Posts filed under 'in the swing of things now, uh huh'
Hey everybody.
Becky was assessed again by the physiotherapy doctor and some video footage shot of much of the same stuff as we did on arrival. Her strength is much better than it was – leg lifts on the bed supine and sitting on the edge of the bed and lifting her legs. Although the doc was speaking in Chinese to the assistant taking notes, I’m pretty sure that he was impressed with the improvement. On that first assessment they had asked Becky if she could stand and balance on her own, which she couldn’t. Today, though, after a couple false starts, she showed them! Stood by herself from a lower chair than she usually works from in physio too!
Living on noodles and pasta sauce, cheese and crackers, and the last of the food we’ve got in the fridge. Not too bad as we are looking forward to our first meals on Canadian soil.
Tomorrow, our last full day!! Final packing up of the suitcases! Pat ordered a fruit and flower basket for the staff that he’ll pick up tomorrow at noon. I’m laying low. I, unbelievably, am fighting the second cold in a month here. Trying not to share it around. It was just too polluted today to go out. Yuck.
2 more sleeps! Well, 3 kinda, 2 in these lovely cushy beds, (not) and then one squirming in the most ergonomically unfriendly airplane seats I’ve ever encountered. But it’s all good, will try to enjoy the journey as much as the destination.
love love,
Becky, Pat and kim
January 8th, 2008
It was a pretty quiet day today. Pat went out to buy suitcases, because after we shopped yesterday, we needed to replace the suitcases that we had thought we might be able to do without. OH and of course XXL clothes take up a lot of room ya know! thanks for all the LARGE comments, like we didn’t feel BIG enough already. I think we’ll have to cut the tags out right away 
The stem cells were on time and we were the first ones down to the 8th floor. Becky was in and out and we were back up to the room by about 4:15. It’s just after 6:00 now. Pat fed Becky pasta with olive tomato sauce and now we are having ice cream. It was so cute this morning, when the cleaning lady came in Pat was making toast for Becky. She pantomimed quite clearly that she thought Pat was so nice for making breakfast for Becky. This afternoon when we were at physio with Jennifer, our nice cleaning lady came in again and had Jennifer tell Becky “your husband is very well.” He has impressed them!
So Becky’s iv has run through, she is done with being poked for that. All these finals ‘last’ things. Becky just wants to be home. She was trying to convince us to see if we could change the flight home to tomorrow and just skip the last couple days here. She really misses home, and family, and dogs. We all do. Being away does make one appreciate home so much.
take care everyone. Going to keep Becky company while she stares at the ceiling.
love love, k
January 7th, 2008
I forgot to write about Dr. Dong’s visit yesterday. The computer/internet was so slow yesterday and I was worried about not being able to post at all, so when I finally got on last night, I forgot. Stage fright? Anyway, we were sitting playing cards yesterday afternoon and Lucy came in with Dr. Dong. This was the first time he had visited other than when he came when the headaches were really bad. He asked about the headaches and Becky told him that she had no headaches since the last stem cells. His english isn’t very good but he said he had put in extra saline solution in with the stem cells via spinal. The theory was that the headaches were from low pressure, and I guess the theory was right! He said he had felt very bad when Becky had headaches before. We gave him his little gift of maple syrup and Denman Island chocolate and the Canada notebook. He said he appreciated it. I’ll write more later after our trip out and mmmm lunch at the sheraton.
We did Becky’s homework together in the physio room this morning. Stairs and other assigned work from Jennifer. Then back to the room for a little rest and…
So, lunch did NOT disappoint! It was great. Afterwards, we stopped at Carrefour which is on the way from the Sheraton back to the hospital. It is amazing how much better shopping can be when you have friends!! I was trying on stuff for Becky and we were communicating in that fun way that happens when salesperson and customer do NOT speak the same language. It’s a little embarrassing but we are XL or XXL in China. So i’m pointing at the tag on our salesman’s coat saying “One like this!” as opposed to the size “S” that was on the shelf. Trying to say 29 or 30 when it was obvious that neither meant much to him. It was all fun and lots of smiles. When we were finally finished and paying, I said “Thank you” as well as “Shay shay”(chinese for thank you), our salesguy looked to his coworker who knew more English than he did. He asked her something in Chinese then she said “You are welcome!” which he repeated. Smiles all around. I hope he made a good commission. One more day closer to being home and today was a good day.
