Stem Cells Re-Injected!!

About 18 months ago, I underwent the Vet-Stem procedure to get some of my adult stem cells. We injected my stem cells into a couple of my joints, as well as an intravenous injection for them to go to wherever it's needed.


Today, I was going to have an intravenous stem cell re-injection! Since Vet-Stem got my tissue 18 months ago, all that was needed was a call to the lab to have them "culture" more of my stem cells.

Brief description about Vet-Stem:

What is Vet-Stem?

The procedure involves getting some fat tissue out of an animal, and sending the tissue via overnight courier to a laboratory in San Diego, California where they will separate the adult stem cells from the fat tissue. They will then courier the separated stem cells back to the vet clinic where the effected joint/joints will be injected with the stem cells, as well as a dose intravenously. The fat collection is basically the only invasive part of the surgery as it does require the animal to be put under a general anesthetic while a 2.5 inch incision is made on the belly to harvest fat tissue.

What do stem cells do?

Stem cells has the ability of becoming virtually any kind of cells in the body. They can differentiate into tendon, ligament, bone, cartilage, cardiac, nerve, muscle, blood vessels, fat, and liver tissue. When injected into a diseased joint, the stem cells will differentiate into whatever cells that are needed by the joint (ie, cartilage).

When injected intravenously, stem cells travel to the tissue/organ that's in stress and try to restore optimal health by becoming specific tissue cells.

Since my joints are still doing pretty good from the injections done 18 months ago, mum only chose to do an intravenous dose this time. (mum: joint injections require a 5-10 minute anesthesia. We try to avoid anesthetics as much as we can.)

Auntie Jen gave me a hug while Auntie Kate got the needle and catheter ready,


Auntie Kate asked if she could practice putting a catheter in me because she had just finished school. Mum said sure as long as she gets it first try! (no pressure at all!)


(mum: Jen and Kate are our techs. Jen is the senior (experience wise) tech, who can pass as a vet no problem. Kate had just finished tech school and is starting to work at the clinic. Since Sunshade is SO good about being poked, she was the ideal candidate for Kate to practice on.)

Auntie Kate got it on her first try!


I was all set, Auntie Jen fed me while we waited for my Auntie Janice to finish up with her last client. (mum: Janice is our vet.)


This was the box my stem cells came in, those tubes were meant for the fat extraction procedure. We did that 18 months ago, so we didn't need to use them this time.


My stem cells!


Look at my boootiful pink stem cells,


No, I wasn't impatient at all,


See, I was very patient with my Aunties!!


Here's my Auntie Janice, first doing a saline flush to get the catheter flowing. The saline was a bit cold, hence my wonderful expression,


Now the real deal - MY SuperSTEM-CELLS!! 1 ml per minute,


Auntie Janice asked Kate to find my pulse and leave her hand there in case I went into anaphylatic shock, (mum: not that it should happen since Sunshade has had her own stem cells injected intravenously previously already, but just to be safe)


As long as you keep on FEEEEEEEDING me, I won't go into shock!


OKAY... now I'm about to go into shock... Nobuddy is feeding me....!


All four of my Aunties with me! That's Auntie Sue (mum: Sunshade's other wonderful vet!) leaning against the door. Oh, and I had just realized there were two K-I-T-T-I-E-S watching me from inside the crates that were sitting on top of the counter,


ALL DONE! I need to be fed please, or I'm going into shock!


If you would like to read in detail about the fat extraction surgery and the stem cell injections (into joints), please visit my previous posts:

• Vet-Stem: Why I Needed It
  
• MY Vet-Stem Surgery Day
• MY Vet-Stem Injection Day
• 24 Hours Post Injection

Video of MY fat harvesting surgery:

Video of MY stem cells being injected into elbow, knee and intravenous:

Vet Stem: 24 hours Post Injection

You all know, STINKY was away at his gurrrrlfriend's house since Monday because of my Vet-Stem procedure. Well I had the last of that procedure - the injection, done Thursday around noon time. By the end of the afternoon on Thursday, STINKY was home already.

Hellooooo, what happened to Sunshade needs to rest so the stem cells will work??? Or Sunshade can't be bothered so her belly tuck stitches wont' rip?? All that was out the window by Thursday afternoon because mum said she "missed him" and she wanted to "see" how he does with me. Why would she miss him anyway when she's got me?

And what's to see? Him annoying me?? (FYI, Mum's "hey hey hey" in the video was NOT because she was worried that I was gonna get mad at STINKY, she was worried about me hurting my tummy stitches and also the stem cells that were just injected into me 24 hours ago.)

So I can't play, I can't go out in the yard, and I have to stay INSIDE and put up with STINKY's annoyance!!!

Might as well just put me BACK in the x-pen,


While, he, the hyper one gets the comfy bed and free roam of the house! HMMMPH!


