Some Thoughts on the Procedures

• I went with http://www.theravitae.com/ and its associate http://www.vescell.com/ because their processes emulated a natural body process which goes like this - When there is a damaged part of the body it sends out some kind of chemical or neuronal or hormonal trigger (something) that kicks the body's own reserves of stem cells into action. These move from the bone marrow to the blood stream and follow these "chemical markers"" to the site that is complaining and then do a repair job.
• Actually- you have about 1,000,000 circulating stem cells at any one time.
• The only difference between what my body would normally do and what happened here is that they focused about 25 times the number of stem cells that would be floating around my WHOLE blood stream at any one time ( about 23 million) into several tiny areas of my cardiac arteries ( which means it was like 10,000 times more concentrated) and they first stressed the cardiac system a bit by restricting the blood flow ( with a balloon catheter) so that the heart would start to complain at various areas and send out chemical markers. Then they released the stem cells which were right there and went to work immediately.
• They don't claim to know the whole mechanism of what works - only that what they do works in about 75-80% of the cases! They have demonstrated this time and again for over ten years of research and over 4 years of clinical trials with live patients.
• American clinical trials are proceeding very slowly and are doing things like double blind studies ( which severe cardiac patients really cannot afford to go through). The US trials are debating the advantages of getting stem cells from the ones floating in the blood vs. the ones in the bone marrow - etc etc etc. And arguing about exactly what triggers them .
• Many of us cannot wait for US research teams to count the number of hairs on a fruit fly's butt and see how it correlates with sun spots and mad cow disease. It is sufficient to know that there is a high correlation between what TheraVitae and the Doctors at ChaoPhya Hospital do and the results they obtain. The detailed researchers can figure it out and help these guys refine the process even more.
• There is also a product call stem enhance that I am taking and sell - that is about 1000 times cheaper and releases stem cells into the blood stream - although at a lower rate- ie only about 25% more than you normally have floating around. Also they just float around at a higher concentration but aren't particularly concentrated in any one area until you stress yourself. TheraVitae gets the stem cells from the circulating ones and then puts them through a growth cycle for a week that multiplies them to 23 million or so.
• I am taking StemEnhance as a maintenance program for the good benefits I already have! It seems the only advice you get from any doctor these days other than take a bucket of pills is: 1 Lose weight; 2) Eat low fat; 3) Get exercise. I do all that already so i looked for other nutritional things to help me.
• I have 2 websites you can look at- the retail one http://www.stemcellhealthy.com/ and the business site http://www.stemcellhealthy.biz/ in case you want to consider this for a business too.
• Now all that said some people have commented on the level of medicine in Thailand vs anywhere else. I can only comment on Thailand and US and India. All of the doctors I saw or that worked with me were board certified in the US and had worked for some time and trained for some time in the US and in other countries. Several of the doctors were board certified in several countries. IE they know what the hell they are doing.
• I found the doctors here in Thailand to operate on a much more human and humane level than many of the doctors in the US that I had. IE they took the time to make sure you were ok, were settled in before the operation, could communicate with the staff etc. The staff were much more present and personable than many I have had in the US and seemed to operate in a way to keep you at ease vs running around with a harried look. Perhaps it was the patient loading or perhaps it was that most of the Thai people I met were entirely people oriented and took genuine interest in you even if you couldn't speak their language.
• Much of the equipment is 10-20 years out of date compared to what you can find in a US hospital- but it is by no means any cause for concern. For example, the blood pressure cuffs are often these little cases with mercury tubes in them that are carried around- so what - they work fine. The ekg machines often use these little suction cups that sometimes don't stay on so well - but they take the same information the other kinds do.
• The MRI machine - i cannot comment on except for its size -- I am a big guy and getting into one of those older MRI machines was a true sausage stuffing contest. Its a damned good thing I am not claustrophobic. Two indications as to how tight it was: A) when the blood pressure cuff inflated fully while i was in the unit- it squished the rest of me so much i couldn't take a deep breath. B) When i was pulled out of the unit I was wedged in so tight I couldn't move so I ended up scraping my elbow enough to draw blood. I could not suck in anything to get it out of the way.
• Blood draw- These phlebotomists are expert with needles- they don't use indwelling catheters except for longer procedures like the angiogram. They hit the vein the first time and don't use those little vacuum bottles to suck things out of you but use an old fashion syringe and they work fast and effectively. Plus there is a nurse to hold your other hand- they are big on human contact and it does make a difference in terms of the relative connectedness and calmness of the client - me.
• There seems to be a lot of waiting around once you check in - and tests, and other things- but then they need time to observe you see how stable you are and otherwise do their own assessment of your ability to tolerate the procedure. This takes time and at least you get to be in comfortable surroundings when they do that. After all you have to remember the people that show up here are not in the best of shape. It would be sheer folly to simply rush them in suck their blood out and then push them back to the hotel and equally - drag them in a half hour before the operation.
• They even have pajama like hospital clothes so your butt isn't always hanging out . The only time they go to the gown is just before the angiogram.
• The only surprise and one that initially bothered me but then didn't was that an hour before the procedure they gave me a valium- which is normally what people get to start to slow them down before the major anesthetic. Surprise!! the only anesthetic they use is a local in the groin which surprisingly is all I needed. They need to keep you alert enough to be able to give them feedback on any symptoms- remember they have to stress the heart a bit so it will put out those markers that attract stem cells. At no time did i feel at risk or under stress and i did notice some discomfort as they were poking around but nothing alarming.
• I had one tortuous artery that took them a long time to navigate and luckily for me they did since they found something that my doctors back home missed entirely!
• I noticed the hospital meals weren't exactly the kind that are tied to your conditions that I have come to expect in the US hospitals. You could pretty much order what you wanted. If you were dumb enough to order a cheese burger and a malted then you probably deserve what you get !
• Blood pressure and temperature taking time was an event. A troupe of people came in and fussed over you then left.
• They actually let you sleep through the night!

I felt better 3 days after the procedure. Some people take shorter or longer. Some people actually called me a liar when I mentioned how fast I felt well. All I can say to them is I'm sorry they didn't have the results I had - but to deny me what I know and feel is mean spirited and ignorant at best. Further their opinion of my internal landscape means nothing to me and perhaps makes their blood pressure higher than it needs to be!

If anyone has any questions feel free to ask - next on to more pictures!