Hello All,  Actually I've been back for a while now, so sorry for delay at contacting you.  Also I'm sorry for not keeping many of you posted.  We did have internet access which was a blessing, but limited ability and time to email.  Some people who had been there earlier advised to bring plenty of books for the boring waiting time.  So much was happening we didn't have a boring moment.

It was an absolutely amazing experience, besides the surgery, it was an amazing experience I look forward to sharing with you.

Recap, the surgery involved transplanting olfactory ensheathing glia (OEG) cells to areas both above and below my injury site.
They made an incision on my injury site, then they went in to my spinal cord and injected 500,000 cells above the injury and 500,000 below.  The procedure takes about two hours, but mine took a little longer. Dr. (Hongyun) Huang usually makes two small incisions -- one above and one below the site -- but because I use my neck so much for typing and other things, there is a lot of muscle mass and fatty tissue there so he had to make one long incision.  The procedure went very well and his recovery went smoothly.

I was very lucky,. I was told the side effects of the surgery would be bad headaches and fever. I had no headache and no fever. I was really blessed.

Three days after the surgery, I was up and in my chair.  It only took a few days until I noticed some positive reactions.  I was laying there, and the doctor felt behind my back and said I was sweating,  That was amazing because I'm not able to sweat below my injury site. Being able to cool my body on my own is a big plus.  I was skeptical though.  A couple days later when up in my chair I could actually feel I was sweating,. Jeanie took off my T-shirt before I went to bed, and when she held it up there was a big old patch of sweat on the lower part of my back. We missed the chance but I wanted to take a picture because it was something I could never do before.  Doctors have told me I can expect I will begin to perspire in other areas of his body as time goes by.

A couple days later, while watching a billiard game, I felt someone touch my arm.  A nurse came in to check my pulse and I felt her grab hold of my hand.  I immediately looked at my arm and thought, Wow, this is cool.  I looked at her and smiled, she couldn't speak English and looked at the TV and then back at me and smiled.  She probably either thought I was flirting or my team was winning.  

I now have abnormal sensation in both my arms and down to my thumb and index finger on his left hand. The sense is called "abnormal" because he can only feel pressure and not temperature.  If I concentrate real hard, I believe I can make the muscles in my forearm and a little bit in my thumb start to flicker.  The signs look promising, but after 28 years, my muscles have atrophied. It is going to take a lot of rehab. Even with a perfect connection, you're not going to get much movement if you don't have the muscles to support it.  I plan to begin his physical therapy in a couple weeks.

Dr. Huang's patients often see a quick return of some sensations and movement, then things level off for a while because the OEG cells grow very slowly.  Depending on the injury site, it can take quite a while before you see more improvements.  Some patients have seen returning function from the transplant up to 18 months after the surgery. Dr. Huang always says each injury is different."

I was able to learn a lot more about Dr. Huang's research while there, we had a few lengthy talks.

He is booked up way beyond November.  He is collaborating with a couple other hospitals to expand the program, but for now he only has seven rooms so he can only have seven patients a month. He has been working with ALS patients and is seeing good results. He has also worked with some MS patients and gotten results from those.

I got to meet people from all over the world, from Germany, Netherlands, Spain, Singapore and Japan."

I also got to do some sightseeing, thanks to a friend I met from Germany while in the hospital.  It was raining so we could just drive around, but saw Teniman Square, Forbidden City and the Great Wall.

It is interesting to see how fast the west is coming in, One of the big news stories while I was there was the introduction of convenience stores.

Hospital food being hospital food we were surprised by the amount of American food he could order in to his hospital room, TGIF, Outback, McDonnell's and more.  The rapid rate of construction in Beijing was unexpected 24/7 plus their getting ready for 2008 Winter Olympics.

I met a guy from Japan who came into my room and asked if I was Leo Hallan. I said, Yes.' and he said, Well, you're famous in our country, His son's best friend had been paralyzed in an accident and he started to research what was available for him on the Internet. He came across Press & Dakotan articles and added links to them to his Web site he had dedicated to OEG work and support services for those paralyzed.  More about this guy later.

Things went very well, better than could have been expected,  So I just thank everybody for their help and for their prayers. No doubt, without your help it would not have happened. I also want to thank Jeanie, she is an angel. Without her, my whole trip would never have been possible. I am truly blessed to have her brought into my life.

I discovered that one thing I missed the most was the sight and voices of familiar people.  I look forward to seeing you all soon.

In Christ, Leo