My Stem Cell Journey for Rheumatoid Arthritis: Part 3

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Hello, I am Joshua P. Warren, and this is my stem cell journey for rheumatoid arthritis part three. And this is a special one because I am sitting here in my hotel room in Panama City, in the country of Panama, practically South America, and today I finally had my first infusion and injections of umbilical cord stem cells. And so I'm going to tell you how that went and how I'm feeling right now. Of course, in the future, when all this is said and done, I'm going to do a very long, extremely detailed podcast that tells you all the little ins and outs of my adventure, including things that aren't even related to stem cells, just the weirdness of going to a country I've never been to before. This is the farthest south I've ever been, I believe. And uh in in the meantime, however, I'll just kind of try to keep this as concise as possible, telling you about, you know, what I have experienced thus far. And, you know, when it comes to the country, I'll just start by saying that, you know, a lot of people don't realize Panama has the largest rainforest in the hemisphere outside of the Amazon. I mean, they get eight months of rain every year. I think January through April is usually kind of sunny. They call that the summer here. And every day it has been at least about 90 degrees. Every day there's been rain that moves through, and then it'll clear up for a little bit, then it'll get kind of cloudy, then it'll rain. But stepping off the airplane, I mean, especially coming from Las Vegas where it's a dry heat. This was something else. You step off, and you know, there's an old saying, it's so humid the air is dripping. That's what it felt like. Um, as a matter of fact, it's so overwhelmingly humid here. At one point, I stuck my passport, and you know how durable a passport is. I stuck my passport in my shirt pocket, and I was outside for, oh, I don't know, maybe an hour or something like that. And when I got back in, my passport was warped and was curling up. This big, you know, this very thick, almost plastic kind of material that they make these passports out of. So uh it's definitely taken some getting used to being here in the month of May. And uh just to tell you a little bit, also a little bit more about uh Panama, um, they get so much rain here that they say that often the rivers rise 40 feet. That's one of the challenges they had building the Panama Canal. And of course, that's why Panama is most famous, because there's this little sliver of land that connects Central America and South America. And until the canal was built across that little sliver of land, and I believe that canal was it was I can't remember off the top of my head, it was in the early 1900s when they finally completed it. Um but before that, if you if you wanted to go from one side of South America to the other, it would take two to three weeks. Because of the canal, it now takes eight to ten hours. So this was a huge achievement. And the French started trying to build this canal in the late 1800s and they failed, and then finally the U.S. came in and completed it. But in the process, they say over 25,000 people died building that canal. So when it comes to ghosts, I'm sure there are plenty of spooky stories surrounding that canal, but I don't really have time to focus on paranormal investigations so much on this trip because I'm here on a mission to get these stem cells done. Um, and you know, but I think if this is something that's interesting, when I got here, I ended up being able to take a tour. I had I've had a guide who picked up, uh picked me up and took me off to the Panama Canal. I got to see a big ship that went through, um, got to watch uh a 3D IMAX movie about the making of the canal, narrated by Morgan Freeman. He gets all the good work, doesn't he? But you know, one of the big problems when they were building the canal was that all of these workers were dying of malaria and yellow fever. And back then, at that time, scientists did not even know what caused those things. The fact that it might be mosquitoes was a theory, he said. Um They were thinking primarily that this was being caused by vapors released by the jungle. But uh eventually, you know, uh President Theodore Roosevelt, he had some doctors and scientists come down here and do some experiments. They brought mosquito nets. They would also put cooking oil on top of water supplies, which would prevent the mosquitoes from laying their eggs, their larvae in the water. Um they would they drained a lot of stagnant water and they made just leaps and bounds and uh in getting rid of these diseases because indeed they were right, it was the mosquitoes. And uh they were also drinking a lot of quinine back then, because that's uh a chemical that has uh a property that helps you fend off those diseases. And if you've ever had tonic water, you you might know what quinine kind of tastes like. It's got some in that. But anyway, um I also on the way there, there was uh we passed a little, I guess it was a river or whatever, right next to, or some kind of a body of water right next to the canal. There was a crocodile in there. There everything's around here. You have monkeys here, you have sloths here. I don't even know all the different wildlife you have here, but I mean, apparently there when you visit the Panama Canal, you you gotta have some eyes in the back of your head because there are crocodiles running around. Uh so yeah, the big ship that went through, I posted a picture, I think I did, yeah, I posted a picture of it on my ex, you know, formerly uh Twitter page, the RCC Antwerp Bahamian. And again, I don't want to get too detailed into like the canal and all that right now, but um I did think it was amazing that there's not a single water pump in that whole canal. It's all so brilliantly engineered that it's gravity that kind of um kind of makes the the gates open and