More Panamanian Meandering

Do you remember the guys working on the scaffold and painting the building next to us? Well, we got a picture of them pulling their scaffold up in place. Look at this guy - he's sitting on a ledge at the top of the building, leaning over, pulling this rope, one leg dangling off as if he's watching Frigate birds and drinking coffee - and he's about 25 stories high (that's the building in the next picture after they are on the scaffold)!

Also got a picture of Lou, my trainer at Bio-Fit - it's Lou, me, and Dick who worked with me some last year and is still a trainer there. Also got a picture of school kids walking down the street, going home. Remember the kids in public school go for half a day each day - some in the morning and others in the afternoon. Their 3 month break (summer break) just ended at March - they were off from Dec - Feb - that's part of the dry season, and it's always warm here so climate doesn't matter.

The last picture is one of a huge ship (cruise ship, we think) that sailed into the area much closer than any ship has ever come. It's in the area of the Panama Canal entrance, but it turned right toward us then dropped anchor and sat still for about 15 minutes. Jean thought it was a cruise ship with someone who got sick, so they came closer and dropped them off. Jack thought that was ridiculous - he surmised it was a cruise ship that only wanted to float around instead of "sit in line" at the canal. Neither one wanted to think the other scenario was remotely possible. I simply thought their conversation was better than a Seinfeld episode.

Finally, I want to review my last book of the trip. I finished Andy Andrews' The Traveler's Gift last night, and it was an very good read. It's one that I can recommend for Penny (Boston); she always likes to hear about good books, but I knew I needed to get something different than a basketball book and a criminal, drug-lord book for her to like (or she might quit reading my book reviews - librarians are a tough sell on books). The Traveler's Gift is very good - it combines a present-day story, with some known people in history, with some great life lessons. Penny, it's probably not as good as Same Kind of Different As Me, so don't hold me to that level every time.

We are planning on going out on the street this afternoon to find one of the street vendors who sells raspados - Panamanian snow cone - it has shaved ice with your choice of various flavors and condensed milk! I know that sounds horrible (with that condensed milk), but everyone just raves about them and says you must get one. So "find raspados" has been on our "must do" list, and our time is running short for our "must do's". We thought we better do it today since tomorrow is an injection day, and I won't have the afternoon to chase down some street vendor, riding a bicycle with an umbrella and selling day-old condensed milk poured over some fruit flavored ice! (I'll send a picture tomorrow)

Tomorrow is our last day of treatments, so our stay is about over. It's gone quickly. I'm ready for those "LaBron" stem cells to kick in.

SCI staff and the Trifecta

I finally remembered to take the camera to the clinic, so I wanted to "introduce" you to the staff at the Stem Cell Institute. As I told you before they have a new, larger clinic this year and more people working at the clinic.

At the front of the office is Jelana, the receptionist. She's very friendly and speaks to me in Spanish each time I arrive for me to practice mi Espanol. Once you go past that room, you see Samantha and Vivianne - they are the coordinators of your stay here - setting up your PT times and your clinic times and coordinating the drivers to deliver you to both places.

You go back to a treatment room to get your spinal injections and that's where these three doctors and nurses are - you see nurse Santamaria, me, Dr. Herrero, and Dr. Bowen, before I get my injection today.

I got the Trifecta today so I thought I would snap these other pictures of the treatment. I didn't give you the spinal view, but I do show you the syringe that holds the stem cell mixture that they inject into my spinal fluid. This one syringe has between 7 - 10 million stem cells in it. Then I show you the IV photo with the syringe of stem cells (another 7 - 10 million) - Dr. Hernandez is administering this IV. And I have a picture of the booster shot in my leg. So you get the complete Trifecta in living color.

There are several new patients who arrived this week, and I have met them at the clinic or at Bio-Fit. Kyle from Enid, Oklahoma is here for MS treatments - he has his wife and FIVE children (all under age 11) with him. His wife may volunteer for the PT and injections before their four weeks are up. He's really nice and I sure am praying for him to see some improvements.

Then we have the Texas connection. Ken from Ft. Worth is here for MS treatments; another man and his mom are here with his young son who is being treated for autism and they are from Amarillo; another couple is here from DeLeon; and then one more couple, from Beeville, is here for his arthritis treatments. So it's been good meeting all of them and being able to reassure them that everything at the clinic and Bio-Fit is good and done right.

My prayers go out for all of these families - that God may use these stem cells as His instrument to help these people with these disabling diseases. As I have said before, I know God doesn't need stem cells to heal people, but He also didn't need the Jordan river to heal Naaman yet He had Naaman dip himself seven times in the river before removing his leprosy.

We're all walking by Faith!

Panama Life

I can hear Kathy saying, "you need to put more pictures in the blog." She likes pictures. So I thought I would give you some pictures and comments of several normal, everyday sights here in Panama City. Several are taken from our apartment view. Jack & Jean love to sit on the balcony and watch the daily activities and drink their coffee. It's very pleasant out there from morning to evening.

They love to watch these large Frigate birds swoop around the apartment - they are out there every day because they are ocean birds, common to Panama. These birds are really much larger than you can tell from the pictures so they are fun to watch as they come quite close. They don't swoop down to the water and pluck fish, but they swoop around stealing food from other birds. They let the other birds do the fishing then they just do the "shopping" - kind of like the big bully waiting outside the lunchroom.

Across from our balcony there is a crew working on the side of the building on this hanging scaffold. (I wish you could see them get the scaffold up on the wall each day - I don't think it would pass OSHA standards in USA) You can see them in the up-close shot then in the normal shot where they look rather small on the huge building. They have a sign down at the bottom about "Hiring" if you would like to get a job down here.

I gave you a picture of the street below us when there were several taxis on the street. We have become quite familiar with these taxis, and it's never hard to find one as you can tell from the picture.

