Posts filed under 'in the swing of things now, uh huh'
Hi everyone! Not much new today. hate to admit it but the headaches are still keeping Becky here. I was out on my own again. Freezing my ears off walking to WalMart. I must be getting more comfortable with walking around Shenyang, which for me is not necessarily a good thing. i was walking along and saw a big delivery truck up ahead parked on the sidewalk, unloading fruit into a store. As I was walking past, I was noticing all the crap on the edge of the sidewalk, rotten fruit and some terra cotta broken stuff, wondering if the ‘garbage guy on his bicycle’ would be the one to come by and haul it all away, and then WHACH!!! I cracked my head on the side mirror of the truck. I’m sure there were some chinese chuckles at the stupid white lady. Didn’t leave much of a mark, though, so it’s all good. and that’s the most interesting thing i have to say, so here are some pictures.
MiddleStreet this was our short outing. Becky’s headaches sent us back at the hospital too soonJennifer, our favourite physiotherapist.
ChristmasChickenFeet part of the yummy spread that was laid out on the table at the Christmas party. AND two kinds of chicken necks.
Very ignored sign. or maybe the sign means ‘no honking’ right next to this sign and everywhere else, BEEP CONSTANTLY!
Tony and Lucy these are the 2 translators/patient liasons. They are so incredibly helpful, concerned and sweet. Love them to bits.
Jennifer, our favourite physiotherapist not sure if Jennifer’s picture is going to load. i’ve been waiting forever and i know my momma will be up and expecting the blog to be up and ready. And the rest of my room has gone to sleep, it’s dark and i better call it a night. much love all, kim
December 29th, 2007
Hey everybody. It was not the group outing to Carrefour mall that I was hoping for… Becky’s headache still made its presence known shortly after she gets up to a sitting position. After acupuncture and morning physio, I headed out for a big walk. I had looked at landmarks on two cab rides and figured i could find my way to Carrefour. I really needed to get out of these 4 walls. Becky said she totally would have come if she could possibly manage it – dang headaches anyway. So i headed out alone, wearing my little white mask – adjusting often as my glasses fogged up. It probably took about an hour, and big fat snowflakes started to fall the last block or so before I got there, it was really pretty. Got a few groceries at Carrefour and then got ICE CREAM at Baskin Robbins – jamoca and french vanilla. Then i tried to hurry into a cab and get back before the ice cream melted. It was a really nice treat. The 3 of us enjoyed a little of both flavours. By the way, Pat is fine, he never did get the cold or anything. Not sleeping that well – he and Becky aren’t in love with the beds here though. They are kind of firm, futon-ish – i’m good, though, i can sleep anywhere. And we haven’t made Pat watch gay cowboy movies yet. We’ve actually had some interesting videos to watch, a few seasons of ‘Dead Like Me’, ‘Saturday Night Live’, and we’re working through most of ‘Corner Gas’, thanks Tracey for lending entertainment. I haven’t watched the square thing so much in years. It can be educational though eh? Corner Gas has taught me that you can take the girl out of Saskatchewan but you know…
So Becky had today’s stem cells intravenously. Much easier to take as she doesn’t have to lay flat, flat, flat for oh so many hours. We had some noodles and some chocolate. It’s pretty darn exciting, I know. We’ll all be turning in soon. It will be nice to see the city blanketed in white tomorrow – a change of scenery.
One thing we are looking forward to tomorrow – Becky will have her favourite physiotherapist, Jennifer, for morning AND afternoon physio tomorrow. Jimmy, her usual morning guy, has a few days off. Best news is double Jennifer, she’s super cute and so good, she makes Becky work real hard. Becky would love to bring her home with her… we’ll see if she’ll fit in the new suitcases we have to buy 
logging off, love love and more, k
December 28th, 2007
Happy Birthday Mom! We are all thinking of you and missing you. I know you check the computer first thing when all them little dogs wake you up in the morning. We all hope you have a wonderful day!
And thanks for all the comments everyone, it’s how we start our day around here, fire up the computer and see if anyone made any comments on the previous day’s posts. We really appreciate everyone making the effort, especially for those of us who aren’t the best of friends with this computer stuff 
It’s still early this morning and I’m still hopeful that the day will clear and turn out better than yesterday. I rolled Becky’s bed up and we’re having our ‘quiet’ morning chat. When the doctor visited a few days ago, he said this ‘gradual’ going from horizontal to vertical may help with the headaches. And we’re waiting for the hot water to be ‘on’ and then the showering can begin. more later.
