Tommi's last treatment in Peru

WE think Tommi said ‘Dad’ or ‘gag’ maybe, either way he made a noise that was different to his normal noises. Exciting for us, but it may just be us being anxious to see a change in him.The physical therapist told us today that Tommi was trying to control his muscles in his legs better than yesterday which was nice to hear, he also tried to lift up his head, which was also an improvement. I’m not getting my hopes up yet though, as he always has good and bad days, today could have just been a better day. Tommi has had his second and final procedure for this trip. The nurses took Tommi down to get his procedure done at about 5.30pm; this time I made sure I gave lots of love before they wheeled Tommi away! I didn’t feel as apprehensive this time around, as he came out of the anaesthetic just fine on Monday.Click the image to view the latest photos of TommiHalf an hour later the nurse came to our room where we were waiting and tried to tell me that Tommi was very upset and I had to go down to see him near the surgery room. I ran down without shoes and socks on, so worried that something had gone wrong during the procedure. However Dr Paino (doctor doing the procedure) hadn’t arrived yet and the nurses couldn’t calm Tommi down. When I got down there he was very pleased to see me! After all three children had their procedure; Dr Paino and Dr Feinerman came to visit Tommi in the hospital room to see how he was going. He told us that Tommi did really well with no complications. This is a summary of the procedure: In the first procedure, Tommi is given an anaesthetic to put him to sleep during the procedure. They inject about 1ml of liquid into Tommi’s spinal canal which should then reach the brain. The liquid contains a virus shell, like a suite case. The suite case or cell is full of Hex A- the enzyme that Tommi is missing. The virus will not affect Tommi in any way and he won’t show any symptoms. The virus needs to infect every cell in his brain and release the Hex A.For the second treatment Tommi is given another anaesthetic to put him to sleep. This time when they inject Tommi, they are injecting him with stem cells (umbilical cord) that have been treated with special growth factors that turn the healthy stem cells into brain cells that contain Hex A. The cells travel up the spinal canal and divide and multiply in the brain. This is a very brief summary, but I hope you get the general idea. Dr Feinerman videoed the procedure so hopefully we will all be able to see it soon!On a slightly different note, there was an earthquake in Lima today! Was strange, neither of us had felt one before! The couches started shaking and the TV cabinet, Bob and I didn’t know what was going on! I haven’t heard any news about it so hopefully it wasn’t too bad. We are heading back to the hotel tomorrow morning, looking forward to spending some time relaxing with the other families and seeing some of Peru with Bob and our buba. We are so lucky to have been able to come to Peru and meet Dr Feinerman, Dr Javier Paino and Dr Floro. We asked the doctors to sign a Hope4tommi tee shirt that we will be able to auction at the next trivia night. Bob and I are both homesick now and are ready to come home and see every one! Not long now, only a week to go. The countdown is on! Lots of love and hugs from Limaxxxx