Patient: “Well I came here for stem cell treatment and advice with regard to taking supplements. I was taking supplements on my own and I’ve heard that that’s not a good idea. So I heard about his- I listened to his radio show- the Doctor’s radio show and he talked about supplements a lot and the need to have somebody check you out as far doing a good blood sample or a good blood test to find out, you know, what supplement you actually do need and rather than trying to guess on your own. And in the mean time I had suffered some sort of a problem and two years ago in that I had taken a trip on the Appalachian Trail- a hike- it’s a 50 mile hike in 5 days, we’re covering 10 miles a day. And before that I noticed my running was a little bit off and I just couldn’t put my finger on the reason why. But it was a little pain or something but I couldn’t really in the way that- I could but it took like an effort to do it so I thought well maybe the hike will sort of straighten things out. But the hike actually aggravated my situation. I found out that I actually had pain in my right knee at the end of the hike and I was ready to stop hiking at that time.
And I thought I better go get some advice from a doctor, you know, about what I should do. I didn’t know what was causing the pain. So I contacted somebody, was recommended by a friend who was knowledgeable of knee problems. And so I went in and saw the man and he said that I need to get an X-Ray first of all, so he did. He found out that it was bone on bone on my right knee. Bone on bone arthritis, I said ‘arthritis, how come I didn’t feel any pain?’ and he said ‘well not everybody does’. And I said ‘what’s the solution here?’ and he said ‘knee replacement, an operation which involves knee replacement.’ And I just wasn’t ready to just sign up for that. I thought maybe I had kind of heard somewhere there might be alternative therapies, couldn’t put my finger on what I had heard because I really didn’t have problems before that. So I started looking into my situation more in detail and contacting other doctors who are experts in the field but they kept coming back with the same solution: knee replacement. And one guys said you do anything that you want to do with what you have now but finally you’re going to have to get a knee replacement. Well I still wasn’t happy with this and so on a street fair in my town, we have it every year, there are some representatives from a medical firm not too far away and they said they might be able to help me with some sort of injection of hyaluronic acid. I’d been taking these supplements with like hyaluronic acid in them and you know I kind of felt like some relief but I still wasn’t really in good shape.
I wasn’t running too much, you know, trying to run but really kind of cooling it. So I went over there and they explained to me that hyaluronic acid injections are temporary, and I would get temporary relief for maybe six months. And I heard something like the maximum I could get would be three of them. So, okay, I took the first one and felt relief from that so that felt pretty good for six months. But I didn’t go back to it I didn’t think it was good he said it’s not a good idea to run. He can walk, so he’s walking and but I did feel relief. But after six months sure enough I felt the need to go get another injection.
But then I was lucky enough to find Dr. Calapai’s show on the weekend. I’m very active on weekends but I just happened to hear him and then of course I made an effort to hear him again and again because he was talking about supplements and all these different problems that people suffered to include arthritic type situations. And that there was some alternative therapies that he was talking about, you talk about things like prolotherapy and some other- then they mentioned stem cells finally. He started talking about stem cells.
What really got my interest was that I don’t have to get- I would not have to get stem cells from other people, because you never know where people- what they’ve done and where they’ve been etc. They would come from my own body, so okay, I made an appointment, called up, made an appointment, came out to see the doctor. We discussed my overall situation, I said I feel pretty good, you know, its just my knees, and so he looked at my- I got a copy of my X-Rays to show him. He said bone and bone doesn’t necessarily- its not necessarily as bad as you may think, you know. I said there it could be you could receive and alternative and he recommended the best one for me would be stem cell treatment. Well this is maybe a little bit of a- you know I thought that was pretty exotic, you know, stem cell treatment but he said that would be the best and most long lasting solution for you. And so what I did was agreed that, you know, I got the blood test done. In two weeks I went back to see what my situation was in regard to the supplements I was taking and to hear what he had to say. He gave me a list of supplements I should be taking and this would improve my overall situation to include improving my knees situation. In the meantime, you know from the time I had spent with the hyaluronic acid injections I had found that I had problems with both knees not just one. So anyway, the doctor, I went back and I recommended him, he said I could get the stem cell, I was in good enough shape to take the stem cell treatment so I agreed to come in for it.
On the day that I did he took it right out of my love handles, that’s the fat, he even showed it to me. You know, I was even conscious and then they spun it around I understand three times and he gave me an injection in each knee. He recommended to my son that my son come along with me to drive home but on that day I felt that I could just as well driven home. But, you know, in order to go along with what the doctor recommended I had my son drive me home. But I didn’t have any down time after that I just, the doctor said you can walk you can do the things since you’ve been doing but I didn’t really feel the pain. I didn’t start running or anything, he didn’t recommend that. He said let this take effect for a while, it takes up to 18 months, from a year to 18 months to manifest itself in the results of the treatment. SO he said continue to do things, continue to lift weights, but don’t push it, and you know walk and all that but don’t do real long hikes yet. But as time progressed I kept walking more and more and walking different places in my town. And joining, involved in the Boy Scouts and going along with their hikes.
I did a five mile hike a couple of months later and didn’t have a problem. And so I noticed to that there was a park here, Eisenhower Park, so I should take advantage of that every time I come out here so rather than drive out here, I go to the Westbury Station and I walk here. So it’s about three miles over here to the office and it’s right across from the statue of General Eisenhower and then I walk back after my consultations are finished here. It’s a study that goes on for a while and I have to check in with the doctor about my progress and, you know, my supplements, and he does an occasional blood test here or there, or I’ve had a urine test to further determine how my overall situation is. But I ran into an associate of mine who I really enjoyed speaking with before and he had a cane with him and he seemed to be in pain and I said how are you doing and he said I’m recovering. I said; recovering from what? He said ‘knee surgery, I had arthritis in my right knee’. And I said ‘oh’ and I told him what I did but I didn’t want to expand on it too much because I felt maybe- I didn’t want to make him feel bad about what he had done. And I didn’t know how bad he was going to be in that situation, but I was very thankful again as I had been many time that I had found Dr. Calapai’s program on the radio and I listened to what he had to so and I took action on it. So I’m a happy guy. I’m walking miles now, you know, and I’ve been using the ladder on my house, the second story work. I do it to save money but I also kind of enjoy it, you know.
So really it’s helped me out a lot and I would really recommend that people consider stem cell treatment for their situation and definitely put it above getting an operation and knee replacement. If there’s a chance to do something that’s better and with no down time- I mean I had no down time- you know for your work I’d have to have assistance for my wife or anything like that you know for doing anything that I do so I felt very happy about it- I’m a happy guy!” *