gave it to me about 20 years ago, and for some particular reason, it just landed on my brain:

Yesterday is already a dream,
and tomorrow only a vision.
But today well lived makes every yesterday a dream of happiness,
and every tomorrow a vision of hope

Wow. It means what you already know; live! live today!

Back to what I was getting at. We had our first contact with some doctors and nurses. If you remember my little anecdote titled "Lost in Translation", well, same thing! I hope my Chinese gets better, because their English is definitely not. They took blood samples from the baby to make sure everything is ok, and to determine the course of action. We will have results from the lab tomorrow, but we where just informed that her first IV injection will be tomorrow! Yes, she will receive the first batch of some million-count stem cells, the purpose of this whole trip.

After the first injection, we will expect two things, one of them, our first experience with modern medicine technology. I should mention we came here for a total of 6, hence the long 4-week stay and the reason we chose China; they have similar treatments in some other countries, but none had the quality and quantity like they do here.

The first thing we should expect is some changes in Marujita, which can result in improved motor skills or general behavior. Oh, by the way, Doctors have been already advised about the former Maruja and her speed for life, her unstoppable attitude, and so it was determined that the stem cell doses have to be limited so Marujita, can actually allow other people to talk.

The other important thing to expect here is that we will have a more clear picture in regards to what the other 5 injections are going to be like. If you have read about stem cell treatments at the very beginning of my blog, you will remember that stem cells can be injected via IV (intra vein) or directly to the spine, which they call lumbar injections. In short, lumbar injections affect more effectively our nervous system, which is what we are looking for. IV injections flow through the blood, deposit themselves, and basically generate almost original copies from those they find not to be working at optimal levels. This means they will go into places (organs for example) that need no treatment, but will definitely deposit where they are required and too, reproduce. At this point you might be asking yourself "wait, so diabetes can be cured? Alzheimer's can be cured? A heart attack can almost be reversed? A cancer cured? What?" An the answer is yes. Remember what I said before, you have the right to know and everybody does, so spread the word here, please.

Depending on her reaction to the first IV injection, we will know what follows and how many will be otherwise, lumbar. Only for the best in any case, but we are looking for more than that.

Today she will have her first physical therapy session, not different from those in Miami. In any case, is good in terms of stimulation because after tomorrow, she will start experiencing a fast development she did not get when she was in her mother's belly.

For those of you who are not aware of the situation of Marujita, there is nothing to worry about. She is a very healthy baby and in no way close to a critical condition or situation. The problem is, she did not eat very well before birth and some motor and behavioral skills where affected. She will be a perfectly normal baby, but we have to do this to literally "fill in the gap" and not let any detail out of play.

I am a man of science, a person who you could convince if you have enough proof and thought of every possible variable. I do not accept mediocre explanations or stupid excuses, I demand from people regardless we work together or live together. This is my chance to prove that if you believe in something almost as if was true already; if you can visualize your dreams and hopes and feel you've been already there. If you want something so bad and so strong, it is actually right behind you waiting for you to grasp. If you can do this my friend, having covered all possible variables, then let me be the one to just tell you, you are already there.

I will see you here tomorrow, or later, or whenever someone speaks to me in Chinese and I will answer with a face that looks like: ?

Whatever it is you are doing right now; whatever you are working on, striving yourself to be the best, just remember something, someone else is trying harder!

Love you all unconditionally!

JAJA!

Time Flies...

2009-05-13T06:27:00.007-04:00

It was a long, long trip to Hangzhou, China, after arriving some 25 hours after we left our home in Miami. It was first a short hop to Newark, to connect with Continental Airlines Flight 87, final destination Shanghai, China.

Time flies in ways we can only express but not so much describe because, metaphorically speaking, time flies. Well my friend, it is a good thing (given the fact that I am writing out of my semi-burned brain) that I remembered such a word, "metaphorically". Time actually freezes over, remains still, unmoved, untouched, when you set up yourself for a 14 hr flight. Time is non-existent, it makes no difference, it actually makes no sense because by the time you set your watch, you are exposed to different time zone.