Can’t wait though to breathe the fresh beautiful air of home. love love kim
January 6th, 2008
Don’t know if all of Shenyang or all of this area of China is on and it’s very busy, but i’ve had to fight all day to get on. And it’s super slow if i do get on at all. I just hope this will actually post when i ask it to.
Another awesome day at physio though. Becky opted out of acupuncture today, it’s really really not her favourite thing. But then at morning physio with Jimmy, well, she had Jimmy applauding, so i heard. I was hear fighting with the computer to get to read the comments from yesterday. But she did the stairs ‘like a big person’ one step for each foot, instead of one step up and feet together, you know? Awww, it’s so nice to see. These accomplishments mean a lot. And this afternoon with Jennifer, Becky walked back and forth across the physio room a few times. I said she needed a bigger room now!! all good, real good.
Tomorrow, Sunday, is a day off. We plan to eat at the Sheraton one last time – lunch time. We are deciding whether to go to the Forbidden City Palace or to the Antique Market in the morning. The weather may decide it for us, although we actually don’t know if either is indoors 
the weather was very mild today, i walked to the store and back. Some of our last shopping trips, lettuce, fruit, beer and other essentials. It’s a little lonely around here now, as we’ve had 3 patients go home in the last 2 days. And we are on the last stretch ourselves – trying not to live ahead of today.
Take care everyone! love and more love from china
Becky, Pat and kim
January 5th, 2008
Hey everybody! Same kind of day at physio today! Becky walked the length of the room twice! I took some video action with my camera – told her i should put it up on youtube, but she’s all shy, doesn’t think it will get a lot of hits or something, i don’t know
And we went out for lunch today, and a stroll down middle street in the sun and brisk fresh weather. Becky is falling asleep now. She also had homework from Jennifer, which i think took the last of her energy.
It was a good day, and we are winding down our time in China, and feeling pretty good about it all, just now.
short post, but maybe I’ll have more stories tomorrow.
love love
kim
January 4th, 2008
Hope you had a happy birthday Tracey! Sorry, kind of ‘out of it’ over here. I went out to the big wholesale shopping place again, shudder… i really have a hard time with shopping. Anyway, then i went to Dairy Queen of all places. Thought i would bring back some dilly bar things or something, but it was, surprise, a different place than back home. They just had sundaes and some blizzards, and ice cream cakes. And they had hot dogs and maybe hamburgers, but i noticed they had little plastic ‘sample’ hotdogs on the counter – one with cheese, one with chili, one with chili and cheese… very strange, i mean there was a big menu board up there too, but just in case you could point to the lovely plastic replica of your chosen dog. So i brought a ‘Happy Birthday’ cake. It was the smallest and cheapest one. Thought of Auntie Tracey as we ate our cake.
Tomorrow is our last Friday here! We are really counting down now!!! Hoping Becky can be coaxed into going out for lunch tomorrow or one day soon. If it’s a nice day it can be really nice down Middle Street in the pedestrian only mall. And there was a salad bar at Pizza Hut. there were peas, i’m dreaming about those peas… sad, i know.
anyway, not too much to say today, just glad to cross another day off the calendar and pretty much a headache free day too. (knock wood) And Becky was doing so incredible at physio this afternoon – she is getting up from seated to standing on her own and she took a few steps without any help today!!! Jennifer helped a wee bit with balance but Becky previously always needed to use her hands – on a walker, a railing or a person – today her legs did it all!! pretty dang awesome!!!
hugs and stuff from China and HIGH FIVES!!!