Well, the headache was still there. Becky thinks the pills might be helping a little, but she isn’t sure if maybe she is just getting used to having a constant headache.. Tomorrow Becky is to have stem cells via iv in the afternoon, so i said “We are busting outta here tomorrow!” I’m hopeful, I’ve been talking up the Carrefour mall, there is a Baskin Robbins there!! Today Pat braved the elements, rainy snow and smoggy fog, went out and brought back some pizza for us.
I went down to ‘the movie store’ which is a filing cabinet drawer FULL of movies at the nursing station. I brought back quite a selection. I had never seen ‘Brokeback Mountain’ and it turns out Becky hadn’t either. Pat hadn’t either, but he was all “No thanks, you guys can watch it.” But of course, what would he do if we decided to watch the kissing cowboys movie? He could always read the Martha Stewart Living magazine he found out in the book rack. Running low on English reading material, poor guy! Anyway, there are lots of other movies to watch before we come to that.
Have a good day everyone and birthday girl momma!! love love kim
December 27th, 2007
We had a quiet day today. Guess we were recovering from the crazy partying of last night Becky still has a headache – it really sucks! Within a few minutes of being up, it starts again. She didn’t make it to acupuncture this morning, it’s not her favourite thing. She did make it to physio this morning and this afternoon. Lucy spoke to the doctor today. And Tony brought in a couple pills from the doctor in this afternoon. He said they were for her headache and for her circulation. She took them, but still had a headache afterwards. This headache has been going on for days and days, but the condition is getting some attention now, so we’ll see what tomorrow brings. It would be really nice if Becky could get out, for a little shopping or just for lunch.
My big plan for today was to maybe go out for a walk, but it’s the worst day yet for smog. We could barely see across the street. Really hoping for some visible sky tomorrow. I was thinking about how as a former prairie girl, i get a little down about the grey winter skies in BC. But wow, at least the grey doesn’t come all the way down to the ground! And the air is still fresh. The poor citizens of Shenyang, this is really gross.
Hoping for a day tomorrow that is clear of headaches and smog. Fingers crossed. much love, k
December 26th, 2007
Well, it will be one we won’t forget anyway. It was a regular day today. Becky was back at acupuncture, morning physio in spite of the dang headache being back. I headed off to WalMart, it’s a nice walk, what can i say? And we found out we were supposed to bring something to the party. Tony had said “Maybe a cake? But if you can’t cook that’s okay, you don’t have to bring anything.” How do you cook (or bake for goodness sake) when you have a hotplate, a microwave and a bathroom sink? We decided to make deviled eggs. I went off to get more eggs, some leeks and was hopeful for some paprika. It was a pretty smoggy day, so i broke out the face mask thing and tried to wear it. It was a brisk day for a BC gal too, so i thought the mask would serve a double purpose and keep my face warm. Alas, my glasses kept fogging up, so i had to ditch the mask and breathe naked. I try to breathe through my nose only and not walk around like a slack jawed yokel with my mouth open, i think i look better that way too
So 14 eggs later, boiled in two batches, leeks chopped fine with a pocket knife, mayo that is sweet (?) and a wee sprinkling of what turned out to be cayenne; we had our contribution ready for the party. The room was decorated in a mix of Asian and western. There were Asian lantern things and lots of garlands. Santa hats were plentiful as were devil horns that lit up(?). We added our food to the table, and what a spread it was. The highlight - chicken feet!!!!! We were all fighting over them, uh huh! There were these thick cut chips that looked interesting, but they were sweet, not just sweet potato sweet, but glazed sweet. Seems that there are two flavours in China – super hot, or sweet. So other than the food, there was entertainment. Rather than just talk loudly at the front of the room, there was a microphone with some real special echo feedback. This made the accented English even harder to understand. We had some nurses do an interpretative arm dance to a Chinese song. Michael, our Welsh neighbour, recited a Chinese poem. I had been persuaded to demo some yoga, which drew applause of all things – kinda mortified, had tried to explain that yoga isn’t a spectator sport and all, just glad it’s over. We had a few people sing karaoke – the sound system and the fact that the songs were all Chinese made us clap when they were over. Becky’s headache had her back in the room by the time Santa came. Santa only made it about a quarter of the way around the room before his bag o goodies was gone! We were all back in the room by about 6:30. It was really sweet of the staff and everyone put this party on for us to celebrate Christmas. We miss home and everyone there. Take care and love love to all.
