"Your condition has worsened again, and it looks a little bad."
When Ma Jun returned to Kunshi and met Jian Lian Yun, his first words made his heart hang in the air.
"My walking posture has become more stiff. Do you need support from your family to walk?"
"In this case, you sit down first and let me check it."
He sat obediently in the chair and was examined by the doctor.
Jian Jian Yun now does not tie her hair in a ponytail, but simply pulls her hair back. As she gets older, her temperament has become calmer. When her expression is serious, she still has the aura of a department director, and her ability to intimidate patients is first-rate.
She picked up a small percussion hammer shaped like a compass and tapped lightly on the tendons of his hands and feet while asking a series of questions.
"Can you lift your feet? Can you still move your fingers?"
"Come on, swallow your saliva. How are you breathing? Do you feel any difficulty?"
Seeing the patient answering one by one and speaking clearly, she showed a thoughtful expression, sat back on the chair and began to update the medical record.
"Director Jian, I heard that there is a specific drug for ALS? When can I start treatment?"
Ma Jun felt uneasy. He heard that Sanqing's clinical projects were very popular. Although he signed up, he didn't know if he would be selected.
Jian Jian Yun smiled slightly and explained patiently: "Don't worry, since you have been notified, I must have seen your case and feel that it meets the requirements."
"This is a phase I clinical trial. We have 30 places. We mainly select patients in the early to mid-stage of phase I to phase III."
"Because ALS progresses quickly and patients do not survive long, the clinical focus is mainly on controlling stage I, II, and III disease, trying to maintain and restore neurological function, and delay the arrival of the late stage of the disease."
"Patients in stages IV and V are already in advanced stages of the disease and are not suitable for clinical trials of this drug."
"The best period for stem cell treatment of ALS is in the early stages. In the late stages, lesions occur in the brain and brainstem, which are currently difficult to treat."
Ma Jun suddenly became overjoyed: "Then I'm in the early stages now, so I think I can still be saved."
"You were originally in stage II, but now there is a tendency to develop into stage III, so you need to be treated with medication as soon as possible."
Jian Jian Yun handed over a document: "This is the consent form. After you sign it, you will go for a physical examination and then extract the cells. When you receive the notification, you can come over and be admitted to the hospital."
"Do you still have to wait? How long do you have to wait?"
Ma Jun was a little disappointed when he heard this. After hearing the news, he wished he could move into the clinical building that afternoon and start treatment immediately.
"Because your epidermal cells need to be used for culture to obtain suitable stem cells for subsequent treatment."
Jian Jian Yun comforted him: "About a week or so. There are 30 of us. It's pretty fast to get well within a week."
Ma Jun felt relieved, signed his name with difficulty, and went to another room accompanied by his family.
First, there was a routine physical examination. After all conditions met the requirements, the nurse took out a cotton swab, fiddled with it in his open mouth, and put it into a sealed test tube.
"Is this enough? Don't you need to puncture your spine to get the bone marrow?"
"I heard that stem cells can only be found in the spinal cord? Can you get stem cells by just doing something in your mouth?"
Ma Jun showed a surprised expression. After learning about this, he immediately asked his son to check some relevant information online, and he thought he knew something about stem cell treatment.
Don’t they say that stem cells require spinal puncture to be taken out?
Why are you so relaxed here, just making a few random gestures in your mouth, and that's it?
Are you so deceptive?
Looking left and right, I feel a little unreliable.
The nurse showed a clear expression: "Uncle, don't worry, we only need your oral mucosal cells for stem cell differentiation. No spinal tap is required."
She shook the test tube and smiled: "Even though there is only a cotton swab in the test tube, just a little bit of Sanqing can turn it into stem cells and treat your disease."
"Wow, that's amazing. This is the legendary high technology!" Ma Jun looked shocked, feeling the awe of the power of technology.
Although I have always heard about high-tech technologies such as stem cells and knew that this stuff was very high-end, I didn’t understand how incredible it was until I was there.
Just mess around in your mouth and take some oral mucosal cells, and you can turn them into a panacea for treating ALS?
How is this different from a fairy? It’s so amazing.
His simple mind was instantly filled with admiration for Sanqing Medical Technology.
The son was also beside him, his eyes as big as bells, full of shock and admiration.
"Dad, Sanqing really deserves its reputation. It's so awesome."
"Since the nurse said so, you can just wait and see."
The two of them returned home excitedly and waited, which inevitably included a blowjob among the patients.
