China Trip
Hi Everyone,
We are busy getting settled in here in China. It it quite the time difference and has taken some time to adjust. Austin is doing well. He has been very happy. He has recently started crying for different things. Yesterday he cried when he was hungery that is a first for quite a while. Today he cried during his bath and he sometimes cries when I set him down. He has not had stem cells yet. I think that maybe he is more expressive is because we just weaned him off of phenobarbital. I am glad he is starting to tell me more things. Yesterday Austin had his first day of therapy. He had e-stim on his legs and his arms. Then he had 30 minutes of acupuncture. I was excited for him to try it. I have heard so many positives about it. But it was hard to watch them put these tiny needles in his head. He tried to get them out. They put 4 on his head. Once they were in he seemed ok. He feel asleep about 3 minutes after they inserted them. I have heard that it is relaxing. Then he had PT. His therapist Tom worked with his arms and legs repeatedly and then he had Austin roll back and forth for quite a while. After a while Austin was trying to help roll. It seemed like something was clicking in his brain. I am anxious to see what might happen after days of this therapy. After that Tom put Austin in a stander. His arms felt wonderful. They were not as tight as usual. Austin is not as tight as most brain injured persons but he still is tighter than the average person. He felt so good and then he feel asleep in the stander. So we got him out. Today was a free day and he slept more than usual. I think he was worn out. We got to hang out with our friends. My friend Bonnie is here with her daughter Lauren. If it weren’t for Bonnie coming here I do not think I would be here today. She was here last year and saw some good improvements for her daughter. You can check out her story at: http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/laurenashley
It is so good to be here with friends. My Aunt Judy and her son Zachery should arrive tomorrow. Zachery has very mild brain injury. So we will have lots of friends. We have also meet some wonderful people here. I will try to tell more later.
I went to the RT mart for the second time today. For us today is Saturday and the store was packed. A friend named Chantel (she is friends with Bonnie, and they came together) and I walked about 40 minutes to get to the market. It is quite interesting to cross the street here. The Rt mart has an escalator without steps. The shopping cart connects to it. It is really neat. Many things are cheap but some are about the same as it would be for us. I actually bought a 6 pack of Corona beer for less than $2. I was shocked. The US must have a major mark up. I get Chinese dinner for less than $2 but if I want American style food it is closer to $10. A taxi ride anywhere locally is less than $2. A good thing is that they don’t expect tips. You only pay what something is worth. There are of course exceptions to that. I was a little freaked out that the children go around with a hole in their pants. They don’t use diapers. Babies just go when they need to. I saw a couple of young children with their butts hanging out. Luckily I did not see one that had to go!
Tomorrow – Sunday is another free day for us. Then on Monday Austin will get his first stem cells via lumbar puncture. He will get 4 total lumbar and 2 via IVs. Please keep him in your prayers.
Thanks, Jenny and Austin!
P.S. My e-mail is now working and I would love to hear from you!
2 comments June 14th, 2008
