15,555,000

The hospital on the Rheine that treats 10 Americans a week has completed its treatment of me. The lumber puncture or commonly known as spinal tap was performed faily painlessly and the 15,555,000 viable stem cells were injected within a few minutes. While the clinic aims and hopes for 5 million , my sample had drastically more and the viability was quite high. The three hours spent were not nearly as long and torturous as the last LP i had in Florida.

The humiliation of laying there bareassed was spared for me here, as instead of playing those games they just lifted my shirt and punctured my spine. It was all they needed to complete the task.

Although some people had terrible pain after, I felt fine. Later in the evening my tailbone and thighs began to ache badly, but the ibuprofein they gave seemed to help greatly.

So that is the end of my story in Dusseldorf. Some after thoughts include the sadness of seeing people in pain first of all, and people from the US. The self proclaimed "best country in the world", being unable to do a simple tasks that they do here daily.

The Extraction

The Dominicus Hospital was more 200 years old, and although remodeled multiple times i am sure, carried a very old feel. The center operates on three floors that they have remodeled in their orange colors and Ikea furniture. The Imacs adoring every desk gave a warm feeling in my gut being that i have the same one.

The waiting room already had patients waiting and continued to fill up through out the course of the day. Sadness and peoples' tragedies were apparent and painful to see. The screaming autistic child, the wheelchair bound young girl, the woman struggling with a wheeled walker, were all reminders that they too were suffering, perhapse more than some.

The procedure itself was extremely painful although multiple people had said that it would be a minor discomfort. The needle, being jabbed in from time to time hurt so bad that I broke out into a sweat from head to toe. Trying to take it, I did make a yelling sound from time to time due to the pain. I was informed that pain meant that bone marrow was flowing but somehow at the time the pain overwhelmed me to realize the value. Clenchint to my scrubs and breathing heavily into my facemask I made it through, whiping my dripping palms on my pants which I now had pulled up and buttoned.

The pain remained but very lightly, disappearing completely in the span of few hours. Half way done.

The Arrival

After almost 9 hours of stuck in a tiny seat with almost no movement, we arrived in Deutschland. After getting our bags and walking into the public area we met up with our orange vested driver. A very nice German man, who did not hesitate to play a bit of a tour guide as we passed various areas of the city. Large bridges, lots of trees, old architecture, modern art museum within a park and much, much more.

The hotel is ok, yet everything is ridiculously priced. For instance, 75 Eur for 7 days of internet package, 23Eur for breakfast buffet. If you ask Google, you can get the rate in Dollars, but take my word that it is ridiculous, but according to the staff, "this is Germany".

An element present in all US hotel rooms is strangely missing in this Holiday Inn, and that is a Bible. The presence of a Bible was explained to me not long ago, shattering my speculation that hotels provided it, but regardless its not here.

6 Days Until

I am having extreme heat sensitivity. Part of the problem is that it is extremely hot right now. I try to avoid going to the bathroom in order to eliminate the awkwardness of my gait worse yet, to eliminate the possibility of a fall. I look forward to Germany not only for the main event but to experience a better climate. I will update as updates develop.