Betty’s MS Blog

Wednesday, May 30, 2007

May 30th, 2007

Last night we said goodbye to Liri & Jeff. Liri is from Boston and Jeff is from North Carolina. Everyone cooked and we had a celebration with lots of food & wine (no wine for stem cell patients – just lots of toasting). We laughed a lot, took lots of pictures (I’ve attached a few.) We’re really going to miss them – they were so much fun. Liri’s father is Papau – he said he’s Big Papau & Jason is Little Papau because they’re both “cookers”. You can see on the pictures — we really eat WELL! We are planning on keeping in touch so we can follow each other’s progress.

After our celebration, we all walked (or rolled for some) to the Red Hair Salon. You lie on a table that has a shampoo bowl at the end of it and they shampoo your hair, massage your head, clean your ears (a little strange at first), clean your face, and give you a full body massage. The whole process lasts about 1-1/2 hours and costs 25 yuan (around 3.25 US). It’s unbelieveable – a little piece of heaven in China. Liri said it’s better than sex because it lasts 1:30. We were like the escapees from the stem cell ward. There was so much laughing and joking, it was hard to relax. If you can imagine – seven of us in a row, getting all of this done at the same time. Cherrie & Dora from Baike (the bio company that does the stem cells) were with us so we had translations from English to Chinese and vice versa. So funny! It was a perfect send off. Liri said it was the cherry on top of the sundae. Even Papau got a haircut! It was his first experience like this and he was so funny.

Veronica is coming tomorrow. Jason is going by ferry to Hong Kong to spend the day and sightsee and he will pick up Veronica at the airport at 6:30. The hospital van will drive them here and then Jason will leave Friday. Time just seems to be flying by. Since Jason doesn’t like to shop (what man does?) it’ll be fun to shop with Veronica.

I have my 4th stem cell injection on Friday. It will be a spinal, so I’ll be flat on my back again. I’m trying to pace myself and not overdo the exercise. If I go all out – it takes me 1-2 days to recover, so I’m going to try to do less muscle exercise – and slowly build up my stamina. This is my hardest problem. I’m so used to going all out- I hate to stop. But I really pay for it when I don’t. Jason checked my eyes again today and they seem to be so much better – my right eye doesn’t jump at all and the left only when I get to the peripheral vision (FAR LEFT). I hope it keeps improving. That has been so amazing for me. To actually be able to see and not feel like I’m in a fog or dizzy and not able to focus. I have been walking to/from the Red Hair Salon, Jason & I went to the Hotel across the street for Cantonese style Chinese food and I was actually able to walk up around 30 steps (with no rails to hold on to) and go down them! Dorie/Suzy can you believe that?

I’m closing for now. Email when you can – I enjoy hearing from all of you.

Love,

Betty

Entry Filed under: ms