When we patients turn up for our H.E.L.P. apheresis treatment, our job is ‘comparatively easy’ (well, at least from treatment number two onwards – because for some of us, the first treatment can be a bit ‘special’, as ‘firsts’ can sometimes make us nervous, and often existing anxiety and cognitive dysfunction do not help). Thankfully our lovely nurses are always super calm and professional, so in the end it always turns out to be much easier than you think).
Sin embargo, antes de que empiece el tratamiento, hay una serie de preparativos logísticos.
Every single ‘Plasmat Futura’ (the name of the B.Braun H.E.L.P. Apheresis machine) with its serial number has a machine log book and gets regular services by certified apheresis machine technicians.
Los suministros originales se transportan en su mayoría por vía aérea y deben refrigerarse constantemente desde las instalaciones de producción hasta el almacén frigorífico, pasando por la logística guiada por la temperatura.
Aproximadamente una hora antes del tratamiento hay que preparar y conectar los 30 kilogramos de líquidos (NaCl, Acetato, Bicarbonato, Sulfato de Heparán) y las tuberías y los adsorbedores y filtros y, a continuación, hay que enjuagar, probar y preparar la máquina, que pasa por varias autocomprobaciones mecánicas para ver si todas las bombas y abrazaderas y sensores y componentes electrónicos son precisos y funcionan al 100% (este proceso se denomina cebado).
Una vez hecho esto, la máquina está lista y espera en modo de espera. Una vez que llega y se le conecta con agujas de aféresis o con un catéter de aféresis, la enfermera inicia el tratamiento, que dura unas 2,5 horas. Durante esas 2,5 horas estará cómodamente sentado en un sillón de cama Bionic totalmente automático y muy acogedor que puede ajustar y cambiar en todos los aspectos y ángulos con un mando a distancia.
And after those 2,5 hours the precipitation filter then holds a lot of pathogens (fibrinogen and other clotting factors, inflammatory proteins, viral spike and fragments, cholesterol and autoantibodies and a long list of other toxins and pathogens) that were previously inside your body/blood and your blood is about 10% less thick/viscous whilst your blood vessels temporarily have increased 20% in size/volume and with that the microcirculation. In other words – 100% of your blood volume (or a bit more) is processed and cleaned in one treatment.
And after the 3rd or 4th H.E.L.P. Apheresis treatment (the average treatment number we currently see is 5-8 treatments) the medical team will then start the rest of the Combination Therapy – various IVs depending on symptoms, antiviral and anticoagulant treatments and in some cases HBOT, Cryo, IVIG or Hydro Colon treatments.
Very soon I will discuss the future of diagnostics and individualized Combination Therapy with a Long Covid household name that is currently being treated at our clinic and of course I will send you an email once we publish that video – it will be a very interesting discussion to say the least!
I hope you enjoy the little video we made today in the early morning and as you will see with Keelyn – one of our brave Long Covid fighters – despite everything we are all going through with this cruel and often invisible illness of Long Covid and/or Post Vac – we fight with a smile and it is much easier if we fight together and get up the ladder step by step.
Para muchos, el mero hecho de saber que existen lugares como el nuestro les da esperanza. Así que, por favor, ¡ayúdanos a correr la voz! Saludos desde la soleada Chipre a los luchadores de Long Covid y Post Vac, Markus.
