Arrival And The First Few Days of Treatment at Villa Medigrun

We arrived in Germany around 12pm on Sunday October 15th after traveling for about 13 hours. The owner of our Air B&B offered to pick us up, which was great. He drove like a bat out of hell since there are no highway speed limits in Germany, so it was about a 20 minute drive to our apartment. Unfortunately, all the grocery stores in Germany are closed on Sundays, so we had to venture out into the town to find something to eat. After about a 10 minute walk, we arrived at a local restaurant that served traditional German food. The servers were extremely nice, but everyone sitting and eating were looking at us like we had two heads, which I am sure was due to the fact that we were speaking English and not German.

We walked back to the apartment and took a nap. Mom found some pasta, olive oil, and onions and threw together some dinner for us.

Day 1 of Treatment:
The first day we had to get up pretty early. Tyler and I got picked up at 7:30. Mom stayed behind to do some grocery shopping and to set up the apartment. Elke (the most amazing, wonderful person) who works for the treatment center and Phil were in the car when it arrived. Phil is from the UK and has been battling Lyme for 9 years. We drove three and half hours to the stem cell clinic (which is different from the Villa Medigrun Clinic). This stem cell clinic is where they harvest the stem cells and watch them grow. It takes 12 days for the stem cells to reach the point where they will be beneficial enough to be put back into our bodies. Collectively about 1/2 a pint of blood was taken. Once they drew enough blood we were given a thymus shot. After about an hour of being there we drove back. I slept some more and spent time with mom and Tyler.

Day 2 of Treatment:
We got picked up around 8:45 by Dr. Micheal and headed to the Villa Medigrun clinic  in Otzberg. Phil was already in the car. We are staying in an apartment in Deiburg, which is only 10 minutes away. Shortly after we arrived, Fran, another patient undergoing treatment arrived. She is also from the UK. They undoubtedly are my stem cell buddies!

The clinic is located in a beautiful old building. It was filled with the aroma of essential oils and the sound of relaxing music. You can tell by the way the clinic is set up that it is important to Dr. Micheal and his staff that we, as patients, are comfortable and relaxed.

Initially we were given a tour as well as a few supplements. Blood, urine, and stool tests were taken. We then started our IV treatments. The first treatment was given to target and detox the liver and the second was simply vitamin c. Near the end of our time at the clinic, we were given this green mixture we had to put in water and drink before the end of the day and told that we would have to drink a liter of this stuff for the next 10 days. The stuff stank. We were told that it would taste pretty bad and make us smell like broccoli and garlic. The green drink is a really important part of our detox and treatment. Honestly, it tastes horrible! It is extremely bitter, so bitter that I have a really hard time getting my body to even swallow it, but I sat and chugged it all in about 20 minutes. I would pour a full glass of it, chug it and then eat either a cookie or a piece of chocolate afterwards. The chocolate seemed to help the most. Unfortunately, the taste stayed with me for the rest of the night.

We were done with everything around 12:30pm due to the fact that the clinic needed to wait for all of our test results to come back. I was extremely tired when we got back to the apartment and had only intended to sleep for an hour or so, but instead I slept for about 3 hours. Dr. Micheal says this is normal due to the fact that my body is detoxing.

All in all, it has been a good first few days. The clinic, the staff, and my stem cell buddies have solidified my confidence in knowing that Villa Medigrun was the right choice.

Although the green drink and the I.V.s are sometimes hard to take on, having Fran and Phil as well as my Mum and Tyler make the days go quickly. There really is something so comforting about being around others who can really sympathize and understand what you are going through. Unfortunately with Lyme, people like that can be hard to find!

I will write about the following few days soon!!

-Abby