The 87 flight was actually pretty cool, long, but cool. We left Newark towards Shanghai, and the interesting thing here was, we went "atop" of the earth in order to get to the far away Chinese Empire. I mean, it makes all the logical sense to take the shortest route, but don't you agree it is actually cool? Well, this was a 14 hr flight aboard a Boeing 777-400, a very new aircraft with an entertainment center on every seat, making available to every passenger some 325 movies, 14 games and some 40 TV shows; how can you sleep! Well, I did and not only because I was so tired from waking up so early last night, but from knowing the jet lag I am about to experience. I mean "about" because I have not slept a single minute after I got off the plane.

Anyways, celebrating the 8th hour on the flight I figured I needed to get some sleep to relax and kind of "fool my soul" into thinking we where actually going to rest. I popped up a couple of Ambien CR sleeping aid pills and after that, you could say I was completely knocked out. Some say I was talking in my sleep, what an uncomfortable place to do both!

We landed in Shanghai at around 1.45PM local time (1.45AM EST). At around 2PM we where actually invaded by aliens. Aliens that had white suits, blue masks, clear goggles. They where semi-human beings that came out of nowhere and started pointing a wireless device to our foreheads almost as if with the intention of sucking out our spirit. These where the Men in White, just like in the movie, but white. Shortly after an announcement inside the plane which was conducted in Chinese (I was freaking out!) we where informed that this where not the Men in White, that there was nothing to fear. They where not erasing our brains or taking control of the plane. These where The Men of Quarantine. The men who came in search of the Swine Flu carrier. The wireless pointing device? A temperature reader to determine if someone had a fever. We where in China, this is the place I came to for answers; the Chinese Embryonic Stem Cell Treatment is going to work... they just proved they have "technology".

Heading towards the Biotech Institute (which now I am aware is part of a whole floor in a hospital in Hangzhou) we where picked up by a private driver who new little, or as I call it now, negative English. That is for you mathematical heads out there, -EN. What I mean by this, for those who did not get it is, well, let me tell you a little story:

Lost in Translation

As we where driving towards Hangzhou over the big, clean and traffic-less highway, I realized myself how little or negative English some people speak. The driver was in complete silence; no words came out of his mouth, just silence. After some 30 minutes, he expressed himself both physically and verbally. He raised his hand holding just two fingers as he said "two hours". Not only was I in shock that after such a long trip, I still had to cover a couple of hours in a car, but the individual actually spoke! And so with my intention of establishing a conversation for the next "two hours" I responded back: "Really, two hours, that is a long trip, how many kilometers in total?" He nodded. "Umm, h o w m a n y k i l o m e t e r s?" I asked again. The man nodded. Now, I held my arms wide open while at the same time pointing the road: "distance, from here, to there?" He answered: "5 o'clock". I was right then and there, Lost in Translation.

We finally got to Hangzhou and where welcomed by hospital staff. It was a short day for that matter, but tomorrow we will have things more clear. We have a room assigned for the three of us, only that extremely small and not quite comfortable. Although we are not here on vacation, we where expecting something better since it was going to be our place to live for the next 4 weeks. I mean, we are in a hospital, and this is a hospital room. Nurses and doctors are going to be coming in and out as they so require, so privacy is not an item to consider.

I am hungry (although I'm not going to eat), I am tired and I am worried. I am in a very strange place, far away from home, far away from my kids, my family, my beloved job. But I am here for a reason, and I have plans to see those reasons go through.

Love you all, my best to everyone.

Shatter?

2009-05-09T23:57:00.013-04:00

How many times can I break till I shatter!

Well I'm not making this on my own, I read (heard really) the lyrics and I felt I have to put them out for you. Really, just read, listen, digest; these are a couple of words that probably came out of a scene, of a circumstance, out of time and desperation.

And so it goes:

In a way, I need a change
From this burnout scene
Another time, another town
Another everything...

And it so it goes, it goes out of genius thought, the kind you and I can only whisper about. But after all I simply ask, how many times can I break 'till I shatter? Well, it seems I am breakable as many times as you can brake me, make me unfold. Surely you and I wish for a stronger soul, but let's face it, we can break.

