Red Hair Salon
Add comment May 30th, 2007
Posts filed under 'ms'
Wednesday, May 30, 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
Add comment May 30th, 2007
Friday, May 25, 2007
I’ve had a very busy day today. I got up this morning and walked to KFC around the corner to get coffee and the wonderful sesame balls that I love so much. It’s probably a couple of miles — really amazing for me. Then I came back and went to acupuncture & exercise. At exercise my balance was really better and I actually balanced on the wabble board while pitching the medicine ball back and forth. I did both fast and slow. My doctor said I was walking and balancing better. The computer program that I do to train my muscles is very hard. After a few minutes, you get extremely tired and your back hurts where it pulls when you lift your leg. But, I am tryng my hardest, and I do tink it’s getting a little better.
This afternoon Jason and I are going to the Red Hair Salon for a shampoo and massage. They shampoo your hair by putting shampoo in it and massaging for around 30 minutes. Then they rinse the shampoo out and massage your head, neck, arms and back. This is all before they cut or style your hair. It’s amazing. It took Shouhua 2 hours to get a haircut when he did it. It will feel so good to get the neck and back massage — I’m a little tense. My last routine day of acupuncture and exercise for this week is tomorrow (Saturday) and Sunday is a free day. A bunch of us are going to the nice hotel across the street for Cantonese Chinese food. It’s probably closest to the Chinese food we have in the US. Then we’re going to Luo Hu Shopping Center by the train station for shopping. It’s a 3 story shopping center and they have all kinds of knock offs and really neat souveniers. Can’t wait.
I’ll post when I can. I’m planning on taking more pictures of the city too.
Love,
Betty
Add comment May 25th, 2007
