Nate’s Ataxia Blog

Peking Duck

Peking duck has been in China since the 1330′s and is a national dish of China.  It is a specialty of the Bejing region.  The ducks are bred just for this meal so not just any duck that can become a peking duck.  The restaurant we went to was quite a ways from the hospital and it was good to see a new part of the city, it wass very modern and classy.  We saw the art district -  I would love to go walk the streets, maybe if Nate feels good on Sunday we will go there.  We began our dinner by choosing the duck which are hung and glazed before they are cooked in the open fire.  We then  picked some dishes to accompany it, I am posting pictures of some of the dishes that we did not choose.  The duck is sliced thin and served with rice pancakes (tortilla’s) spring onions and hoisen sauce then you roll small burritos.  We had shrimp, beans, corn, and eggplant with pork.  Fresh corn juice is also a specialty of the restaurant.  I have never heard of this but we should try it in Nebraska we certainly have  lots of corn! We were stuffed and it was a great evening with new friends.

Today has been uneventful with no headache. Our friends from Hungary left this afternoon and there are new patients coming from America on Saturday so I am anxious to see where they are from.  Also some people from Ireland will be here, the world is just coming to us isn’t it?  But we are leaving soon too.  Max has asked us if we would stay a night in Bejing before we leave on Wednesday, we are excited for that experience-our last hoorah!  We told him we want a 5 star hotel…we’ll see what we get.   Love, Nan & Nate

5 comments June 25th, 2009

Our dinner last night was so much fun, it reminds us of the ‘Melting Pot’ fondue place although they use water instead of oil.  Frank chose the meats, spices and sauces for us – there was so much to choose from and all in chinese so we could have never gone without him.  There is also an order in which you add things to the pot so it was good to learn about that. Maybe I could try it at home, its the sauces I couldn’t replicate though.  Frank’s sauce was spicy, Nate’s garlic and mine was a mixture of 5 different colors.  I have no clue what it was but it was very good.  So you first put the meat or veg into the water to cook then put it into your sauce and eat it.  The beef was first, then cabbage & potatoes, then shrimp, then mutton, then tofu

.  Afterward, we had these sweet little cakes-kind of  like a bran muffin.  There is a street market in front of the restaurant and we walked along that to the end of the block  – it was so interesting to be emmersed in the culture like that. I felt very welcome and sort of  ‘special’ I guess is the right word.  They are as curious about us as we are about them-it’s wonderful.  Frank is a great interpreter and we were able to exchange a few words with some of the people who wanted to talk.

Nate is doing good this morning, the team came in for another full evaluation of his balance and we saw some marked improvements.  I wish I could show you video because seeing is believing.  Our goal from the beginning was to keep this condition from progressing so any improvemtent is a real bonus. He had a two hour PT session today and has already had acupuncture.

 We met the family from Oman last night on our way out, I don’t know why I was nervous about meeting them but I was and I said something like ”Nate and I are going out for a Chinese dinner ”.  The dad just looked at me and said ‘Isn’t every night a Chinese dinner?”   OMG!  What a dork I am!  It still makes me laugh.  They laughed too and are very nice.  Well, take care and I will write about the duck tomorrow!  Love, Nan & Nate

11 comments June 24th, 2009

Moving on…

Nate felt so much better today, it was a good day.  A small headache started this afternoon but it subsided in an hour or so which is a good sign.  We are taking it slow but are ready to move on to better days.  I am posting a picture of one of our girls that stops by to practice English.  She asked us to help her pick an English name so after suggesting a few;

she has picked ‘Amy’ which I think suits her very well.  Have you thought about picking a new name for yourself?  It would be kindof fun. We tried to ask them to name us Chinese names but they start out with their family name so we were stuck right away.  We sort of got side tracked on that whole explaination so I will have to try again for names.  Also I am posting Nate playing basketball with a soccer ball and an upside down stool, pretty funny but it was a slow day so everyone played. 

