Archive for March, 2009
Jim had his fifth treatment yesterday – IV. All is well. There is nothing new to report in the way of his treatments so will just have to chat aimlessly along. If you begin to nod off, I’ll understand. I think I am beginning to see a little more strength in his left arm. Right one isn’t responding yet. His legs seem to be a little stronger as well – that is until he gets cold. When the cold hits him it’s just like you stuck him in an ice bath. Nothing responds.
We got a picture of our translators. Roy will post it on the Blog for me. They are all young – 21 to 27 years old. They love to practice their English on us. As you can imagine, some do better than others. The guy in the middle (Jack) is a real character. He does excellent with language. Most of the others don’t understand what you are asking when you need something. You must use sign language and anything else you can think of. Wendy and Amanda usually translate for the doctors when there is a consultation. They do real well. These kids and most of the other young girls we see over here wear jeans with lots and lots of embroidery, glitter, and sparkles. One of the girls had on camoflauge (I don’t know how to spell it) jeans with embroidery all down both legs.
Our Translators
We also got a picture of Roy in front of an entrance gate with a lion. Pretty cool.
Roy in China
The only other notable thing I can think of is we have been without hot water for 3 days now. Can you imagine a hospital without hot water? They said a pump or something went out and they have been working on it. They turn ALL of the water off about 9:00 pm and we get cold water back about 8:00 am. Sponge baths were getting a little old but you’ll be glad to know that we got hot water this morning about 10:00 so we smell a little better.
Roy got us hooked up with Skype and we were able to talk to Jim’s brother, sister-in-law and mother this morning. I couldn’t get my camera to work but we could see them. They didn’t need to see me anyway. Again, Roy will have to come to my rescue on that one. Skype software is FREE. If anyone wants to download Skype so they can commuicate with us in China you may download the software from here: Skype If you wish to Skype us be aware that China is across the International Date Line and 15 hours ahead of Arizona time or 12 hours ahead of US East Coast time.
We are fascinated watching the people from our 8th floor window. Many many many ride small motorbikes and there are also many bicycles. You can’t believe the loads they can tie on a bicycle and still get down the road. Bicycles, motorbikes, pedestrians, buses, etc. share the same space and there doesn’t seem to be any rules. Anyone can go anywhere. The intersections are a riot. They are turning and going every way from Sunday. Pedestrians are just on their own. They do have crosswalks but they don’t mean a thing. Cars do not slow down for anything. Of course they are not driving as fast as we do in the first place.
We have a little boy here from Canada who has spinal bifida (his spine didn’t close in the womb). He is 4 years old and just a little doll. He had his treatment with Jim yesterday. He is paralized from the waist down and as you can imagine, cannot walk. He has an older brother and they keep us entertained from time to time. It is good to have someone around that you can actually talk to.
More later.
March 31st, 2009
Not much to report to you’all or is it all’yall?
Jim had his 4th spinal stem cell treatment this afternoon. He is in his lay flat for 6 hours session. This is the part that is hard for him. He seldom makes it the full 6 hours. Don’t know if he can’t stand the lay flat or if he is starving to death. He can’t eat or drink for 3 hours before and 4 hours after and you know Jim – when it’s dinner time, it’s dinner time.
The doctors are changing his schedule a little. He gets his next treatment IV and the last one spinal. They think that is the most beneficial way. Guess they know best.
Took a little walk across the street (you can’t believe how dangerous that is) to the new market. What a place. It is absolutely huge, and that is just the market. The rest of the stores in the mall are not ready to open yet. I had to take the escalator to the second floor to find groceries. There is no way Jim could contend with that so got him a cup of coffee and left him in the food court. There was a courtesy clerk at the end of every aisle who said “good morning” but that was the extent of the English. One kind girl asked to help me and I asked her for kitchen towels (paper towels) and of course we were both language impaired. No I didn’t find the kitchen towels – we’ll do without. Did find some coffee (instant) – They all drink tea. Fortunately for me there are signs in Chinese and English on the floor that say “Exit” and I was able to follow those and get myself back downstairs. We are still stared at everywhere we go. The children are really curious so we simply say to them “kneehow” which is hello. They love it.
