My mom and I went out yesterday with several families tol down town Qingdao for shopping and other things. We had fun but, it was a very long day for us. Today which is Monday for us in China I get my last treatment. It was supposed to be an IV but it got changed to a spinal. I did not find this out until yesterday morning on my schedule before I left with my mom on the trip. It will be fine. I am excited about it. I am glad I will be done with treatments after today. I have three days left after today. I am so excited about coming back home and going back to work and letting the stem cells continue to work. I am also looking forward to some real American food on Thursday night with Craig and Lisa and Luke and my mom. Bye for now Matt
August 3rd, 2009
So I guess everyone has been wanting to hear about my vision improvements so here goes. I do believe that I am seeing facial features better from farther away. I also believe that I can see the colors in the trees better than before. When I look at a tree from far away it seems to take on more detail. I am also experiencing better peripheral vision. When crossing the street I can see things to my right and left clearer now than before. I am holding my book a little farther away when I read than when I was reading before. With the eye chart exam I have stepped back about two more feet. I know that these are small changes but the real growth of the stem cells will come in the next year.
July 31st, 2009
I thought I might share with you all the different sounds of China. As we sit in our room each day we can hear the sounds of construction. The huge shopping center being built across the street from the hospital has workers around the clock. The workers drive the most interesting vehicles. We have learned to know what is going on by just listening. We often hear the old chugging farm tractor with no muffler that pulls a wagon loaded with supplies, going across the street at a diagonal from the supply yard on the opposite side of the road, the crane with the deep motor moving slower than the tractor. Most recently we are hearing the dump trucks moving dirt, back and forth with the beepers going. Also, loaders moving the dirt into large piles. There are motorcycles, scooters, motor bicycles, three wheelers, mopeds always going by. Everything that moves is forever beeping, even though there are “no beeping” signs posted for those driving by the hospital. The beeps are long for “look out I’m here”, short for “I’m not stopping”, quick succession for “I’m first” and blaring for “you Idiot!” It is never ceasing, as they don’t use yield signs here. At any point in a day we will hear fireworks, as they are used for celebrations, from Birthday’s to Weddings. These fireworks are both noise makers on the ground and the beautiful ones exploding in the sky. (Although they have nothing on the Christmas Fireworks in Lyons,Colorado!)
In the hospital noises are abundant too! We have the never ending knock at the door, (May we come in?) Nurses, taking Matt’s temperature, the cleaning ladies, the bed sheet cleaning attendants. We have the interpreters taking our daily food orders. But best of all, the other patients wanting to share stories/information, or just checking to see how we are doing. The halls are filled with voices, people visiting in the common area, the Doctor’s confering with patients, or the kids playing and running around. The Physical Therapy rooms are also filled with the sounds of people working muscles, kids crying or laughing, depending on how the treatment is going. An occasional OUCH slips out from someone when enduring a specific treatment. A treatment in the PT room with an interesting sound is cupping. Small jars are heated and placed on the patient (back or stomach mostly) and pulled off quickly. It makes a great Pop noise. Cmany caregivers stay in the PT rooms with the patients, so we are often carrying on conversations, oblivious to the suffering patients on the tables (just kidding). We are right there to inform the therapists that our loved one is in pain or discomfort. We watch over them like vultures waiting for dinner.
Speaking of dinner, there are the sounds of people cooking in the kitchen. Pots banging and water boiling and fish being chopped. Ok, we won’t go there again, that is for the smells blog. People sitting in the dining area eating and visiting and enjoying life! Ha, that part will come later!
We also have the beeping sounds from the IV monitor when a patient is preparing for the spinal, or IV. We have the air conditioner that hums in the room and clunks when it shuts off. We have the waterbottle cooler that bubbles and burps as the water gets used.
And across the street on Friday-Sunday nights, there is music, local groups singing, outside the LotteMart, with a stage and all. I suppose it is to draw customers in – their way of marketing. Big crowds gather for these events, so there is the hustle and bustle of people all about. These mini concerts last 2-3 hours and if we open our room window, can here the music quite well, although we have no idea what they are singing.
OK, so this is turning into a book of sound, so better close now before the internet drops service and I have to scream! Love to all Diana
PS Matt says hi too, and we are both feeling great today!