Tonight, Frank is taking us to a traditional Chinese ‘Hot Pot’ .  I am so curious to find out what this is, maybe I should eat a pbj first!   And tomorrow, Dr. Hung is going to take us for the best Peking duck  in the city so our social schedule has resumed   I wasn’t sure how late we would be out tonight, maybe even as late as 9 pm who knows.  We lead a quite life here.  Love to all and thanks again for reading and keeping up with us, I don’t know what we would do without this contact!  Nan & Nate

7 comments June 23rd, 2009

Treatment #5

Treatment #5 went well, besides being  a long and boring day.  Today will forever be my definition of doing nothing…seriously.  Nate finished at about 11 am and slept for almost two and a half  hours which was great!  Because of his experience with headaches, they have left in his iv in case they needed to give him more fluids but besides that he is up and around with no pain which is also great   I don’t even have any good food stories because he has just eaten soup and a pbj.  It’s ‘hello kitty’ time for me.  ha ha  Here is Nate..

Hey everybody, it’s Nate again.  This hasn’t been the easiest experience for me but I am sure that in the end it will be worth it.  I am counting down the days till I come home. Today was my last experience laying on my back for 6 hours, I am glad that I don’t have to do it again and I am excited to see what will happen, if it helps me get better I will gladly come back and do it all again-I will do what it takes to get better.  Thanks for your constant support.

Love from both of us, Nan & Nate

11 comments June 22nd, 2009

Hello, I hope you all have a peaceful Sunday.  Our trip to the country side was scheduled today at 10:30am and we got on the bus with everyone, by the time they loaded the 4 wheelchairs and patients Nate began to feel bad so we did not risk it and got off.  The weather today was so hot, 98 degrees F!  We will try another time.   Nate and I did venture out later to the market.  Did I say that I couldn’t find milk?  Well, half of the produce section is milk I just didn’t recognize it.  It is in boxes on the floor and there are so many different kinds.  A friend named Bill came with us and helped us navigate the store better. We got fresh fruit, milk, bread and some sweet bread we think might be similar to donuts for in the morning.  Tomorrow is the last lumbar treatment…thank goodness.  He will have 8 days to recover before our travels home.  Yippee!  I have not started the countdown yet, I will wait maybe till the last treatment on Friday so the time doesn’t go so slow.

It seems like I talk about food a lot, sorry.  Our days have slowed down considerably as we have gotten into the treatment.  We are planning some trips out the last few days in order to spend the rest of our Yuan.   Sending good thoughts to each of you, Love, Nan & Nate

7 comments June 21st, 2009

Today was a day just like yesterday.  The head ache came on around 2 pm but he went to therapy at 3:30 anyway which didn’t work out so good.  We left early.  I had a bit of a melt down when the doctors came in, it’s just so hard to see him hurting.   They have been treating Nate like a king this afternoon - he has recieved ice cream, milk, tea and they even ordered pizza for him for dinner.  They are worried that he is not eating enough I guess which could be true.  I suppose we don’t go to the supermarket enough, its so confusing.  I need to be more assertive in asking for things too and letting them help me make a list in Chinese so I can get help when we get to the market.  So…we learned more about communication.  They also think it is too hot so we have had the air conditioner fixed…I didn’t even realize it was broken, I thought it just didn’t work very well!  Again…I need to be more assertive.

The pizza was good and I filled my hello kitty mug again! Maybe I will even have a second tonight… it was a rough day.  We are going to watch another movie.  I hope we own stock in itunes   Take care.  Love, Nan & Nate

10 comments June 20th, 2009

Friday, June 19

Hello all, we continue to hear of your bad weather and storms…hope it has settled down and no harm has come to anyone. I saw the footage on CNN of the IAMS pet food company-wow!  It looked scarey! Our day has been overcast but no rain.  Nate felt great this morning and had acupuncture and PT, then after lunch he had a bad back ache.  It was weird, he laid down and fell asleep…all day.  Now he is up and feeling fine again.  He must have needed the sleep.  I have almost finished my book, it was a very boring for me today.  Doug, Megan and Katy are in San Diego for my sister’s son’s wedding.  Ryan Lehl and Stacey Strysak are getting married tomorrow   Stacey was a news anchor in Kearney at ntv a few years ago, you might remember her.  Nate and I are sorry we aren’t there and looking forward to the pictures!  I bought a bottle of red wine from the supermarket, it is called ‘Great Wall’ and it was 25 yuan or about $3.68 – quality.  Anyway, I have opened that and am having a glass in my hello kitty coffee cup!  ha ha  At least it’s not morning, right?  Hopefully tomorrow will be more eventful.  We are going to watch the ‘Truman Show’ so good night from China, have a good day!  Love, Nan & Nate