All for today. Thanks again for all of your comments and emails. They sure brighten our day.
March 27th, 2009
Jim had all his usual treatments today without incident – yahoo. He has suffered no significant injury from his fall the other day. Has a bruised bottom complete with the knot you get when you hit hard but he is okay. But don’t worry about the small bumps and bruises as Jim is being well cared for by the excellent nursing staff here.
Jim with his nurses
We had the Professor and his contingent of doctors in this morning. It goes pretty much like a teaching hospital. He has Jim preform some tasks and then lectures. There were 7 or 8 doctors and students here. He speaks a little English. At any rate, he told us that he sees progress in Jim’s reactions. Certainly hope he is correct.
We are watching out our window with great fascination the preparations for the grand opening (tomorrow) of the new market (Lotte Mart) across the street. They have banners flying from the buildings, huge balloons complete with long red stringers all up and down the street and all around the building. There are many people milling around and many cars on the street – must be dignitary day. Should be even bigger tomorrow. They certainly know how to celebrate. Here is an earlier picture of the Lotte Mart during the construction phase.
Lotte Mart under construction
They just brought in a Korean television crew to interview Jim. They wanted to know why he was here and how he discovered this place. Said they would get us a tape. Interesting.
There is a couple here from India. She speaks a little English. Twice a day she makes these wonderful looking “breads” as she calls them . Looks very much like small tortillas. She fries them in a frying pan. I told her I would like to make some at home. She is going to give me lessons this afternoon. My counted cross stitch is getting boring. Will welcome the change.
March 25th, 2009
Well, Jim got their attention today. He was in physical therapy doing his routine on the stairs, surrounded by three doctors, two physical therapists and three translators when he got distracted by one of the doctors, lost his balance and fell. Boy did everyone come to life. The doctors are all four feet nothing and they are trying to lift this 6’5″ guy off the floor. I had to make them get away from him so he could roll onto his stomach, get his knees under him and then we can lift him up. They hustled him right to his room and put a heat lamp on his fanny. They want to take xrays – all we need is another broken hip. We are quite certain that it is just bruised. Fortunately he had one hand on a railing and didn’t go flat out on his head like he usually does. All of the buildings here are solid concrete. They walls, the floors, the stairs. Everything is poured so there is no soft place to land.
Jim is feeling good. After his treatment his neck is usually stiff and the back of his upper legs are sore for a couple of days. The doctors say that is normal.
Roy hooked us up to Skype while he was here and I talked to him on it today. He was in Tucson. Could hear him like he was standing next to me. Aren’t these things wonderful?
It is raining here today and for us, very cold. It is 39 degrees. It has been windy for a couple of days. The wind and the rain don’t have much influence on the polution. Will be great to breath some clean air again.
March 24th, 2009
Well it is the start of a new week. Had all the usual – physical therapy, acupuncture, electric wave . They took Jim for his stem cell treatment at 2:50 pm. Makes a very long afternoon and evening when he must lay flat for 6 hours. Nothing to eat or drink 3 hour prior and 4 hours after. He seems to be doing fine. Temperature normal. Blood pressure a little high but not alarming. Will Blog any new developments tomorrow. Keep those emails and comments to the Blog coming. The days are very long over here and hearing from all of you certainly keeps our spirits up.
To help all you geography challenged Americans, here is a map depicting the East coast of China and showing the location of Qingdao the city in which Jim is receiving his treatments.
Map of Eastern China
PS. Click on the map to get a full size image.
March 23rd, 2009
We have had the weekend off from any treatments so things are rather slow here.
They are building a huge shopping center across the street from the hospital so we watch the cranes, cement trucks and hundreds of workers with shovels go at it each day. They make some remarkable progress. The market (which is much like a Walmart Super Store with everything you can imagine in it) is scheduled to open on the 26th so that will be kind of fun. We have had to take a cab to the RT Mart (which is about a $1.00 cab ride) to pick up essentials. They do have a couple of little shops on the main floor of the hospital where we can buy little containers of noodle soup that you add hot water to, orange juice, rolls, cookies, soda pop, etc. They also have some venders that come in with carts and they sell hot soup (in a plastic bag) and wonderful dumplings and potato pancakes. We are learning to like a good variety of things. Of course, none of these people speak English but they do understand point and grunt and if they don’t know how to speak the amout owed, they all pull out a calculator and punch up the amount. It works!