It is common thought now, it is almost a cliche: what does not kill you makes you stronger... And I so much approve the statement, because the more we break the stronger we come back.

Well, there is a big difference here; to break and to break 'till I shatter. I felt shattered once, when she left, some November 9 a couple of years back. Recuperate? I would not call it that, I am still gathering all the pieces and trying to put them together; see my problem is, I came here with no instructions, no manual, no guides. The unconditional soul that brought you to life, gone, gone with the reference.

Today I celebrate for all the mothers here; today I celebrate for my mom. For the spirit she left, for the optimism she spread; for the sensibility she followed, comparable to none. I celebrate I am part of that life, proud to be.

Make the difference, make them proud! Take the challenge, is worth the while. But please, break as many times, shatter if you have to; it will bring you back strong, I promise!

Have a wonderful Mother's Day, I will!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xBEIV2Ekl8c

In a way, I need a change
From this burnout scene
Another time, another town
Another everything
But it's always back to you

Stumble out, in the night
From the pouring rain
Made the block, sat and thought
There's more I need
It's always back to you

But I'm good without ya
Yeah, I'm good without you
Yeah, yeah, yeah

How many times can I break till I shatter?
Over the line can't define what I'm after
I always turn the car around
Give me a break let me make my own pattern
All that it takes is some time but I'm shattered
I always turn the car around

I had no idea that the night
Would take so damn long
Took it out, on the street
While the rain still falls
Push me back to you

But I'm good without ya
Yeah, I'm good without you
Yeah, yeah, yeah

How many times can I break till I shatter?
Over the line can't define what I'm after
I always turn the car around
Give me a break let me make my own pattern
All that it takes is some time but I'm shattered
I always turn the car around

Give it up, give it up, baby
Give it up, give it up, now
Now

How many times can I break till I shatter?
Over the line can't define what I'm after
I always turn the car around
All that I feel is the realness I'm faking
Taking my time but it's time that I'm wasting
Always turn the car around

How many times can I break till I shatter?
Over the line can't define what I'm after
I always turn the car around

Don't wanna turn that car around
I gotta turn this thing around

The First 365

2009-05-08T10:47:00.004-04:00

It is a whole year now, and time flies as if it where non-existent, or is it? While she knows nothing about this whole adventure, little she will eventually care for it, she will not remember the first 365!

Good or bad, you might come to think, but if you ask me, I'd rather forget the first than not live the rest. Hence, a long long long trip to China, where right now is dark and people sleep. It is so far away that it is completely opposite to where you stand right now at some 12,ooo miles away (6.500 Km) and you know what, I'm freaking scared.

The trip of a lifetime in search for answers, for results. A trip I would not take otherwise because to be very honest, it is stupidly far away.

I will take a pause for the weekend, and write back as soon as I get in the 777; I have 16 hours to think! Ouch. But I wish you all a very nice and beautiful Mother's Day.

To my mother, preacher of gratitude, follower of happiness, ambassador of life, I think of you. I love you more than anything, and you are not here, not physically. But you left a shadow, a shadow that came to life, and for that, all of this. She came to take your name, so how in the world can this go anything but right!!

Por Maruja, la original, la que lleva la marca registrada...

In Between...

2009-05-08T01:57:00.013-04:00

So, as life comes to bring it, my good friend and half brother in heart has just given birth to a beautiful baby boy!!!

And perhaps this is not what you where expecting, at least not because of the purpose of this whole thing. The matter of the fact is that life comes and goes, in many forms and places, and today it just happens to be, Iker.

My beloved friend, the kind that has given more to you that you could ever imagine; the kind that has given you more than you could dance and rhyme. Probably you have heard some mild tones from his humble productions, or you just have the luck to be, well me.

And so I'm talking about the artist, the artist new to be found. The kind of person you often mistake for a friend bound to be a real celebrity. And out of sight, he gives birth to a beautiful baby boy, that as far as I would know, came out singing; I'm pretty sure he was singing, I just heard a fine tune, a mellow between the sun and the moon, and yes, he was singing. He was singing out of his beautiful past, the one his young and predecessor father came out to be. Hope you could be a part of this, because otherwise you would think we, and specially "I", would be crazy.

