Archive for July, 2008
Bradley had his last treatment today!! YEH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! He has made it through his six hours laying and has not felt bad at all. He still needs to take it easy for awhile to avoid headaches. Now we just need to be patient and pray for results. No matter what the outcome is we have no regrets about giving Bradley every chance we can to give him more vision and make his future easier. In the end we pray for Gods will to be done for Bradley’s life because we know this will be the best life for him.
Cheryl cooked all day and everyone just enjoyed fried chicken, mashed potatoes, green beans, broccoli, squash and bread. It was all very good and everyone was thankful to have a meal that reminded them of home. Now we are waiting to hear from family at moms because they are going to let us see the ponies run down the street. It is called Pony Penning for those of you who may not know and it is like a holiday for our little Island.
So we hope to do some sight seeing before we leave to go home. We leave on Sunday and cannot wait!! We miss everyone!!
Love, Amy
July 30th, 2008
Well I have still been a bit of an emotional basket case. Bradley had his 2nd IV injection and it all went really smooth. He felt fine so later that night we went to a near by hotel for dinner. We went with a group of our new found friends and were so happy to have salad!! After dinner I started noticing that Bradley looked pale and had dark circles under his eyes. He said he felt fine but I made him drink alot of water and go straight to bed. This is all I needed to send me off into a worry and I prayed all night…God have we made the wrong decision…please take control of this situation.
When he woke up this morning he looked great and still felt fine. Kirshner had returned to the hospital and she sat down and talked to me for awhile. She assured me that I was not doing anything to hurt my son. That she has personally had the treatment done and her best friend and her best friends daughter. She told me I was doing the right thing for Bradley. It was comforting for me to hear.
Bradley wanted to get out and do something because we had been sitting around the hospital alot lately. So a group was renting a van to go downtown to McDonalds, to a park, and shopping. I never thought I would be so excited to go to McDonalds but I was. Their food is just like home except they have corn on their menu. They have corn everywhere and put corn in everything…corn ice cream…corn under the cheese of your pizza??? Anyway we went and had a great day. Bradley and I went to a DVD/music store and when we went in and said movies they knocked on a wall and took us through a secret door that had American movies…they were only a dollar!! We stocked up and Bradley was able to get a couple of movies that he had been wanting to see but couldn’t because Caleb and Olivia are not old enough to see yet. My camera battery died so I was not able to take any pictures.
Things are looking up and I am feeling better. Bradley only has one more treatment left and that will be on Wed. Then we are on our way home!! I miss everyone and love reading you comments. I have been having a hard time talking on Skype because I get emotional I hope everyone understands. They told us yesterday that the Internet would be down for a couple of days but so far we have been able to get on it.
I wanted to tell you guys a verse I found last night while pray and asking God for guidance. It is one of the same verses that I feel God lead me to when I was praying about coming here.
“Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever!” Ephesians 3:20
Love, Amy
July 26th, 2008
Well we haven’t been out of the hospital for 2 days and to tell you the truth the days are running together and I am not sure what day it is or what I did yesterday. It is raining and the weather is gloomy. Things in the hospital have not been much better. After all of the kids getting sick on Monday, we think because of poor hydration, a couple still have headaches. The little eight year old boy Glen had his first spinal injection yesterday and woke up this morning with a headache that just kept getting worse until finally he was screaming in pain. I felt so bad for his poor mother who whenever would just touch Glen he would scream uncontrollably. You will have to read about it on his blog. It was terrible and they are going home. I now see what people meant when they said “wait until the treatment comes to America and they have worked out all the kinks.” The only problem is it may take years to come to the states and many people believe that as you get older the part of your brain that recognizes vision will fully developed and any new vision gained could not be processed. So for many of us parents we feel like we have not option to wait so many years. I do believe that the stem cells are working but the hospitals here are not like the ones at home and all of the parents are finding inconsistencies in the way they are doing things.
Besides from Bradley feeling bad and vomiting after his treatment the other day, he has made out fine. As of right now I can say in the future we will be waiting for this to come to the states and will not be coming back to China unless we see major major results. Which I am still hoping and praying for. But I need to have patience because I know it will take awhile to see what the true outcome will be.
I do not want anyone to worry at home. I still feel o.k. about everything or I would definately pack up and come right home. I just want other parents who are reading the blogs to be more prepared than I was about what to expect. Pray for us and all the families here and I will try to be more positive next time.