close and makes all that work and the water levels fall and rise. Uh also I've I visited what they call the old town here, Costco Viejo. This is a it's like an old cobblestone village that's 353 years old. Um it was originally built in 1671 and then uh or something like that, and then pirates destroyed it, and then they rebuilt it in night in 1673. So I got all like the touristy stuff out of the way because day one, what when I got here, it was just like get settled into the hotel. It's a very nice hotel, it's a luxury five-star hotel. Uh have a room with a balcony, it's you know, I couldn't ask for a better place to stay. And then um day two, I went to the lab, the the place where I'm having the stem cell work done, the clinic. And when I got there, I met everybody. Everybody was uh super nice, very warm, thoughtful. They took a lot of time uh talking with me, answering questions. They they did all the usual stuff, they weighed me, they took my temperature, my pulse, and then uh after that they just took blood so that they could run some of the usual kinds of tests that you would have, like testing your organs and making sure they're okay, looking at you have maybe your cholesterol, your blood sugar, making sure you don't have some kind of a bacterial infection or something you don't know about that might affect the way the stem cells are going to work. So they take blood just to do all that on the second day. And um then on the third day, which was today, you finally get to start the treatment. Turns out that this morning, and I guess they must do this every week, they said if you want to, as an option, uh you can come. You are invited to be at a one-hour presentation here on the property by one of their stem cell doctors, who will explain to you in depth more about how these stem cells work and also um answer your questions. And I and I'm glad I went to that. It was very informative, and I did ask a lot of questions. I'll tell you right off the bat some of the things that I found interesting that I that were clarified for me uh during this program. Uh, all of the women who have donated an umbilical cord for this are obviously they're volunteers, they're not dragging them out. Uh, these are women who all live in Panama, and they have followed each woman from pregnancy all throughout the entire process to make sure that she's in good health. And then finally, when she gives birth, they're all delivered by C-section for sanitation. Now, they're so particular about these cells that they use that they uh they say that these cells they use are the best of the best. And one analogy is like, well, look, I can play basketball and you know, LeBron James can play basketball. We're both humans, but one is a little better at it than the other. So not all stem cells are created equal. And again, I don't want to get too detailed into what I've learned about that right now. But out of every 10 women, on average, that that donate an umbilical cord, only three are chosen that meet the special criteria. Um, and those uh those are the ones that you know that get that get passed on that make the cut. One of the scientists said, what makes these different is quote, using high throughput analysis of over 1,100 molecules, we found a distinctive protein expression pattern shared by the most effective cell lots. These characteristics were confirmed to be preserved and even enhanced when grown using 3D culture systems, end quote. So they've identified some kind of like a um a protein pattern that some of these have that seem to be the most effective ones. And they were also saying, you know, you've you've heard me talk about this, a lot of people who who just only know a little bit about stem cells, they they think about the research that was done back in the 1980s when they were using embryos. And of course, that's controversial because it overlaps with these concerns about, you know, well, like abortion and all that. But they they don't use embryos anymore. Nobody uses embryos. In fact, they found out that there's a it's not good to use embryos because they can cause tumors, benign tumors sometimes in the recipient of the stem cells. And that's because during the the period of time when a when a baby's in the womb, it is just growing new tissue at an insane rate. It's too much. So when you put that into a fully developed person, it can go overboard and actually start creating unnecessary tissue. So that's one reason they don't use them anymore. Um and then also, you know, if you have like the the uh the stem cells, like in the United States, where they they take the stem cell from your own body, from your fat or your bone marrow or whatever, and then they just rearrange it and put it somewhere else. Well, you're basically taking old stem cells from your old body, they're not as good, and you're just putting them somewhere else. And it's also it can also be very painful to extract these from your own body. Um you you they say if you you take it from fat, it's just like liposuction uh or liposuction, and it actually can destroy uh or damage a lot of the cells of the process as well. Or if they take it from bone marrow, that can be very painful. So the umbilical cord is, they say perfect because an umbilical cord is neutral. And it's by the by the time you get to the umbilical cord stage, the baby's already primarily developed. So it's not going to go buckwhile, creating all kinds of new tissue. But it's also neutral in the sense that the doctor said, for example, it's so neutral that you can have a mother attached to a baby via the umbilical cord, and the mother can have one blood type, and the baby can have another blood type, and it doesn't matter because they can still interact with each other because all these umbilical cords are neutral. And uh the doctor even pointed out, like, just as maybe a bit of an analogy, you know, people who have like uh O negative blood type, uh they call that the universal donor, where you can just