A week later, I received the notice as expected, and immediately rushed to the clinical building of the hospital with my luggage that I had packed early.
Here he will stay for a whole month.
It’s exciting just thinking about it!
After waving goodbye to his family, Ma Jun put on a clean blue and white striped hospital gown, followed the marks between floors, and walked to his ward with a curious look on his face.
There were already five or six patients sitting inside, all younger than me, about forty years old, which is also the age group with the highest incidence of ALS.
Ma Jun glanced around and suddenly saw a young man in his early 30s, and was immediately surprised.
Others obviously had the same idea and were surrounding the young man, asking questions.
"Young man, what's your name? Why did you get this disease at such a young age?"
"Yes, isn't it true that the disease is more likely to occur at the age of 40?"
"Why do you get sick at 30? This is unscientific."
"My name is Wang Ping. Haha, I don't know if it's scientific or not. Maybe this is fate."
Wang Ping scratched his head, his expression a little helpless.
He didn't know how he got this disease. Apart from fate, what other explanation could there be.
However, he felt that having this disease was a blessing in disguise. Not only did he find true love, but he also had a cure before he hiccupped. He was really lucky.
"I have to buy some lottery tickets when I get out of hospital. Maybe I can win a big prize."
He thought happily in his heart, he didn't have the despair and decadence of getting terminally ill at 30 and dying soon.
Ma Jun didn't care about his age, but seized the opportunity and inquired curiously.
"Do you know anything about this stem cell therapy? What's going on? Is it reliable?"
Patients, you look at me, I look at you, and we all shake our heads.
"I don't know, but it feels strangely powerful."
Wang Ping coughed lightly and interrupted: "I checked the information and have a certain understanding of this."
He went to college and was no stranger to the concept of stem cells. After searching online, he actually found some relevant information.
Now I’m going to start popular science for everyone.
"This stem cell is different from ordinary cells. It is like a monkey and can be ever-changing."
"Oh, I understand, seventy-two changes, right? I understand!"
Several middle-aged people nodded repeatedly, showing expressions of sudden realization.
"Sanqing has a special method, just like Tang Monk's tightening spell. Sun Monkey can become whatever he wants, so they can turn any cell in your body into a specific type of cell, called a neuron cell. .”
"The disease we have is that the neuron cells in the spinal cord are damaged. Sanqing injects stem cells, and then chants the tightening mantra, it can turn the stem cells into neuron cells and repair the damaged nerves. This is basically how the disease is treated."
"Oh, I understand so well." Ma Jun became excited and slapped his thigh suddenly.
"Sanqing is the Jade Emperor. He sent Tang Monk to control Sun Monkey's stem cells, which entered our spinal cord and killed all the monsters."
"Then the great sage transformed a monkey hair into thousands of monkeys, filled up all the injuries in our spinal cord, and naturally cured the disease."
"Brothers, I understand it this way, right?"
The others instantly showed expressions of "I understand" and cheered.
"Brother, you are awesome. Once you explain it like this, I will understand."
"The co-author ancestor has already written it in the book."
"Sure enough, no matter what is new, it cannot escape from the old ways of our ancestors."
"Huh? How can you explain it like this?" Wang Ping was dumbfounded. In fact, he seemed to understand, but he got stuck while talking, so he let himself go and started talking casually.
I was already very outrageous, but I never expected that these uncles would be even more outrageous than me.
After a lot of rambling, he was able to be logically consistent and explain the treatment process in such an easy-to-understand manner that people didn't realize how serious it was and were convinced.
Seeing that he was far off topic, for a moment, he didn't know whether what he said was right or not, so he could only shut up.
Soon, this rhetoric spread among the patients participating in the clinic, and was well received by the masses.
The next day, after breakfast, 30 volunteers lined up one by one to receive stem cell treatment.
There are also five healthy people who are not sick. They participated in the clinical experiment mainly for receiving money and dedicating their lives to test the safety of stem cells in normal people.
This time, Ma Jun finally experienced the intrathecal injection of spinal cord that he had longed for.
As soon as he lay on his side on the bed, he saw a doctor in a white coat walking in and taking out a long needle from the refrigerator.
Seeing the thin needle, which was fully 10 centimeters long, approaching his eyes, he couldn't help but tremble all over.
After closing my eyes and holding on to complete the injection, all the bones in my body felt a little weak.
I can only feel a cool breath flowing through the spine along with the cerebrospinal fluid, circulating to various lesions.