Also from our building you can see this "twisting" building that is brand new - they were working on it last year, but it is finished now and is very impressive (better than the pic).

We went to the fish market yesterday, not to buy fish but to eat lunch. They have this cafe on the second floor of the market and it's very popular with the locals. (pics of the cafe then of the market down below) There's definitely not anyone speaking English there so be ready to guess and point. And there's something special about eating fish above the open fish market in everyday Panama (this isn't part of those big, fancy condos I have shown you in other pictures before) - those of you who say "I don't like that fishy smell or fishy taste when I eat fish", you don't need to come to the fish market for lunch - trust me.

This motorcycle is the normal delivery source in Panama. This one is a delivery for McDonald's and you see similar pizza delivery cycles all of the time. Even the Fed-Ex and DHL (I haven't seen UPS) guys are on these motorcycles. They zip around, open their trunk, deliver the package, and are off.

Hope you enjoy the pictures - I need to get some of Lou at the fitness center and of the Stem Cell clinic - they have a new, larger clinic and more people working at the clinic, so I need to "introduce" them to you.

Pictures (not in any order)

Bigger, Faster!

I've been reading and studying some stories from Chick-fil-A's founder, Truett Cathy. There's some great leadership principles to be learned from him, and here's one that I wanted to share.

In the 1990's they had their first real competition in their specific market, so the corporate leaders started thinking how they were going to face this competetion. They were meeting in Atlanta and all of these younger guys were talking about what they needed to do to get "bigger, faster" - borrow more money, open more stores, etc. - bigger, faster - bigger, faster - was the main thought. Finally Truett banged on the table (which was unusual) and said "we don't need to worry about getting bigger, faster - we just need to worry about getting BETTER. When we get better, our customers will demand we get bigger." Let that sink in and rumble around some. "When we get better, our customers will demand we get bigger."

If we are leading a business, or a football team, or a class at school, or even a church, there's a message there for us. You make it the best it can be, and the growth will take care of itself. Thanks Mr. Cathy!

Obviously, that has nothing to do with Panama other than I have more time than normal, and I get to blog about anything I choose, so that is your first message from Panama today.

The following videos are about Panama. I've been watching how much of a difference in the ocean there is when the "tide is in" and when the "tide is out". It goes from a beautiful view of blue water to an ugly site of mud and rock. The following videos show the two "tide" times.

PS - I know you are craving a Chick-fil-A sandwich, now that I got your mind on it, so go get you one today. And as you take that first, delicious bite, say "thanks" to Truett for making his place better, not just bigger. (If you are really craving some "better", you might give the manager the signal for one of those delicious hand-spun milkshakes - he'll know what you signaling.)

Reporte el lunes

I haven’t told you much about Physical Therapy this trip. I still go to the same fitness center, Bio-Fit, but I have a different trainer this year. Last year it was Ivan, but he is working at a hospital physical therapy center now. We have talked to him several times, and he came by last Wednesday and had dinner with us - it was really good to see him. He’s still involved in football, a tackle league and a flag league and is even coaching a girls’ football team. He may be the Knute Rockne of Panama football.

My new trainer at Bio-Fit is Louvina – I call her Lou. She’s good – speaks less English than Ivan – not a slave driver but truly wants to help my stiff walking and wobbly balance. Only staying two weeks doesn’t give me much training time here, but it will give me some things to take back home. And once I get back to Ennis, I do have the slave driver, Tommy Copeland, every M-W-F morning.

I had my third injection today, and all went fine. My blood pressure this year hasn't gone up during pre-game like last year. Obviously I'm much more relaxed with the whole process plus Dr. Herrero does a good job of keeping the anxiety low. It was about this time in the treatment process that I began to see some slight changes last time. I remember being able to put my shorts on while standing and remember getting in the transportation van without assistance, so I'm quietly looking forward to this week. The doctors still say that most people don't see much difference while they are here, but I definitely did last year, so I'm excited and hopeful this time as well.

Hasta el martes!

Slow, Relaxing Sunday

Not really much to report for today. It was a nice, slow Panamanian Sunday. We went to worship this morning at the Crossroads church - sang Santo, Santo, Santo (that's Holy, Holy, Holy for you who aren't bilingual). After church we went to Napoli's restaurant to eat. We ate there last year with Keith and Wilma, and that was Jean's only "must do" for the whole trip. She wanted to eat at Napoli's sometime! It is a good place to eat - very popular here as we could tell from the crowd.

After eating we stopped at Super Kosher, one of the nearby supermarkets. We have Super 99 and Super Kosher within walking distance so that is nice. This area of the city, Punta Pacifica, is a big Jewish area and this Super Kosher is their supermarket. Of course they let us non-Jews shop there too because they like our money also.

Once we came back to the apartment, I did watch a little March Madness basketball, but it's just not quite the same or as enjoyable, watching on a 22 inch, non-flat screen, non-HD, Spanish-speaking TV - makes for good reading though. I finished my second book today, The Accountant - the story of Pablo Escobar written by his brother Roberto who was the accountant in their cartel business. The unbelievable amount of cash, the quantity of corruption, the number and types of killings, the schemes they thought up for protection - all of that was mindboggling. Graham and Clark had read this book and had given it to me, saying "you need to read this story." So I did, and it definitely held your attention - I kept thinking "one day you're going to reap what you sow", and sure enough he does. He is killed at the age of 44, probably the richest man in the world, running for his life the last several years, can't live with or hardly see his own family, can't trust anyone - sounds great doesn't it!

I begin the second week of treatments tomorrow with PT in the morning and Injection in the afternoon. It will be a fast week for us with treatments on M-W-F and coming home on Saturday.

See you soon.