July 31st, 2009
I had my fourth IV yesterday and It went fine. I feel fine today. In a half an hour I get to have my eyes tested by Dr. Tony from the eye chart in the hall. I am seeing pretty good today. I am not as tired today as I have been. I have one remaining IV on Monday my last one. I am so excited about that. I leave for home a week from today. We had to wait about two hours yesterday afternoon before I had my IV. I didn’t get it until about five thirty yesterday. I was supposed to get it at four o clock yesterday. I was delayed because the stem cells were late getting here. I have seven more days here before I return to California before I go back to Denver to go home. Bye for now Matt
July 30th, 2009
Yesterday was a beautiful day. We went to the mountains (Laoshan) with another family (Patricia and Kyle) in a rented van. We had a tour guide, Marcus from the USA, who is here living and speaks very good Chinese. We went to the Buddhist Temple, the Taoist Temple, and a small mountain Tea House, where we sampled the green tea. We went up the chairlift, Matt and I together (that’s a story in itself, the blind and the scared to death story). The air was clear, the sun was out and the foliage was beautiful and smelled wonderful! The mountain is right by the beach. We went up to the mountain top on the chairlift to see the view and then back down, to the water to walk on the beach. It was so peaceful and being away from the city improved my spirit immensely. Matt did really well too, and made it all day with out trouble. He was tired and slept when we got back. It was a well needed getaway. We stopped at McDonalds for a burger on the way back, and it actually tasted like the ones back home. I should go now, as I need to finish the laundry and do the dishes! Daily chores, where ever you are…
Love Diana
July 27th, 2009
I have been ynable to write a blog since Saturday at noon because the internet went down. It was down all day yesterday and part of this morning. I had a great day yesterday. My mom and I went to Loshan Mountains We went with one other family. We had a great time. The air was cleaner up there and there was a lot more to look at, than here in the city. We left early in the morning and were back by early afternoon. Even though I am afraid of heights I was able to get on the chair lift that they have there and ride on it up to the top with my mom with no problems. It was really pretty up top we could see everything from up there. The ride back down on the chair lift was just as easy. I am glad tnat my mom and I did that. I feel great today even. We saw all the temples and tried some of the Loshan Mountain tea. I have no more headaches and only ten more days left here. I can’t wait to get these last two treatments over with. So long for now Matt
July 27th, 2009
I made it through my last spinal injection yesterday with no problems. I am glad that I am done with those. I only have two treatments left two IV’s. I am getting excited that I only have fourteen days left here before I come home. I notice that my vision is getting better every day. I have been noticing some itching behind my eyes at different times during the day. The headaches are finally gone. I still get a little nauseated sometimes. Finally we had hot water today after not having it for four days. We slept in because we went to bed late last night after I was able to eat. I was able to eat around eleven o clock last night. That is why mom and i slept in this morning. The water was so hot that it even steamed up the mirrror in the bathroom. I aam going to eat some KFC chicken wing s and some Campbells chicken soup and maybe a pop tart for Desert.
July 25th, 2009
Hi all, We just experienced the eclipse today – not much to see outside the PT room window, but it is the talk of everyone here. Matt is doing really well this week. He’s had no headaches, been eating everything in sight, and telling me I don’t need to go to the Therapy room with him, as he can go by himself. I believe he has found his voice and can now speak for himself. He is feeling so much better and actually enjoying himself now. We went in a bus with about 30 people last night to Napoli, an Italian restaurant downtown. We had wonderful food and an enjoyable time. The waitresses brought us all kinds of appetizers, meat platters, vegetables marinated, a great variety of breads and cheeses, as well as Caesar salad. And after all that we had our main course. Matt had wide noodle pasta with meat sauce and cleaned his plate. I ordered the vegetable soup and cleaned my bowl too. After the meal we had fresh fruit plates for dessert. We had a very great time (probably the best so far) and such a wonderful change from the hospital setting. We have not made additional plans for the rest of the week. But, I bet Matt is doing so right now. He has really taken to visiting with people. They love him, as we all do! He has been asked a couple of times for videotaping and interviews. He spoke on camera with a new patient yesterday about how his treatment is going, as this new patient, an engineer from India is also looking for sight improvement. It was all documented on film. Camera crews are here two or three days a week. So we are doing ok, hanging in there. His next treatment is Friday, a spinal, the last spinal. We’ve started our count down. Only 15 days left until we leave China.
July 22nd, 2009
I went to this park in Qingdao Today that is about a fifteen minute walk from the Hospital. The name of the PArk is Century Park. It is a very beautiful park. It was warm out today. It has alot of Olympic Statues and things from the 2008 Olympics. I went with three other families. I am doing okay now but wore myself out had to take a nap. In the middle of the Pond in the park there was a Wind Turbine that was not moving but I could see the color of it from whre I was sitting on a shaded bench. The color of the turbine was blue. There was also tons of willow trees and I could see them clearly as well. Mom took lots of pictures until her camera battery died. I have my third IV tomorrow afternoon of my own stem cells at two PM. I am first on the list. We hope that I feel better after this treatment. Then friday is my last spinal which I will be glad about. Bye for now
July 19th, 2009
Matt is sleeping with a headache again. Not sure what is happening, but possibly it’s the stem cells working to rebuild his optic nerves. We are just hanging out today, no plans to go sightseeing until we know how he is feeling later. It’s been a few days since my last post, so thought I should get you more insights to our life here. Matt and I find the staff here very friendly and nice. The nurses are very good and do a wonderful job in trying to keep Matt (and myself) comfortable. They are well trained and do an exceptional job with the IV ports they have to put in so many patients. We’ve never had a problem with any of the insertions. When you push the call button, they are right there to assist. On stem cell day (Monday, Wednesday, Friday) there are a whole gaggle of them working very hard to get everything taken care. They are sweet and cute and fun to talk to. We have several interpreters here and they are always attentive to your needs, too. They will help with anything we need. We get hand written notes stating where we want to go, in both English and Chinese, to give to the taxi drivers, with directions too sometimes. They are very helpful when we are talking to the Doctors, without them, we really wouldn’t know what was going on. Some Doctors do speak a little English, but the interpreters help so much! They are all great and friendly and I personally appreciate them all very much. The Doctors make rounds each day, and keep up with our progress. They offer advice and suggest ways to get more improvements from the stem cells. They take what they are doing here very seriously, and want all of the patients to have great success. We also have some media personnel who are around a couple times a week. They take pictures of the patients in all kinds of settings. The PT room or the OT room, or during an eye exam. They are great, too, and give us someone else to talk to about local culture, or where to go, or insights into what’s happening with Beike. The therapists are also very good and kind. Matt’s is especially gentle with him, as a couple of times Matt’s not been feeling well, and he has always shown compassion and concern for Matt’s well being. I must say all the staff people are great and very helpful. Matt and I like them all! Wish we could clone some of them and take them back to the states with us! Diana
July 18th, 2009
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