A super-mind of a musician can be able to explain the feeling, and if you are not following, just listen to some music. The artist in nature is that of a different breed. He is of a kind strange to you and me, but how can he be something else? He is the creativity behind the scenes, he is the inspiration surrounding dreams, he is the one that brought vocals to life, he is the one that brought life back to a melody reality.

Name would not be important, and anonymity would do just as good. Just think about those lonely sights when music and ears came together, when lyrics and meditation where almost alike. Well, I think no less about my good friend, about my brother; And today I celebrate for him, I celebrate for his new breed and for all the hope it carries; I celebrate for being an undisclosed uncle for the newly received, Iker Barbella.

It is not what you feel for your friends, or hell, for your brothers, it is what influences you in ways your soul could ever describe. Well, to all friends, fans, family, extraterrestrials, I present you with the gift of life. And the shift of life from hope or reality has no boundaries, it has the limit of life, the life you and I are just taking a grant of.

He said to me once he dedicated a song; oh I'm sorry, a "Ballad" as he would describe it just for me, to be his new up-and-coming pride. The song he would dedicate, well, the melody happens to be about a soul with no words, or as he would express it on his own, simply no words. You would have to be in this place to really understand, but I hope that at this point you do. The song comes to be about his prior engagement to the birth of the second child. And if you might ask, well yes, Ian, the one in between. "Sin Hablar" covers much more than whatever you and I could accomplish in this world. However, he sang the song, "a capella", with a set of humble strings belonging to a crunchy old guitar; and so the song went for him, for the one unborn, and the lyrics followed...

Only twice, and for god sake, you can sometimes only reach once. But the story goes, and it goes for all us. It goes because we want to, because we want to sing about it all the time, in our own space and time, just because we are alive.

And so I invite you all to be part of life, to exaggerate life, to contribute to life; to be just the one who wants to sing in order to be... I want you, yes you, to speak out loud, to make your dreams and mine come true; to make facts a reality and to make the freaking shit to happen just because we can!!! Life builds just upon us, and it is our chance to make it good, not just right good, but stupid good.

They would come and go, and the ones we just love the most, well, simply fade away. But we are here, and we are here to make a difference. So be a part of this new life, share with me the new experience, the new experience of true hope. Hope that belongs to sustained research and consistency, the one that believes in belief.

The world brought a new soul for us to celebrate, the circumstance brought us all, Iker Barbella. And for that I celebrate, I celebrate the gift of life because just as you might have guessed by now, that is my ultimate goal!

Love you all unconditionally, even if you think or feel any other way...

TUTO

StemCells, can they cure diseases?

2009-05-07T16:13:00.004-04:00

I promise this will be the last theorical orientation in terms of the StemCell Treatment. I just want you to know, to raise your voice, to tell everybody you know. How did we find out? A friend of a friend of a friend told a friend who told our friend... And guess what, they received the gift of life; is there anything better you would like to see? Exactly...

So, here are some basics on the subject, and I will provide useful links in order for you to learn more; if so you desire.

The Promise of Stem Cells

Studying stem cells will help us understand how they transform into the dazzling array of specialized cells that make us what we are. Some of the most serious medical conditions, such as cancer and birth defects, are due to problems that occur somewhere in this process. A better understanding of normal cell development will allow us to understand and perhaps correct the errors that cause these medical conditions.

Another potential application of stem cells is making cells and tissues for medical therapies. Today, donated organs and tissues are often used to replace those that are diseased or destroyed. Unfortunately, the number of people needing a transplant far exceeds the number of organs available for transplantation. Pluripotent stem cells offer the possibility of a renewable source of replacement cells and tissues to treat a myriad of diseases, conditions, and disabilities including Parkinson's disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, spinal cord injury, burns, heart disease, diabetes, and arthritis.

Have human embryonic stem cells successfully treated any human diseases?