(mum: I have no idea why, but Sunshade has been going into the x-pen on her own and staying in there ever since Jaffa came home. Maybe she thinks she can get away from him in there??)


So tell me mum, WHAT CAN I DOOOOO THEN?????


Mum then whipped out some paper from her purse and told me to read it,


I was like YEAH YEAH OKAY SURE.....


The paper basically told me to sleep for 4 weeks, so I started.

It didn't say anything about running in my dreams I don't think? I mean, as long as I don't do what this dog did while running in his sleep, I think I'm pretty safe.

I woke up, and I had a new plan. Maybe if "I" instigate and make STINKY all hyper, then maybe mum will send him to his gurrrrlfriend's house again?

(mum: It had only been a day since the stem cells were injected into Sunshade when those videos were taken. I would love to say that the stem cells were working already at 24 hours post injection. However, what you saw in the videos above were things that Sunshade was able to do regularly prior to the Vet Stem procedure. She just had quite a bit of pent up energy from not being able to go on walks that she directed the energy towards playing with Jaffa.

Most of the dogs who have this procedure done are in pretty dire conditions where they can't even walk or are constantly limping heavily, etc. Sunshade however wasn't one of those desperate cases. She had a couple of bad episodes, but her quality of life had been pretty good the majority of the time prior to the procedure. I chose to have the procedure done now because:

1. Hopefully she won't ever have to live through those couple of bad episodes again
   
2. Hopefully, preventing her from ever having to be in so much pain that it becomes a dire or desperate situation
3. Since Vet-Stem can now culture stem cells (meaning you only need to harvest the fat once) for the life time of the dog, it made more sense to me to have Sunshade go under anesthesia now than maybe 2 years from now.)

For anyone who is interested to learn more about this cutting edge procedure, here are some videos:

Vet-Stem News Release

Hunter the Golden Retriever & Stem Cell Therapy

Success Story (watch the before and after)

They are now testing using adult stem cells to treat spinal injuries, heart, liver and kidney disease in dogs. Perhaps in a couple of those years, this procedure could be used to help dogs with organ/spinal diseases. Isn't it exciting??

Vet Stem Experience

The following contains links to my Vet-Stem experience.

If you just here for the first time and haven't read anything regarding Vet-Stem or my procedure, it is recommended you read the posts in the following order so you don't get totally confused.

1. Vet Stem: What is it & Why
2. Vet Stem: Pre-op IV
3. Vet Stem: Surgical Procedure - Fat Extraction
4. Vet Stem: 24 hours post-op
5. Vet Stem: Injection Day - 48 hours post-op
6. Vet Stem: 24 hours Post Injection
7. Vet Stem: Re-injection 18 months later
   

THANK YOU again everypup/everyone for your get well wishes!!

Love nibbles,
Miss Sunshade the Vancouver SuperDALE

Vet Stem: Injection Day - 48 hours post-op

2 Days Post Vet-Stem Fat Harvesting Surgery:

I woke up this morning,


But I didn't feel like getting up yet,


I like to roll around in bed and rub my face after I have woken up,


(mum: Sunshade is not a morning dog. She would always stay in bed until the very last minute, when I have her harness in hand, before she'd be willing to get up.)

Then mum got a call from MY clinic. They said they've got MY SuperSTEM-CELLS back already and wanted me to go in so they could inject them into me. My fat (still don't understand how they managed to find any) harvesting surgery was on Tuesday, and I was ready to be injected on Thursday.

I was very happy to hear that, (please excuse mum's hyper-ness, she was a little excited too)

(mum: Poor Sunshade, she's not used to only short potty breaks and no walks. When she saw that I'd gotten changed, she was just over the moon! Please excuse the messy floor..)

I put on a VERY special bandanna before we headed out the door,


This is a very special bandanna because it was given to me for my 8th B-Day by Maggie & Mitch, made for ME by their mom. I knew they were thinking about me, so I wanted to wear it to get my injections. Look at the boootiful Aire-gurrrrl on that bandanna!!


(mum: all of my most treasured Airedale items were made and/or given to us by Sue, M&M's mom!!)

All the get well wishes and AireZENS I have been receiving from all my friends will make those stem cells work, I just know it!!


I see MY clinic, I see it!


Now, where's MY Auntie Janice and Auntie Jen???


Like I'd mentioned before, everytime I go into MY clinic, I announce my arrival to the entire clinic. MY Auntie Janice and Auntie Jen both recognize MY SuperVOICE by now that they come out and greet me whenever they hear my announcement. Today was even better, Auntie Pipa was there too to greet me!