Becky, Pat and kim
January 3rd, 2008
So back to ‘normal’ today. Acupuncture and physio and then stem cells. The stem cells were late getting in from wherever it is that they come from. It had been scheduled for 4:00, but it was after 5:00 by the time we got the call to go down to the 8th floor. There was the queue of patients from the 10th floor in their beds all lined up in the hall waiting to be taken in for their injections. Enjoying their last few minutes with their pillows under their wee heads. They are wheeled in and then they come out after laying flat, no rolled up head of the bed and no pillow. So it was 6:30 by the time we were back in the room. Our neighbour Michael had been having trouble with headaches after spinals as well, and he stayed flat for 5 + hours last time and he was much better. Becky will be staying flat for 5 or 6 herself this time. She threatened to have Pat and I laying flat on our respective beds too, and not let us watch any television. Becky and I ate before she went for her stem cells. Becky had some noodles, I had some leftover rice with some cheese. We are back to eating kind of chinatized after our big feast at the Sheraton yesterday. Pat made some pasta after we got back to the room. He was feeding Becky some in her bed. Yup now she has tomato sauce on her sheets, it had to happen. The running joke is that Becky’s bed is always kind of messy – grubby and crumby cause i always go to ‘her place’ and eat with her. There are actually some chocolate smears on the sheets right now too. HONEST it’s chocolate! It was the last of a stash of Roger’s chocolates that i had bought at the Vancouver airport. Pat had cut it in half and gave Becky and I each a piece as we sat on our respective beds the other day. Because it was cut in half it was a little crumbly and we both have a little bit brown smears on our beds. We’re kind of embarrassed for when the cleaning lady comes and we’ll get her to change the sheets!!! It’s not like you can explain anything to her anyway, she speaks no English, she’ll just think we’re gross i’m sure.
oh the other big news. Ariel and I both downloaded skype and we were talking on the puters, it was great. I even got to see little Lennox on his mom’s lap. Ohhh, it made me want to hold him though… It’s pretty great, i don’t have video, just audio, and really you don’t want to see me anyway but if anyone wants to download skype and find me, i’m yoginikim. love to hear from you. Take care, everyone. kisses and hugs from China all around. love love k
January 2nd, 2008
So yesterday we were told that there would be no physio or acupuncture today. But then Jimmy came knocking at the door at 10:00 am wondering where we were! Communication can sometimes be a challenge here, and really, you have to just roll with the punches or ‘got with it’ or whatever you want to call it. So hurriedly, Becky went off to physio with Jimmy. I was hanging in the room reading one of the english books from the patient lounge. We hung out til afternoon physio, which was with Matt, i think, the guy i had my 30 yuan massage with way back when. I was waiting to see how Becky felt, because the original plan been to go out for New Year’s day, but playing it by ear, obv to see how Becky’s head was doing. We had a little chammers and OJ after physio just to celebrate the new year and then Bex gave the go ahead, uh huh, we were heading back to the Sheraton!! We were able to get a cab pretty easy and we were off. We were early, it was just around 5:00 pm. We were told the buffet wouldn’t be open until 5:30, which was fine, Becky and Pat wanted to order off the menu anyway. I checked out the menu, but was drawn back to the buffet by the awesome salad bar, and ummm, the chocolate fountain. Becky had a reuben, Pat had a caesar salad and a filet mignon, while i had mmm, all the salads. For dessert, surprise, i was back at the chocolate fountain and basically had an assortment of all sorts of squares and stuff. I thought Bex and Pat would share but they had ordered cheesecake and chocolate mousse. Somehow i managed to eat almost everything. So now, sated, and sadly, Becky with a headache, we are back at the hospital, well before our 9:00pm curfew. tomorrow afternoon Becky will have stem cells via spinal in the afternoon. Not so looking forward to that, and the mandatory ‘flat on your back’ for 4 to 6 hours afterward, but that’s what we are here for, right? So now, i’m going to rest my full belly, watch some episode of ‘Lost’ and relax.