donate to uh anybody in the world. And that's kind of like what these umbilical cords are in terms of stem cells. You can take these stem cells and uh you can use them to distribute to any anybody and any body part in the world. Um and also they say that when you okay, when when you go to get uh your stem cell treatment, there is this kind of a misconception that uh what I've read on the internet, a lot of people they say, like, okay, a stem cell is a blank slate and it can turn into anything that needs to be produced. It's it's so it goes into your body, it finds where there's a problem, and then it turns magically turns into a cell that solves the problem. They say that's actually an oversimplification. What happens is the cells, they have all kinds of raw chemicals in them that they they will find a spot in your body where there's a problem, and they will release those chemicals which signals to your body to heal itself. So it's not exactly like the cells are turning into something that you know is a build a new building block. The cells have the inner workings in order to release this. And I want to I always clarify look, I am not a physician, I have no medical background, don't take anything I say as medical advice. I'm just telling you sort of what I understand from what I've been learning as a patient. So, you know, do not consider me an authority of any kind. And that's that's you know uh my disclaimer here. But my understanding is that you know these these stem cells, they go in and then they they find where there's a problem and then they release these chemicals so the body can repair itself. And uh in some cases, depending on the condition, I mean, uh you might only be improved for uh a matter of a couple years. Uh one doctor said she knows somebody who's feels a lot better after nine or ten years. So it just depends on your situation. Um and also when you um so so I and and because of what I just told you, by the way, uh the doctor said that since they these cells uh stimulate the body to heal itself, there is uh kind of a movement within the field of stem cells to start calling them instead uh stimulus cells or stignaling cells. Or signaling cells or stimulus cells, because it that's a more accurate description of uh of what they do. And so when you go in to get your uh your cells, they say that like for example, I'm getting three days of infusions, and the doctor said that each time I get a treatment, what I receive will be from a single woman. A single particular woman. But it could be a different woman each day. It makes no difference because these are neutral and they're all basically the same. So by the time this is said and done, I may end up having stem cells from three different Panamanian women. Uh you just don't know. Um and of course the umbilical cords that don't make the cut go into the garbage. They take that, you know, 3% or whatever, and that's uh I guess it's is that no 30%? Is that right? Yeah, I guess 30%, three out of ten. Um so uh anyway, so here's how all this worked. Again, day one, I got settled in. You got to stay healthy throughout this whole process. You don't want to catch a cold, you don't want your body to be in a weakened state, there's no drinking alcohol, definitely no smoking. They say smoking will outright kill stem cells. You want to avoid anything that might cause some inflammation. So day two, again, I met everyone, they took all the lab information, answered my questions. Day three, today, after the QA, I came back to my room, I got ready, and then finally, when I returned to uh the clinic, they were they were ready to go. They said my labs were all fine. And I sat down in a chair in a little uh really fantastic uh room because there is a huge glass window with an amazing view of the city and the water outside. Very calming, very peaceful. There's a picture of this on my uh ex page. And um they uh at that point, you know, I was I I felt very, very calm, very at peace. They once again, you know, they took my blood pressure and my temperature and my pulse. And then the doctor came over and he showed me a couple of little vials, basically. Each one I would say was, oh, I don't know, maybe six inches long. And he said, These are your stem cells that you're gonna get. And he showed me there was a label, there was my name, my date of birth, the amount of cells, the type, I mean, all the information was right there. He says, These have been made just for you. So they stuck just an IV in my left arm, uh, just you know, typical, typical IV kind of thing. I guess. I don't know. They stuck a needle in my arm, I guess it was the same as a typical IV. They had a little machine sitting next to me, which I didn't get a good look at the machine, but it was on a stand, and I think it looked kind of like a about the size of a CPAP machine or something. It wasn't that big. And then uh next thing you know, I was like, so am I getting the cells? They're like, oh yeah, yeah, they're they're going in. I didn't even feel any any anything really, you know. And so I just sat there, relaxed, chit-chatted with the doctor and the nurse for I don't know, maybe 20, 25 minutes. It wasn't no, there was nothing to it. And then they took it out and they're like, okay, that was it. You know, you you've been infused with millions of stem cells now. It was that simple. And then on this particular day, this is the only day where they said, now we're also going to give you some injections in some of your problem areas, because I have some uh areas on my shoulders and my lower back that that bother me all the time with this arthritis. So at that point, I just took off my shirt, I laid face down, the doctor had some shots that had stem cells, and it was just like any other type of shot you've gotten in your entire life. He put a shot here, a shot there, a shot here, a shot there. I may have gotten four or five shots, I don't know exactly. The first one hurt a little bit on the way in. But other than