Roy left us Saturday morning. It is so funny to think that he left here at 7:45 am and arrived in Phoenix at 2:00 pm the same day. It’s hard to believe when I am writing this it is Sunday afternoon here and Saturday night there.
Jim has another spinal stem cell treatment tomorrow afternoon so will keep you all posted. Thanks to all of you for your thought and prayers.
March 22nd, 2009
While Jim was in physical therapy today his group of doctors visited him and observed his session. The doctors believe they are witnessing some improvement in his speech and in one exercise. I am too close to the problem and don’t see it yet. We are hopeful that that is the case. His upper legs are a little stiff today from the spinal. They have been applying heat lamp treatments to his back and shoulders along with the electric wave and acupuncture.
We have a new schedule. He will get two stem cell treatments this week. One on Monday and one on Friday. We now also have physical therapy and occupational therapy on Saturday.
Roy is due to leave in the morning. He has been such a big help to us. We have enjoyed having him here. So far he hasn’t attempted to run off with any of the adorable young nurses although I don’t understand why.
March 20th, 2009
Jim had his first spinal treatment at 3:00 pm. They put him out for the treatment and he is still sound asleep. It is now 5:00 pm. He must lay flat on his back with no pillow for 6 hours to ensure that he does not develop a migraine. Blood pressure and temperature are normal and he is still hooked up to an IV with saline. The couple of minutes he was awake he said he felt fine so all is well here. The nurses come in and check temperature and blood pressure every hour. They are monitoring for any adverse reactions.
Jim also had physical therapy, acupuncture and electric wave treatments before his stem cells today so he has had a full workout.
Had a wonderful visit with JJ Fletcher who flew in from Kunming, China to see us. We had a delightful dinner and breakfast with him at his hotel. He then joined us at the hospital and we just had a wonderful visit and solved the problems of the world. JJ is a source of all manner of information. He answered so many questions about China for us. His Chinese is very good and he could translate many things for us that we are using much sign language and grunts to accomplish. Thanks so much, JJ.
Two new patients came into the hospital. We don’t know yet where they are from. Will find out.
Case Review Professor and Medical Team
Jim and JJ
The Crew and JJ
March 18th, 2009
We are eating lots of GREAT Chinese food (you don’t remember me worrying about what they would feed us do you?) Roy and Kathy are eating exclusively with chopsticks. This is great fun. We had a day off Sunday. Roy and Kathy went to the market to get coffee and a few essentials.
Ended up buying some really good Chinese beer – Tsingtao. It is brewed here. We got six 600 ml bottles for about $2.00 American.
Tsingtao beer
This morning Jim had his normal physical therapy and had acupuncture and electric shock wave therapy in the afternoon.
Acupuncture
Roy and Kathy will go upstairs to the amusement room where we can get on the treadmill and stationary bicycles.
March 16th, 2009
Well, we just got back from our adventure downtown. We really are out in the country. It took about an hour to reach downtown Qingdao. Everywhere you look as far as you can see in any direction are high rise apartments, office buildings, etc. under construction. The skyline is covered with cranes. The buildings are all poured concrete.
Jim & Roy (and random Chinese) by sculpture
We went to the seaside – shopping on the pier.
Lighthouse at the seashore
They sell lots and lots of pearls. Very much like going to Mexico and dealing with all the street venders. We hired a van and a driver. What an experience it is to go driving here. A poor pedestrian takes his life in his hands. The most used thing in any vehicle is the horn. We drove back a ways along the seashore. There is a lot of pollution in the city so there is not a lot of visibility. Many many banks. Bank of Communication, Bank of Agriculture, Bank of Construction, Bank of China, etc. The temperature here now is 50 degrees at 5:00 pm but it was very cold and windy at the seashore.
Back to life at the hospital. We have people here receiving stem cells from India, Singapore, Romania, Canada and three from the USA. Jim has done well with the first treatment. His temperature and blood pressure remain normal.
The stem cell wing
The hospital
PS. Click on each picture above to get a full size picture
March 14th, 2009
Previous Posts
