What a difference a week can make. Last week, I stayed home from a writers’ conference I couldn’t wait to attend all year because I was under the weather. This week, I’m hiking in the badlands filming social media clips for our Wyoming Jeepers YouTube channel. I’ve seen the posts of positive COVID tests from conference-goers online and know I dodged a bullet. I’m still pouting over missing the fun-filled 20booksVegas conference, but I am reaping the benefits by staying home to prevent overdoing it and poking the MS dragon.
An MS Cure for Some Patients
You read that correctly. The University of Zurich performed blood stem cell transplants in aggressive multiple sclerosis cases. “80 percent of patients remain disease-free long-term or even forever following an autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplant,” claimed Professor Roland Martin. Twenty-seven patients underwent chemotherapy to kill off their immune systems and received pre-harvested stem cell transplants after the treatment.
“Surprisingly, the cells known as memory T cells, which are responsible for ensuring the body remembers pathogens and can react quickly in case of a new infection, reappeared immediately after the transplant” (Science Daily). Martin noted that following the transplant, “the organ appears to resume its function and ensures the creation of a completely new repertoire of T cells which evidently do not trigger MS or cause it to return.”
No money for further studies – The medications used for the study are not patent-protected, meaning there is no money for the pharmaceutical companies to recoup the cost of sending this study through a Phase III trial. The treatment is continuing in Switzerland under the Federal Office of Public Health to gain further acceptance of the practice.
Staying Active with New Friends
At -2 degrees, I half expected no one to say yes when I proposed a quick Jeeping trip in the hills. Okay, so we didn’t have lunch in lawn chairs with our feet kicked to a campfire but instead ate in our Jeeps on the road, but we had fun playing in the snow.
As we drove through the badlands, Shane Combs and Cathy Deavers noticed a few clues from our Wyoming Jeepers Treasure Hunt poem. Before we knew it, they were out of their vehicle, searching the area for the cache. Sure enough, they found it!
I climbed hills and hiked down the road to record clips for our Wyoming Jeepers’ social media accounts. It doesn’t matter how cold it is to a degree – no pun intended (LOL); I still enjoy staying active. My love for filming our Jeeping trips makes being active much easier.
Upcoming Appearances
November 26, 2022 – 9:00 am – 2:00 pm – Winter Kickoff Vendor Show, Burlington School, Burlington, Wyoming
December 4, 2022 – 10:00 am – 4:00 pm – Christmas to Remember Bazaar, Laurel Middle School, 725 Washington Avenue, Laurel, MT
December 5, 2022 – The Sos Report – Speaking about my writing process with Soslan Newell Temanson
December 7, 2022 – (to be posted on YouTube around December 21, 2022) – CureTalks – Speaking with experts about precision medicine
December 13, 2022 – Dragonclaw.net guest speaker on Zoom
Resources
Pexels. Stem Cells photo. https://www.pexels.com/. (accessed November 23, 2022).
University of Zurich. “Immune system reboot in MS patients.” ScienceDaily. www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/11/221110101820.htm (accessed November 23, 2022).