that, I mean, it was no it was no different than any other time you've gotten a shot in your life. And uh I so I wouldn't consider this a painful experience. And it probably took him, I don't know, a couple minutes to give you my shots. So basically, in around uh maybe a half an hour or something like that, I was done with session number one. I had millions of stem cells put into my bloodstream. I had uh the shots in my back, and uh everything was fine. And they said, How do you feel? I go, I feel okay. They say, Great, you know. So after that, I said, uh, well, is it possible I'm not gonna feel well? Uh and they said, they said, you you probably are gonna feel okay. They said you might feel like you know you have some a little bit of a cold or some flu-like symptoms or something, but you'll probably be fine. Go to your room, just rest for a couple hours. Don't do anything, like, don't exert yourself too hard doing anything. But uh other than that, you know, if you have a problem, take it, you can take a Tylenol, take it some ibuprofen if you need to. And I said, Well, I was thinking about going down to the pool. There's a big, really nice swimming pool here. And they said, Yeah, absolutely. Go down. This is go to the pool and you know, enjoy yourself. So I went to my room and sat around for two hours. I felt fine. I mean, at one point, I thought I might have been getting a little bit of like a tension headache or something, but that there were it wasn't there wasn't much to it, and I can't even say that was stem cells. You know, I've been traveling, I got a weird schedule and all. And uh, so I rested my room for two hours. Hours and then they said go out and have a normal rest of your day. So that's what I did. I mean, I went out, I got in the swimming pool, got in the hot tub, you know, relaxed a little bit, went and had some dinner, and you know, it's now been about six and a half hours since I had the had all that done. And at this point, I feel fine. It's just been like any other normal evening for me. And it's really weird because I was telling the doctor it's strange when you when you do this, because you you spend years in my case reading about the stem cell stuff, learning about it, you know, reading books about it, watching hours of lectures on the internet, watching testimonials on the internet, having conversations with people about it, looking at the pros and cons, talking to your doctors. It's like this huge big thing. And then finally, once you pull the trigger and you say you're going to do this, here's what it boils down to. You end up in a chair in a room, and they go pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, and you're done. That's what it all boils down to. Just a few needles and you're in and out. It's like what are the I I had rather do that any day than just go to the dentist and get my teeth clean. That going to the dentist to get my teeth clean is a hundred times worse than this. So if this is able to produce the kinds of results that I am hoping, then wow, it's it's really gonna be even more mind-boggling because once all the prep is done, the actual procedure in my case is so far absolutely painless. Now, look, again, it's been six and a half hours. I might wake up tomorrow and feel terrible. I don't know. So I'm just kind of keeping you informed about how things are going as they go along. So I'll I'll I'll give you an update tomorrow. As you know, I'm not going to be able to leave audio updates uh all the time. Uh in fact, I might not even be able to leave another audio update on this particular trip. That's why every day I am, however, uh posting as information and pictures on my ex page. Uh again, formerly Twitter. And let's see, it's it's very simple. All you have to do if you want to stay informed is go to x.com slash joshua p.neword there, x.com slash joshua p.arren, or just look up, just do a search for Joshua P. Warren in Twitter, and I'm sure it'll probably come up. And uh all you have to do, just follow me there. Doesn't cost you a penny. Uh you can even turn on your ex notifications if you want a little alert to pop up on your phone whenever I have a new post. And that way you can see pictures and um and you can you can kind of hear more about what's happening, even when I'm not in a position to do these audio recordings. But as I said, once I'm a little farther down the road here and uh and I really see how all this is turning out, I'm going to do a very, very detailed podcast about this whole trip and all the little nuances and all the weird things, including like just some of the quirky weird stuff that you you discover when you go to another country, especially that you've never been to before. Trust me, there are some things here where you you you realize like, okay, this is seriously a very different country. This this is not like you know, when I lived in Puerto Rico or something. Uh no, this is they they do things in an odd way down here. But everybody's been super nice, and uh, and so far, uh look, if this works the way I hope it does, then it's gonna be well worth making the trip. So I will be giving you more details in upcoming podcasts, and uh all I can say is uh keep you know keep wishing me luck here because if this thing turns out to be a big success, then we need this available more easily in the United States, uh for sure. And they're there's they're working on it, they're working on it, but you know, you know I'm gonna tell you the truth about whether or not this actually works, at least in my case. All right, my friends, that's it for now. So um, yeah, I'll uh I'll be back in touch soon. Thank you for listening. Thank you for your interest and support. Thank you for staying curious. Oh, yeah. Always be sure to sign up for my free e-newsletter at joshuapwarren.com if you're not a member already, and that way I can send you direct notifications uh from time to time as well. All right. Thanks for listening, and I will talk to you again soon.