July 25th, 2008
Yesterday after Bradley’s spinal treatment he ended up waking up after about a half an hour which left him with 5 and a half hours left to lay flat on his back. He says it feels like he is in prison when he has to lay still for that long. This time however it was magnified by his feeling nauseous and having a headache. He eventually threw up and was feeling so anxious that I could not keep him laying down for the remaining time. It was not fun!! We called for the doctor but he did not seem too concerned…I guess it is just a side effect of the treatment. A lot of the children who got treatments yesterday ended up getting sick and we all were concerned. After a lot of discussion we decided that the kids were not hydrated enough which is important they say for a successful treatment. Some of the kids IV liquids were started to late and Bradley’s kept backing up and not dripping properly. It is hard to communicate with the doctors and nurses here. We do have interpreters but it is still two different ways of doing things or two different cultures. It is hard to explain. Do not get me wrong the interpreters are great and very helpful I just wish they had someone like Kirshner, an American medical consultant for the company who has a lot of knowledge about the whole treatment, around all the time. She has been here and is coming back while we are still here. Things seem to run much smoother when she is around. Nevertheless, Bradley got up and took a shower and then he felt fine. He went out and chatted for about an hour then came back to the room and fell asleep for the night. He only has one IV and one spinal treatment left. We are on the home stretch!
He was feeling fine when he got up this morning. We hung around the hospital awhile and then went to Cheryl’s hotel room to get showers. When we came back to the hospital a couple of families were going down town to Pizza Hut and to shop. We decided to tag along. We started out at a shop that tailor makes you clothes. You pick your fabric and style that you want and they measure you and make it in a couple of days. It is not very expensive either…things are cheap here. Macie decided to have a dress made and I cannot wait to see it!! Pizza Hut was very nice. They had some stuff on their menu that we would never have at home like fried squid rings, shrimp, etc. We ordered the American special and it was great!! Later we went shopping and Bradley found a transformer store and got a transformer for himself and one for a little boy named Glen. Glen has ONH also and his birthday is tomorrow. He likes transformers too so Bradley and him have been playing with them together.
Well there is some exciting news to report about Macie. She says she is able to read things from father away now!! We are so excited for her! Some of the other parents are saying they can see a difference in Bradley’s eye movements. I do think that when he is focusing he is able to hold his eyes more still. When he is not focusing on something though they do seem to still move quite a bit. Nevertheless we will put our hope and trust in Christ and continue to pray for a healing!!
July 22nd, 2008
Today Bradley had his fourth spinal injection and fifth treatment all together. He was very nervous…they give him something to calm him down during the spinal but that is what makes him the most nervous. I think it is valium and they give it to him through the iv port in his hand. He says it burns very very bad. Bradley is one of the only kids here that does not get knocked out for the spinal. They do not want to sedate the kids so I guess if they don’t freak out they do not put them to sleep…Bradley does freak out…he just does not let anyone know. The sedation only last for a little while anyway…if I understand it right. Macie was so sweet…she walk beside of Bradley’s bed with me while they were wheeling him up to get his treatment. Then she stayed there and talked to him to try to calm him down while he was waiting to go in with the doctors. And she was nervous herself because she was getting a treatment after him. They just brought him back in the room not long ago and he is sleeping. I hope he can sleep for awhile. Now we need to just pray for the stem cells to do what they are supposed too!! Please Jesus…please!!!
I am doing better besides from there being no hot water and the water everyone does have is orange. The translators said they have some one trying to fix it. Thank goodness we can go to the hotel and take a nice shower if we want. The smells around here will knock you out also. I do not think I will ever get use to that.
Yesterday we went to the RT Mart for the first time. Bradley did not want to go but I made him. Bradley said he had been 5 million times already! Macie and her mom Shel went with us. Todd may have told you but it is like a Walmart but bigger and very crowded. Everywhere is crowed around here. We got some groceries and I took some pictures of some of the great things they had to eat. Frogs or turtles anyone. A lot of the stuff we have at our bait shops they are selling to eat!! Squid, eels, grass shrimp, every part of a chicken or duck that you can imagine, pig heads. Shel said this was the first and last time she was taking me to that section of the store so take a good look…lol. We went to KFC there for lunch after shopping. I got a chicken sandwich and when I bit into it it had peas and carrots mixed in with the processed chicken…it was so strange and I could not eat it. So I went to get chicken nuggets and they were dark meat with something orange in them. I didn’t eat them either.
