My wife and I are considering stem cell treatments. She needs two new knees, and this is a way to avoid cutting her legs off (basically) and putting in robotic knees. I've had four concussions in the past five years, and would like relief from the symptoms -- forgetfulness, irritability, headaches, and sleep issues. The irritability is the worst, as it has pushed a lot of people away. Fortunately, my wife is still with me!

And with the forgetfulness, it makes it very difficult to write code -- which, actually, I'm doing as I type! :)

I've found a Perl module that talks to the STEEM blockchain, so I'm installing its dependencies. There are two pieces, one on setting up Perlbrew which for me was necessary as Ubuntu's long-term support (LTS) version is 16.04.3, and doesn't have the version of Perl that the module's dependencies required (had 5.22, needed 5.24). The second is on creating the Perl module -- which is really neat, as it helps one learn the inner details of Perl modules as well. I've asked if they have a "cpan" version, or would like help creating one. It stands for Comprehensive Perl Archive Network, and is located here: https://www.cpan.org/ -- basically, it's a way of packaging a Perl module so that anybody with Internet access can install it, simplifying the process.

Stem Cell Clinic

We've found a clinic that performs stem cell injections: Dr. Jeffrey Donatello, located here: http://centerforwell.com/

Have you tried this treatment (or others), or do you know somebody who has? I'm looking for first- and second-hand experiences, specifically, although any knowledge of outcomes, negative or positive, is welcome.

I can say that this is basically the third iteration of the process.

Third Stage (but out of how many??!?)

The first iteration used aborted fetuses (a practice I find to be criminal, my personal beliefs), and when the harvested cells were injected, caused fingers to grow out of scalps, and many cancers. It was those experiences that gave "stem cells" a lot of negative press.

The second stage, and the one that I personally would prefer using, takes cells from either your bone marrow (painful, but better) or fat deposits (not nearly as painful, but also not as effective) and converts them to stem cells through some process, then injects them back into you.

The third step and the one that's currently being practiced, is to take umbilical cords and after-birth from healthy babies with healthy mothers, and save the stem cells that are a part of what would otherwise be waste products and reuse them. This is far more effective than using one's own fat or bone marrow cells, because the cells divide at the rate of the age of the organism they were taken from -- in other words, an 80-year-old's stem cells, while they'll help to a degree, won't help as much as umbilical stem cells. I forget the numbers I saw in the presentation we attended a month or so ago, but they were very different, like 2 million divisions from the adult-derived, versus 2 billion from the umbilical-derived.

And, it's also superior to the first stage -- which, although it also used "waste products," would have involved me in a murder. So I wouldn't do that, even if I didn't know about the extra finger side effects.

Of course, this is where the market is at right now. And, the doctor mentioned that the people who invested in the second stage process, want a return on their investment and so won't be likely to tell their prospective patients, "there's a new, more effective method."

Turning that back around -- how do I know there isn't a fourth stage, which is even superior to the third stage we're looking into? Well, that's one of the reasons I made this post. Both to inform others on what we've recently seen, and also to request information that others may have, which we don't.

My Preference: Stage Two

I would have preferred using my own, for two reasons: first, the "purely physical" issue that the DNA matches my own. If I had someone else's DNA, or "programming," in some cells, then they might react to environmental stimuli differently than my own do. Which might confuse "my" cells, or cause dizziness, or other dis-ease (intentionally hyphenated to highlight that "disease" is when you're not at ease; when there's an irritant of some form), up to and including death (it's on the clinic's forms!).

Secondly, there's the spiritual/demonic issues -- will I have a portion of someone else's soul? Or, be linked to them somehow? Will I have "memories" of being in a womb I was never in? And karmic issues; some paths we choose don't make the consequences of the choice known for years. For instance, I had someone steal from me, ignored him for the most part, and many years later learned he went on to much larger thefts and is now imprisoned and will be deported after serving time. That made me feel really bad -- I mean, perhaps if I had fought back more (and left the "turn the other cheek" lesson behind earlier), then he might have "felt pain" from his choice of resource gathering, and perhaps chosen a more honest line of work. But because I "made it easy" for him, I helped him to his current destination. And I feel some remorse about that, almost every day.

"There is Permanence in Change" (or vice versa[1])

Additionally, we were told that this treatment may need to be repeated in two years. So, this change won't be permanent.

The Package

We're looking at a 6-cc package. One cc infused for my wife, which the doctor said is generally a good idea before any "spot" injections, as the bloodstream takes the stem cells around the body and they help wherever they can. Infusion is where they put it in a bag on a hook, with a tube to a needle in your arm, and it slowly drips in, taking a half hour or so. Then the injections into her knees, 1 cc each. I'll have 3 ccs infused, along with Mannitol, which will help the stem cells cross the blood-brain barrier (BBB).

Does Mannitol work?