kim
December 25th, 2007
Hey everybody! Things have been pretty good today. Becky went for her ‘bone marrow’ injection this morning. It was a spinal so she was flat on her back again for 4+ hours. Pat went off to the store while we hung out here. He played a little bit Santa Claus and came back with chocolate for me and a coat for Becky! I went out when Pat came back. We were going to try KFC. The cute chinese girl at the counter was really sweet and i pointed to what i wanted as there was no english menu. At one point as she passed the counter, she stopped and said ‘Merry Christmas to you!’ and bowed. too cute. So the chicken wrap thing that Becky had was spicy, as was the chicken burger that Pat had, but it did have flames on the wrapper, so i guess that shouldn’t have been a surprise! The other ‘chicken burger’ thing i had ordered turned out to be a fish burger! And the egg tarts that i had high hopes for? No ham or bacon but they were really sweet! i scooped the custard out and ate the shells, i know gross. then it was another trip to carrefour for me, more cheese! when I got back, Becky said her head was feeling good! The best she has felt in days and days! REALLY happy about that. Maybe her body was just missing its own stem cells and has them back now, so all is good. So everybody, keep your fingers crossed that this continues! We will probably go to bed early, as this is the pattern for us. I bought some Christmas cups that we will have our coffees in tomorrow morning. There is going to be a party tomorrow in the evening, but the day to that point will be a regular day – acupuncture, physio and physio. love love everyone. k
December 24th, 2007
Hey everybody!
I’m sure you are all thinking about what you are going to eat over the next couple days. Us too! It’s Christmas Eve tomorrow for us, and we are thinking of some celebratory KFC (mini quiche egg tarts for me, if there is no bacon or ham in them:)) We had leftover greek salad today and cheese and crackers. For dinner we were going to order some food from one of the less scary places that the hospital has menus for, but apparently they are too busy and won’t be doing any deliveries til after Christmas day. So it was kimchi flavour cup o noodles and instant sweet potato vermicelli. Spicy enough to make your lips tingle! And rounded out with carrot and celery sticks. That was our food intake, what else did we do? We did go out to middle street today. Hailed cabs by ourselves and got there without the presence of our ever helpful Lucy. Although Lucy had written out our destination on a piece of paper for me to show to the cab driver. Not sure if Lucy’s penmanship left something to be desired or if our cab driver was directionally challenged, but I noticed he was at the crossroads for middle street a block ‘east’ of our intended drop off. Not sure where he was planning to take us, but thought it was safer to be let off there than to go on to ‘who knows where?’. After our outing to the wholesale market, prices seemed very very high, and we WERE in some designer-y store. We had a coffee at Starbucks, just to see what it was like. It was not great, expensive and someone really needs to teach the Chinese how to make muffins, they were the skinniest, saddest looking muffins I’d ever seen. And alas, poor Becky’s head was hurting so we didn’t stay out for long. We hailed another cab for an adventurous hair raising ride back to the hospital, dodging and weaving through traffic all the way. Tomorrow Becky has her ’bone marrow’ injection in the morning. She will have to lay flat again for 4 to 6 hours afterwards. I told her that this will put back what’s been missing and making her head hurt for the past couple days! Bex said they will be putting back little bit brains! So after tomorrow all will be good, fingers crossed! love love k
December 23rd, 2007
Becky has had a headache today. She actually has had somewhat of a headache for the past 3 days, but today was bad. She bowed out of acupuncture and physio sessions. It was much worse when she was upright, better when she was laying down in bed. Lucy got the doctor to come when he was out of surgery. He told us that this was something not unexpected, that it would get better, we were not to worry. This did make us all feel better, and we had a quiet day.
I decided to venture out to Carrefour. Some of the orientation paperwork said that there is a Carrefour here. It is a french supermarket – we had a big one in Abu Dhabi in the UAE. Been to WalMart, know what they have and don’t have. Basically i was on a mission for CHEESE!! Not being a meat eater, I am missing cheese BIG TIME. I was really hoping the french would not disappoint. The store was huge, one entire floor was department store stuff but no time for that, — i went to the food floor. More confusing than WalMart, no English signage to tell you what was in each aisle, so it was time consuming. I did find peanut butter!! Major jackpot! And the dairy aisle was a bonanza! Held myself back and only bought 4 kinds of cheese. Sliced gouda, strong and bitey Bega (just a brand of white cheddar, i remember it fondly), some brie and I found a jar of marinated feta, so decided to get all the fixings for a greek salad. Bex’s iv had gone interstitial again today (ugh!!) and at some point we talked about how good (and unattainable) a greek salad would be. i would try to move a mountain to get her what she wanted. No malt or balsamic vinegar and no kalmatas, but we had a pretty darn good greek salad. Being in hospital here is like camping. It’s kind of upscale camping, we don’t have bugs and our clothes are dry, but there are some definite similarities. One big bowl for everything from salad making to laundry, cutting veggies with a swiss army knife - our little fridge is like a cooler full of baggies of leftover stuff, plastic utensils, close sleeping/living quarters, laundry hanging drying… BIG difference, camping usually involves fresh air 
So, Bex said today she is homesick. Hoping for nice weather tomorrow and we will go out to Middle Street. Much love everyone, love hearing from you.