10 comments June 19th, 2009

7 comments June 18th, 2009

Treatment #4

Yeah!! Four down and 2 to go.  I don’t know if it is getting any easier but we do know what to expect now and are better prepared, both mentally and physically.  Nate always gets his bed side table ready with things he might want while he is lying flat, I posted a picture of his set up-he’s so organized. It has been 3 hours.  We have movies ready for tonite and I have just been reading this afternoon.  I downloaded several books but didn’t bring many as I was worried about the weight in the suitcases.  I am into a book now called ‘Cathedral of the Sea’ by Ilfonoso Falcones which reminds me a lot of Ken Follet’s book ‘Pillars of the Earth’.  It is a long one but good so far.  There is a shared library on this floor that has an interesting selection.  This is a copy of Angels and Demons in Arabic, I wonder what they think of the book? Also, I did not know that their books are backwards from ours, so they read back to front. Here is another ‘international fact’.  Did you know babies in China don’t wear diapers?  Why didn’t anyone tell me this?  It explains a few things.  I didn’t notice until we were in Bejing and we saw many little bare baby bottoms so I googled it when we got home.  You should google it too if you are interested.

Well, 6 long hours later….I hope he can do this one more time.  We just have to keep our minds on the reward.  The weather cooperated today as it has been cloudy and raining, that makes for a quieter day because they let up a little on the construction behind our building.  Have a good day!!  Love, Nan & Nate

8 comments June 17th, 2009

Today we were politely asked to stay close to the hospital, probably a good idea considering our experience yesterday.  Nate is doing very well with his therapies and we have been able to notice some improvements in his balance and his walking which is encouraging.  So far he has not noticed any vision changes but I expect if it comes, it will be a gradual process. They say that he can continue to see improvements for a year or so after treatment and it does seems like every day we notice some small changes. He is feeling better although the head aches come and go.  Nate doesn’t want to take any more medicine for them so we just take more soup!

Chinese students are on their summer holiday and we have had many visitors wanting to practice their English and learn American English.  It has been fun, we have used our Chinese/English dictionary and the computer to help us communicate when we get stuck.  I think they are college students, they said they have their dipolomas and are working on their degrees. Our faces hurt from smiling so much all day!  We learned as much as they did I am sure.  I asked one girl if she had any questions about life in the States and she wondered if it was as violent as they hear it is with people getting shot in the streets.  She also wondered how expensive it is to go to college.  Both good questions, and both difficult to answer because while it is true we do have that kind of violence it is not everywhere and it is very expensive to attend college but there is help with scholarships and grants.  Hopefully I did a good job representing the truth.  From Nate they wanted to know about his educational experience.  They don’t have band or athletics as part of their school.  They also do not travel outside the school to museums and things which explains why most of our nurses have not visited the Great Wall, even though it is relatively close.  We had our photo album so they liked looking at the kids pictures from the dances.

We also learned we have been making some mistakes at the restaurant.  We eat all of our soup, the broth and everything while Max said they only eat the noodles and vegetables.  Also, soup is considered a main course so we usually order soup and dumplings so that is 3 main dishes.  Oh well, we always take half the dumplings home for later.  We use an English menu and just point to the item we want to order and today we got something totally wrong.  It was fried watermelon and bananas rolled in sugar..wow talk about sweet!  It was like carmalized fruit. It was really good but too sweet!  I was actually pointing to the steamed rice.  Oh well, I would have never tried something new.

Tomorrow is Nate’s 4th treatment, and we are closer to coming home – only 14 days left.  This treatment is very exciting and it is good to be a part of it; everyone is so optimistic. I am sure the process can only get better as we learn more about stem cells and their potential.  Lovingly, Nate & Nan

8 comments June 16th, 2009