From my (minimal) research, I've found that Mannitol only opens the BBB for ten minutes or so. The doctor had mentioned that each infusion takes about a half hour. So, I wonder -- will only a third of the stem cells get in to help my concussion symptoms? Even if that's the case, I think it's still worth doing, as I have other health issues which they can help by moving around my bloodstream.

The ceiling fan gradually moves slower and slower, until it basically comes to a stop.

When I was in Florida, I did a lot of research into nanotechnology. Almost set up a $25k prize associated with a nanotech goal as well, until I lost it all (longer, separate story :) ). One of the stories I came up with was that there'd be a pill one could take, which contained nanomachines in it which would make their way to the brain, and then convert it, in-place, into a more powerful processor. The basis of my story was from the Engines of Creation (a book) mention that a nanomachine the size of a sugar cube could be millions of times more powerful than the human brain.

So I thought, I can fit many sugar cubes inside my skull! And especially easy if the conversion process could be done while the subject is fully awake, with no anesthetic (aside: recently I found a dentist who uses a laser for drilling -- which also removes the need for anesthetic!), just by taking a pill.

Then I visualized the experience of having this conversion done. Take the pill, sit back in my chair and watch the ceiling fan (because I was in Florida) spinning; and, while watching it, notice that it gradually moves slower and slower, until it basically comes to a stop.

Why? Because I'm thinking millions of times faster than I was a few minutes ago! And, I also realized that this would effectively create "two classes of citizens" -- because, who would want to sit in conversation with a "slower" and wait for a few years (subjectively) between the words they speak?

I don't think these injections will have that dramatic an effect. Both the doctor and his wife (who practices Reiki, aligning with the energy healing modalities I know of as well) have had stem cells injected; the doctor, for neuropathy in his foot; one in his knee; and one done via infusion. I think his wife said she had both hers infused.

What's it going to be like?

I'm wondering what my experience is going to be like, sitting there while someone else's DNA drips into my blood stream, and is carried into my brain via the Mannitol. What thoughts will I think, and will some of them be "alien?" Will I try to think "alien" thoughts, either to anticipate or to counter any actual ones? It's giving me a headache thinking all this through -- and hopefully, after the treatment I'd be able to think this through without pain.

"The Grifters"

There was a scene in the movie The Grifters which I have kept recalling, throughout my life. It's the one where John Cusack's character is doing the sales pitch to the oil executive, telling him they have a secure link between NY and London and can put a 7-second delay in, so they would have an advantage to move first on trades when news happened. He said while starting to open a door, "We have a room full of computers, want to see it?" The camera could see behind the door, and there was like trash and boxes and stuff in the room! The oil guy said "No, I trust you" and the story continued (with the oil guy fleeced).

When we arrived at the clinic, he pointed to a box with shipping info on it, saying "those are the cells that arrived today, and will be injected tomorrow." (I actually considered walking over to them and putting my hands on the box, to see if I could detect any cold leaking out; but, I didn't.) He also said that he had just gotten back from a visit to their facility, as it was gold-star rated (etc), and he wanted to see it for himself.

So, my first recollection of that scene from "The Grifters" was whether he had been hoodwinked, on his visit out to their facility.

Then, while driving home (and probably just before my abdominal pains started, and haven't let up -- it's several days later now; I bought an enema and will try it later today, hopefully that'll resolve it and I won't need a doctor's visit tomorrow), I had the further thought that perhaps he was the John Cusack character, and we're just going to be getting "expensive" saline injected.

Of course I have no reason to doubt him, other than knowing that where there's a lot of money, charlatans congregate... Oh, and he was a chiropractor before starting this practice, which some can point to and say "not a real doctor" -- although I'm not one of those; I have benefited from chiropractic treatments, although also -- in my experience some are far better than others, and some caused me harm.

Please share any experiences you have!

This is new and dangerous and scary, and my belly has been in knots the past few days and might be related to our investigating, discussing, and financing this venture. It's also wonderful and opening and freeing and passionate. And likely, many things in between.

If you have any experience with this, please share! Hopefully it will help us make our final decision.

Voting results are coming!

I've written a script to help with tabulating the votes. It has determined the top 50 votees. The "Steemit.pm" (mentioned in the title and the introduction above) will help with the next phase, which is to check whether each account is eligible, based on "followers * 10 + SP" must be less than 10,000. Should be simple to do the calculations, and I actually started writing a Python program to take the Perl program's output, but then thought "someone probably wrote a Perl module by now" -- and turns out, 9 days ago someone (@hoffmann) did!

In fact, I'm sure it's done installing in the VM by now (the fans have slowed down :) ), so -- back to tabulating the votes!

The Race -- predictive?

Oddly, we'll be injected with something very similar to my Flame Painter painting, "The Race"! :) I drew that in September, well before we had any idea this treatment even existed. Not exactly the same though; more, nine months (plus a finish line) later. :)

Enjoy!

[1] -- I loved the band The Alarm when I was in college; saw them there as well! That section heading in quotes was a song of theirs, linked below -- enjoy! :)

---