Scientists have been able to do experiments with human embryonic stem cells (hESC) only since 1998, when a group led by Dr. James Thomson at the University of Wisconsin developed a technique to isolate and grow the cells. Although hESC are thought to offer potential cures and therapies for many devastating diseases, research using them is still in its early stages.

The waiting period...

2009-05-07T15:23:00.005-04:00

So I ask myself, what in the world are we doing? Well, not an easy answer when one has to travel to the other side of the world in search for answers; to experience where the ancient accupunture traditional culture has shifted into one of the most technologically advanced (and available) medicine treatments in the world. And all this, a trip to China for some 5 weeks.

Stemcell Treatment. What is this, what does it do, why haven't I heard about it before? Well, I am not a potilically oriented victim, so I will be diplomatic and short: On March 9, 2009, President Barack Obama issued Executive Order (EO) 13505, entitled "Removing Barriers to Responsible Scientific Research Involving Human Stem Cells"; what was the name of the president prior to him? oh yes, Mr Ass Shitface. Well, it is what it is, and you have a chance to know. You will know beacuse there is a definition, but better off, because we will share our experience, with you.

What are stem cells, and why are they important?

Stem cells have the remarkable potential to develop into many different cell types in the body during early life and growth. In addition, in many tissues they serve as a sort of internal repair system, dividing essentially without limit to replenish other cells as long as the person or animal is still alive. When a stem cell divides, each new cell has the potential either to remain a stem cell or become another type of cell with a more specialized function, such as a muscle cell, a red blood cell, or a brain cell.

Stem cells are distinguished from other cell types by two important characteristics. First, they are unspecialized cells capable of renewing themselves through cell division, sometimes after long periods of inactivity. Second, under certain physiologic or experimental conditions, they can be induced to become tissue- or organ-specific cells with special functions. In some organs, such as the gut and bone marrow, stem cells regularly divide to repair and replace worn out or damaged tissues. In other organs, however, such as the pancreas and the heart, stem cells only divide under special conditions.

Until recently, scientists primarily worked with two kinds of stem cells from animals and humans: embryonic stem cells and non-embryonic "somatic" or "adult" stem cells. The functions and characteristics of these cells will be explained in this document. Scientists discovered ways to derive embryonic stem cells from early mouse embryos nearly 30 years ago, in 1981. The detailed study of the biology of mouse stem cells led to the discovery, in 1998, of a method to derive stem cells from human embryos and grow the cells in the laboratory. These cells are called human embryonic stem cells. The embryos used in these studies were created for reproductive purposes through in vitro fertilization procedures. When they were no longer needed for that purpose, they were donated for research with the informed consent of the donor. In 2006, researchers made another breakthrough by identifying conditions that would allow some specialized adult cells to be "reprogrammed" genetically to assume a stem cell-like state. This new type of stem cell, called induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), will be discussed in a later section of this document.

Stem cells are important for living organisms for many reasons. In the 3- to 5-day-old embryo, called a blastocyst, the inner cells give rise to the entire body of the organism, including all of the many specialized cell types and organs such as the heart, lung, skin, sperm, eggs and other tissues. In some adult tissues, such as bone marrow, muscle, and brain, discrete populations of adult stem cells generate replacements for cells that are lost through normal wear and tear, injury, or disease.

Given their unique regenerative abilities, stem cells offer new potentials for treating diseases such as diabetes, and heart disease. However, much work remains to be done in the laboratory and the clinic to understand how to use these cells for cell-based therapies to treat disease, which is also referred to as regenerative or reparative medicine.

Laboratory studies of stem cells enable scientists to learn about the cells’ essential properties and what makes them different from specialized cell types. Scientists are already using stem cells in the laboratory to screen new drugs and to develop model systems to study normal growth and identify the causes of birth defects.

Research on stem cells continues to advance knowledge about how an organism develops from a single cell and how healthy cells replace damaged cells in adult organisms. Stem cell research is one of the most fascinating areas of contemporary biology, but, as with many expanding fields of scientific inquiry, research on stem cells raises scientific questions as rapidly as it generates new discoveries.

Keep coming back, more to come!!!!