After the sheath injection was completed, Ma Jun lay down for half an hour according to the doctor's instructions. He didn't feel any discomfort, and then he got up. However, his face was slightly red, and he had a serious psychological shadow on the 10-centimeter-long needle.
"This is too scary. Such a long needle didn't pierce me all the way through?"
"It's been a month. I have to be pricked every day. It's terrible."
He shivered a little when he thought of the long, thin needle that looked like an iron stick, which had to be inserted every day.
After slowly returning to the ward, everyone discussed their feelings.
"How do you feel?"
"It's fine, I don't feel anything."
"Why do I feel more numb?"
"Maybe it's because the needle is too long and it's psychological."
"On the first day, it definitely hasn't taken effect yet."
"Yes, you should have a reaction in a few days."
The patients said something to each other and discussed happily, with strong confidence in their tone.
Facts also supported their conjecture. At least no one showed any adverse reactions after subsequent injections. In terms of safety, it was initially passed.
A week later, some people are already feeling a difference.
"Haha, it really worked. I called my wife and daughter today and talked about it for half an hour without stopping. I used to talk intermittently for five minutes and I would get tired."
A patient happily shared his new discovery with everyone.
"Me too. Squatting is not so strenuous today. I feel my legs are stronger again."
Ma Jun nodded with a deep look on his face. He had noticed it in the past two days, and before he had time to tell everyone, it seemed that it was not his illusion.
"Hands, my hands, finally stopped shaking when I was holding the cup while drinking water. Now no one will say I'm epileptic or crazy." Another patient shook the empty water cup up and down and shouted excitedly.
"I can actually climb stairs, can you believe it? Although I only climbed one floor, it is still a huge improvement." Wang Ping joined in happily.
After some discussion, everyone's condition improved more or less.
Muscle strength and fasciculations were relieved, and speech and swallowing abilities were improved.
After a check-up at the doctor the next day, I got more accurate results.
The electromyogram showed changes, the amplitude of compound muscle action potentials improved, and the overall improvement was obvious.
As for the nerve repair in the spinal cord, because the time is too short, it is temporarily not obvious on CT images.
Such a result is like a shot of cardiotonic shot into the heart of the patients.
Everyone rejoiced, feeling that complete healing was just around the corner.
During the subsequent treatment, 3-5 cases of low-grade fever and bone pain appeared one after another.
One patient experienced mild pain in the sacrococcygeal bone, and several patients experienced elevated body temperature, which lasted for 24-36 hours and recovered on their own without special treatment.
Therefore, it did not cause panic among the patients. Instead, everyone breathed a sigh of relief and felt that some adverse reactions were normal.
Half a month later, the conditions of all patients were significantly improved.
The breathing and chewing functions have returned to normal, and the motor function has also been greatly improved.
Everyone no longer has weakness in their limbs. After some rehabilitation exercises, those with serious conditions can walk freely without crutches, and those with lighter conditions can lift their legs to climb stairs.
My hand ability has also recovered to 70-80%. I can brush my teeth, drink water, write with a pen, and type on the screen every day without any problems.
It's just that the strength of the upper limbs has not been completely restored. I don't have the strength to lift heavy objects, and it is a bit difficult to change buckets of water from the water dispenser.
However, being unable to move a large bucket of mineral water did not affect our lives, and everyone was still very happy.
One month later, all patients participating in the treatment had the same speech, dressing, walking, and hygiene abilities as normal people.
The muscle strength of the upper limbs has also increased, and I can now carry buckets of water.
The day they discovered this, the patients were jumping up and down, full of energy, and replaced the water dispenser in every ward, even in the infirmary and nurse station.
The MRI pictures also show the detailed nerve distribution of the spinal cord. The axons and myelin sheaths of the damaged motor neurons have grown back, just like normal nerve cells.
At this point, it can finally be confirmed that the first phase of the clinical trial was a great success.
Finally, there is a specific drug to treat early and middle-stage ALS.
Time passed and the day came when I was discharged from the hospital.
Every patient walked out with a smile on their face and there was no sign of ALS at all.
They also carried their own luggage one by one, saying that they would not let their family members do it for them, claiming that they wanted to experience the long-lost pleasure of carrying a heavy load.
When they reached the hospital gate, suddenly, everyone paused spontaneously.
As if blessed to the heart, they all turned around.
He bowed deeply in the direction of the clinical building.
