Christmas is tomorrow.  I want to take this opportunity to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and a Joyous New Year.  We have a lot to be thankful for from this past year.  We journeyed to India in February and since that series of stem cell treatments I have continued to experience increased sensations and feelings in my lower body, especially over the past 2 months.  My sensations have increased in strength and intensity.  We can only hope that with this next trip, in January 2010, the upcoming stem cell treatments will lead to new and dramatic changes.  This is our dream and hope.  We pray that God will allow my body to respond and that I gain more control of the nerve impulses to the muscles in my legs and feet.

This past 3 weeks, since we had the big snow, I have been battling painful arthritis in my neck, shoulders, elbows, wrists, and hands.  The humidity has been very high and the temperatures very low.  I had arthritis in my hips from when I broke my back in 1990, but I haven’t suffered from it since I became paralyzed in 1998.  For some reason it has reared its ugly head and forced me to deal with the consequences of my actions, which caused my injury.  Last week I finally approached my pain doctor for medication to help ease the joint swelling and pain.  In less than 4 weeks we leave for New Delhi, hopefully the warmer weather there will ease the discomfort, at least I am hoping it will.  It gives me some thing to look forward to besides receiving more stem cells.

The next four weeks will be stressful, especially for my wife, Kathy, as she takes care of most of the details and packing for our trip to India.  Thank you God for giving me a spouse who is willing and able to take care of me.  This is not the kind of life I envisioned spending with my wife, but it is what we have.  I can’t change that fact.  I screwed up, period.  Our lives changed in the blink of an eye when I wrecked.  Once some thing like this happens, there are no “do overs”.  All we can do is deal with what we have and go forward.  Hopefully this next round of stem cell treatments will help improve our quality of life, we can only pray and believe it will happen.

Have a Merry Christmas!  Stay tuned, next up will be our reporting from India.  I hope people still use the information from our experiences and it helps them find answers for their own problems.  Peace be with all of you!