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
PT was first today. Leg weights were strapped to Jim’s ankles, 1.5 Km (3.3 pounds) each. Climbed and descended stairs trying not to use hand rails. Jim did well on the stairs, remaining upright and on his feet the entire time. Next, came the balance board. Again the goal was not to use his hands on the railings and of course to remain upright. He did very well on the balance board. Acupuncture and electric wave treatments were canceled today as today is a stem cell treatment day.
We ventured out of the hospital today. Decided to take a taxi to a Holiday Inn where we were told by staff that they serve Western Food. Taxi drivers don’t speak English and we don’t speak Chinese. Taxi drivers also can’t read Roman alphabet like you are reading now. The only way we can work a taxi is to have a Chinese person at the hospital write the word Holiday Inn in Chinese characters and this is what we show the taxi driver to get to where we want to go. Taxi’s are small in this city. Mostly VW rabbits. It is hard for three people over six feet tall to fold up and get into a VW rabbit, but we got ‘er done! Lunch was good. Kathy and Jim had a hamburger and fries. Roy had sea bass and a local beer called Tsingtao. Turns out this city of Qingdao we are in is also the home of China’s own Tsingtao beer brewery. You can buy Tsingtao beer in the states but it tastes better fresh from the source.
Jim had his first stem cell treatment after lunch. First treatment was administered via IV drip. It took an hour for a bag of fresh stem cells to drip into his body through the IV. Fresh stem cells are delivered to the hospital 3 times a week on Mon, Wed, and Friday. The first treatment is administered via IV in case the patient has an adverse reaction to the cells then application can be halted quickly. Jim had no adverse reactions to the IV so the remaining 5 stem cell treatments can continue about every 6 days. The rest of the treatments will be via direct spinal injection.
Stay tuned. As we learn how to Blog we will be posting photos and maybe some video as well!
March 13th, 2009
Same schedule as yesterday for Jim. He had physical therapy, acupuncture and electric wave treatments, then shoulder xrays. One of the translators took Kathy to the bank in a taxi (about $1.00 each way) to change American dollars into Yuan (or RMB). Transfer rate is about 6.8 to l. Jim has his first stem cell treatment tomorrow at 15:00 (3:00 pm). We made arrangements for a driver to take us on Saturday to the downtown area (about 1 hour by car) – we are assuming that is seaside. We were told we could go to a flea market there as well. This is where they held the sailing competition in the Olympics. Jim has no treatments on the weekend so we are free to come and go. It is raining here today. It is 45 degrees.
March 12th, 2009
Jim went to physical therapy from 8:30 am until 9:15 am after which a team of 7 doctors came in the room. The first doctor was a professor who was accompanied by a senior doctor, a junior doctor and 4 student doctors one of which was photographing the session. The photographer was a beautiful young woman. The professor had Jim doing a number of activities and completing a number of tests, all the while instructing. Ths session lasted approximately one hour. At the end of the session the doctors concluded that Jim’s early diagnosis of spinocerabellar ataxia was incorrect. They are diagnosing motor neuron disease which is the diagnosis we received from the last neurologist we visited. They are going to xray both of his shoulders to determine why he is losing strength in his arms. This afternoon he will go to acupuncture and then electric wave therapy. We also received the schedule for stem cells. He will receive the first treatment on Friday and it will be given IV to ensure that he has no reaction. The next five will be given by spinal injection. After each spinal injection he must lay flat with no pillow for 6 hours. If he raises his head it could cause very severe headaches.
It is a law in China that foreign visitors must register at the police station. We were taken by our interpreter to the local police station yesterday. They checked our passports and visa and I guess we are now registered locally.
The interpreters come in each day at 10:00 am to take your order for lunch and again about 3:00 pm to take an order for dinner. Pizza seems to be real popular. There are several pizza places to choose from. We have been ordering in mainly Chinese food and really enjoying it. We can also go out for lunch or dinner if we have no appointments. The interpreters also took us yesterday to a huge market (2 floors) and we purchased a few essentials. We take a cab to the market which costs about $1.00 each way. The nurses write the name of the market in Chinese characters that you just show to the taxi driver. We carry a card with us with the name of the hospital on it so we can get back. The market has the most beautiful display of fresh fruits and vegetables and also has a wonderful meat and fish display. There is a kitchen on our floor and we can use it to cook our own meal whenever we desire. What an experience.
March 11th, 2009
We arrived in Qingdao China after 3 very long plane rides. Door to door it took us 26 hours to get here. Jim’s air ticket was flagged with wheel chair assists so this allowed all three of us to go to the front of every line we encountered; checking, boarding, immigration, customs, etc… We flew Economy Plus across the pond and this was very nice because the seats are larger and have 5 inches extra leg room. We arrived in Qingdao at 6:00pm Monday March 9. Doctor checked Jim out and took him medical records to examine. Today, Tuesday, he get evaluated and he will get his schedual for stem cell treatments.
March 10th, 2009
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