peace, kim
December 22nd, 2007
So there may be a pattern – go out one day and be sick the next. No fevers, thank gawd, but I’m all stuffed up again, sneezed about a thousand times and the energy levels around here for all of us are really low. It was a nice sunny day yesterday when we were out, but today it’s like living in a smoggy smoggy cloud. And the air indoors is barely better. It’s very warm and stuffy in the room and the hallway is a little better, until someone lights up a a fag out in the hallway. We had heard that there was no smoking allowed on this floor, but that’s a rule with no teeth. There is a lot of indoor smoking here, we Canadians are so spoiled. Cigarettes are bad enough, but the cigars, cigarillos are extra stanky. And at least no one is spitting on the floor (at least on this floor, knock wood). A LOT of that outdoors, blech! So we stayed inside today, breathing the least offensive air we could, and had some naps.
Big news!! Bex is a movie star!! Tony and Lucy came in after her morning physio and shot a video of her. Bex really wasn’t ito it, but it was kind of like that offer that you just can’t refuse. They basically shot some demographic stuff, who she is, diagnosis etc, and had her do some demo’s of standing, walking, some manual dexterity stuff. Bex did really well, considering the feeling like butt today, a headache, and having just finsihed acupuncture and physio. Actually the whole thing went quite a bit better than the initial assessment that was done right after we arrived. IMAGINE how she’s going to rock the house down in subsequent videos!!!!
Sorry for the short post, having a little medicinal rum and OJ and am off to bed. Hopefully tomorrow i will be able to put up a longer and more interesting post! love love k
December 21st, 2007
Today we went out! After acupuncture and morning physio, Lucy came with us and we went out to the wholesale market. Bit of a taxi ride and what a place! First floor is all shoes. Hundred and hundreds of little ‘stall’ type stores with shoes, boots, and more shoes – Ariel, my girl, you would go nuts – option paralysis, where do you go first? And you can’t really hedge your bets and think you’ll come back to a certain shop later, cuz there is no way you’d find that shop again later. At least I never would, but then i have zero sense of direction and seem to be missing the shopping gene too. I just don’t care that much. Anyway, second floor is all bags, purses, suitcases, etc. too much. Lots of Chanel, Gucci, Prada and the like, none of it genuine. And there is a lot of bargaining going on. I suck at bargaining, i would really just rather pay a fair price. We will need to go back there before the trip is over because two of our suitcases bit the bullet on the trip here. One of Becky and Pat’s blew the zipper and my big expensive Air Canada suitcase has a bum wheel. It was a real DRAG for the last part of the trip!! bahaha!! ps, haven’t had any beer. and the reason i only have half a one is cuz Pat and I share a big one. You can buy booze at WalMart here. bizarre. Back to our shopping trip… we decided to have something to eat before coming back to the hospital and decided to go to Pizza Hut. Pretty much like a Pizza Hut back home, with some strangeness on the menu like fruit and seafood salad, peaches, prawns and squid, yumma. anyway, the pizza we got was the closest thing to something Canadian that we’ve eaten thus far. Leftovers tonight. Actually i’m having stinky garlic peanuts. How do they make a peanut taste so garlicky while it’s still in the shell? Used to have these in miniature form in the Arabian Gulf. kinda glad i haven’t found them back home.
so now, Bex is having the iv that she missed having while we were awol this afternoon. Her pm physio went very well. She pushed Pat sitting in the wheelchair back to the room. She also marched up the 4 steps into the Pizza Hut when we were out. She’s pretty darn awesome! And we all agree it was really nice to get out of these 4 walls today. We will go to the stores on ‘Middle Street’ maybe on the weekend. It’s a pedestrian only area, no cars, and if Sunday is a nice day like today, then that’s where we’ll be.
Take care all…peace out
kim
December 20th, 2007
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