Hope everyone rang in the new year in the peace and comfort. love love k
and momma, hope you are feeling better this morning. kiss kiss hug hug
January 1st, 2008
Well, we probably won’t be awake to ring it in here, but it’s been a New Year’s Eve to remember! this morning we decided to make an omelette. We had leeks and peppers and eggs and cheese, all good right? Well, the electronic hotplate on loan to us from the hospital has a mind of its own. It knows the difference between a cheapo frying pan and the nice non stick one that Pat bought. It won’t heat up with the non-stick one, it just beeps and beeps and won’t heat. So we use the thin tinny one. And you have to keep a constant eye on the hotplate because it will suddenly decide to up the heat to max with no warning and burn everything. So i sauteed the peppers and leeks with a watchful eye for about 30 minutes and then we added the eggs. Seemed like they were cooking all right and suddenly the room was stinking like fish! eww, the whole thing was flushed down the toilet, still don’t know the mystery behind that, but honestly, i thought food in the cupboard was off or worse! So we had some asian noodles and cheese with fresh tomatoes. Pat went out to do a little shopping and Becky and I played cards. Pat got back and was not successful in getting any champagne, so i headed off to Carrefour. We figured the french as they did not disappoint in the cheese department, would also not disappoint in the sparkling wine department. It was a lovely sunny day today and a good chilly, brisk walk there. I didn’t wear my lj’s though and i missed them. “Fat freezes first” as Ariel is known to tell me and my butt was proving that point. Although my ears and forehead were cold too and not so fat. Anyway, again the french came through, sparkling wine and OJ were procured. It was crazy in the stores as Pat had already found at WalMart. The same as at home, everyone has to get out the day before a holiday – you’d think the stores would never be open again ever! So tonight’s dinner was linguine and jarred basil tomato sauce, nothing special, but it was oh so good! Some parmesan on top and we were living large!! We are also listening to Jack FM out of Vancouver. They are playing some countdown and we are loving listening to a Canadian station. Why we didn’t think of this sooner, I don’t know. Becky’s headache was not too bad, she was up for longer periods today. I whooped her and Pat in some cards (rummer’s rummy?). It was a pretty shameful win, i’m a little afraid of a thrown or smothering pillow making its way over to my side of the room tonight…
well, love and hugs and big Happy New Year’s kisses to everyone! we miss you and miss home!!
kim, Pat and Becky
December 31st, 2007
Hey everybody.
We went out!! Pretty excited about that! Becky was feeling pretty good after her morning physio with Charlie, so we talked about heading out for some good food. The headache did start again during lunch, but all in all it was a pretty good outing. The Sheraton is a beautiful hotel. Their handicapped washroom was actually big enough to fit a wheelchair in – the handicapped washrooms at the airport are NOT big enough for a wheelchair! Speaking of said wheelchair, the cabbies tend to have a lot of shite in their trunks, so the wheelchair is kind of hanging out of the open trunk, kind of afraid of it bumping right out of there onto the road. We’ve been okay so far though, knock wood. There was a lovely buffet, such a nice salad bar, I loaded up there. There was some sushi, a breakfast area, with french toast and pancakes, Pat had a steak grilled, a nice dessert area too. I have to tell you, it was my first experience with a chocolate fountain. I was dipping fruit and little cream puffs on a stick in there. A little too much fun, almost funner than eating it. Poor Becky though, by dessert, she just really wanted to get back and lay down. We got a nicer cab, since we were leaving a posh hotel. Becky and I leaned on each other in the back seat and looked at the sights. It was too cute, when we got out of the cab at the entrance of the hospital, an older chinese lady came over and put Becky’s hood up! The chinese all think it’s mighty cold out and I guess she wanted to make sure Becky didn’t get cold in the 24 seconds it took to get from the cab into the hospital! So Pat and I pigged out and didn’t want anything to eat for dinner tonight. Becky though, is having a little bread dipped in balsamic vinegar and olive oil for a late night snack. Tomorrow is a holiday. Apparently New Year’s eve AND New Year’s day are holidays here, and New Year’s eve there is nothing happening in the hospital, no physio, no acupuncture, nothing. So it will be quiet tomorrow – maybe Becky’s head will feel good and we’ll attempt another outing
take care all, love love kim
December 30th, 2007
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