You have to know, I am usually a VERY aloof gurrrrl. I'm never shy or mean, but I sort of act "in different" when people who I don't really know or don't care about pet me. I don't really acknowledge their petting. There are only a handful of people in my life that get the kind of greeting you saw in the video. There is no better way to say this, but you sort of have to prove to me that you deserve my SuperDALE attention before I would give any to you. But once you have shown me, you'll have it for LIFE! That's just the way I work.

(mum: it's true, only VERY special people get the between the legs head rubs, full helicopter ears with smiley mouth, and none stop tail wags from Sunshade. Umm... and at the end of the video, what I was trying say was that - the site where the catheter was put in bothered Sunshade more than anything else....)

After the greeting, I happily followed Auntie Janice/Jen to the back even tho the last time I was in there, I was put under and woke up with a sore belly and wobbly legs. When I trust you, I trust you, no grudges held whatsoever!

I saw the box that my stem cells arrived in,


And my stem cells in these syringes. The two slender syringes are to be injected directly into my joints; one elbow, one knee. The larger syringe holds the IV dose.


It was time to get prepped for the injections. Auntie Janice put another catheter in me,


I was given the induction drug Profovol,


And..... I don't remember anything.....


The following, as told to me by mum.....

Unfortunately, I had to be hooked up to the anesthesia machine again. Since the needle will be going directly into the joint capsule, it would hurt a lot if I were awake.


My right elbow got shaved and prepped for the injection,



The needle went into my elbow first to make sure it had reached the inside of the joint,


The syringe holding the SuperSTEM-CELLS,


Syringe was screwed onto the needle that's already inside the joint,


And injected!


Then my right knee was prepped for injection.


Both of my knees had TPLO surgeries in 2003, but they have never given me any problems since the surgeries and are actually holding up very good. We decided to inject my right knee because we had enough samples to inject one more joint on top of my elbow, and my right knee felt a bit arthritic.


The knee injection process will be in the video coming up shortly.

Last injection, the intravenous dose,


Goes in the catheter, 1 milliliter per 2 minutes,


Summary of the injections, nothing bloody this time,

I was disconnected from the anesthesia machine, and while I was waking up, Auntie Janice again used her laser to promote healing of the stomach incision.


My stomach incision by the way is healing very well, that redness you see around is just a little bit of bruising that comes with any surgery.

(mum: Sunshade has been very good at not bothering the incision. She hasn't taken one look at it yet!)

I woke up!


Auntie Jen was there to stabilize me so I don't fall off the table,


I was still very groggy, my SuperTONGUE wasn't too super there. I didn't really have much control over it as you can see,


Mum came to be by my side too while Auntie Janice became trigger happy,


Unfortunately, I was still seeing stars here.....


You can tell I'm still not myself,


Otherwise, I would have been struggling to get away from mum's hugs and kisses!!! You all know how much I love those kisses right??


Auntie Janice came to stabilize me too. I mean, who can resist me?


Me and MY favouritest Aunties!!!


I was able to stand shortly after, albeit still quite wobbly on my legs,


Do you want to know what was the first thing I did when I was able to walk a little?

Well, I wobbled over to stare at Morris the cat of course. He was the guy I saw when I was waking up from my anesthesia on Tuesday. He woke me up then, and he woke me up now!


Just right before I went under today, I walked by Morris's cage and had a chat with him. (mum: it was more like you swore at him Sunshade....) So the first thing I did after I came down was to go check him out. Unfortunately my voice still wasn't working then...

Do you want to know what was the second thing I did after I could walk a little?

I went to look for food, Auntie Janice was getting her lunch out! (mum: she's got her priorities straight alright, cat first, food second!)


I watched all MY Aunties eating,


(mum: We had to stay until Sunshade was more steady on her feet. It only took about 15-20 minutes from when she was out of the anesthesia til she was able to walk properly.)

That's Auntie Jen's old Buddy, he's 15 years old and he loves to eat but is very skinny. He had vestibular syndrome before so now he can only turn towards the right when he walks. He was turning right, and he walked right into my face and was pushing against my neck trying to turn right and he kept trying, against my neck. Mum told me I couldn't get mad at him because he was just too funny, and old too.


(mum: Sunshade has been so brave, so stoic, so adaptable throughout this entire process. Not that it was a surprise to me as this was her 6th surgery, and she took the previous 5 (all more invasive) in strides. At the same time, its never an easy feeling to know she's going to be put under and she won't know why, to see the wound on her and know that she could be hurting. In the end, I just hope that the benefit of the stem cells will far outweigh the pain she's had to go through with this entire process. I am also very lucky and very thankful to have such a caring and skillful team of veterinarians, technicians, assistants handling Sunshade, my very special girl.

Sunshade's Surgical History:

2000 - spay surgery
2001 - Right elbow Arthroscopy
2003 May - Right knee TPLO surgery
2003 Dec - Left knee TPLO surgery
2005 - hardware (from the TPLO) removal surgery
2010 - Vet-Stem