Cape man feels stronger just few days after surgery

Jim Trickey did something on Thursday that he's not been able to do in a long time: turn off the water faucet after a shower.

Trickey, who has Lou Gehrig's disease, has weak muscles in his arms and legs that make gripping, and sometimes even walking, a hard task. He has trouble feeding himself or even getting dressed in the morning.

On Wednesday, he had surgery in a Beijing hospital to implant olfactory ensheathing glial cells into his brain in an attempt to help him regain mobility. The cells work much like stem cells would in that they can regrow and revitalize damaged nerves and cells in the body.

Trickey will spend the next two weeks in China for recovery and physical therapy; he originally expected to be there for a month.

After the surgery, he's already starting to feel better, said his wife, Brandy, in an e-mail to family and friends.

"Jim felt a lot more energetic today and he said that his legs feel about 50 percent stronger than before." He also reported feeling stronger in his left arm as well.

"This evening we were taking a shower and Jim was able to turn the water faucets off without any help. Before, this wasn't possible so I think that we are on the road to broader horizons," Brandy wrote. The doctor did tell the couple to expect a drop in his strength in a few days but that that was a normal.

Earlier in the day, Trickey had a session with "Dr. Pain," a Chinese doctor who works with pressure points and nicknamed by all his patients in the hospital. Brandy said Dr. Pain would likely be classified as an "old Chinese doctor."

"I asked him to do the same to me as he was doing to Jim," she wrote. "I actually felt really good after he was finished -- my stress was completely gone. Jim agreed that he felt good also."

Trickey's treatments also include acupuncture and physical therapy to help him regain his strength following the surgery. Trickey was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS, in 2002 and began doing research on the implant surgery.

ljohnston@semissourian.com

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