For dinner we went with a bunch of other families to a very nice hotel with a buffet. It was good food like home and I was able to eat! I think we saw some of the Olympic sailors there also…they had sailing shirts on anyway and were not Chinese. They are decorating everywhere for the Olympics. It is neat to see. Well I know everyone is going out in the boat and to the beach and I am very jealous!! Think about me while you are basking in the sun!!!
July 21st, 2008
Hi guys, this is Brad. This is my first blog and I don’t know how Ill do. Anyway sorry that i haven’t actually wrote a blog but I will try to write some more. So i have learned like 10 words in Chinese and i thought it might be cool for you to know them to. Here is everything i know : ni hao- hello or good day, di chin-good bye, xie xie-thanks, bucuchi-your welcome, cun gung dae-very good 12345 ee ar sun sue ooo, and there’s more that i want to learn.
In this adventure we have met some pretty nice people like the translators who are kinda the head of the place when Kirshner is not here. They all take on American names just to make it easier for us Americans. there is Wendy, she is the one who got me the cross necklace for me. Then there is Jack who is pretty funny. One time he asked mom if she wanted to order so food over the webcam. mom said sure. lol There is Jessie who runs the website, and Amanda who once fixed the chain to my cross. I got to meet Kirshner, her son and husband. They are really nice people to. The nurses are very nice and they all call me harry potter. lol. I have made some new friends here to.
My dad just left to go home today and i wanted to thank him for everything and if your reading this dad which you probably will thank you, I’m praying for your safe trip home and it has been fun. your awesome !
OK, the truth is I’m tired of writing so ill end and and say thanks to all of my supporting freinds and family because my eye movements are already slow down. so xie xie!!
July 19th, 2008
Hi everyone, I am in China now dealing with jet lag and having a hard time getting adjusted. A little bit of culture shock and a little anxiety about the whole experience. Todd is currently packing to leave. He has had a great time during his stay and is sorry to leave. I think because of all the great people I am meeting here that things will get better for me soon.
We went to Hot Pots the last night with some other families here. Todd really likes this resturant and all though the experience was cool, I had a hard time eating anything. Actually I haven’t eaten much but haven’t been hungry…nerves and scared of what exactly I will be eating. Cheryl is doing better getting adjusted than I am.
Bradley is also doing great. He loves all the people here and the time just hanging out at the hospital sitting around talking to everyone. As for results from the treatment we have not seen anything yet. Bradley thinks his eye movements are getting better but I have not noticed any change. There have been a couple other children here seeing slight changes already though. We have been told from the beginning that it will probably take up to a six months to a year to see the full results. So we are still praying for a miracle…it is in his hands and he knows what is best for Bradley’s life. Thank you for all your prayers for our family and Bradley.
I will post more when I am brave enough to venture out more and have interesting stuff write. ~Amy
July 18th, 2008
Lets see, I know it has been too long since our last blog, but we have been LAZY!!! I really didnt know what “Lazy”meant but I do now!! ( and I think that its ok once in awhile, LOL) Lets see , we have gone sight seeing, had a big breakfast, Amy and Mew maw(Cheryl) arrived today, YEAH and finished our 4th stem cell treatment.
Thats right Amy and Cheryl(my mom) arrived in Qingdao today. They didnt have any problems coming over, now we have to deal with the jet lag. Cheryl is staying over at the Hotel but Amy fell a sleep in the Hospital. I am going home on Saturday and I hope to be in church on Sunday. I guess Amy is going to be writing the blog Now, I hope You have enjoyed my writing as much as I have writing it.
We have been driving around town and seeing the sights so we decided to walk around the block, a rather large block, or at least a couple of blocks. Before we got done, we stopped to eat lunch and then we went back to the hospital. The 1st pix is of Macie , Shreeya, and Bradley at the local park, it is celebrating the Beijing Olympics and has alot of floats and colorful lights at night. The second pix is some of the Local cuisine, Joey from back home asked us to bring him some Cat on a stick, well Joe we think that we found it, but we dont know how we are going to get it home. LOL !!! ( Sorry Kelly!! )
The 3rd & 4th Pixs are Wednesday morning before all of the stem cell treatments started. (Stem cell treatments are only on Monday, Wednesday and Friday and those patients that are recieving stem cells on those days cant eat 3 to 6 hours before they recive thier treatments so Keith, Garretts Uncle, had a great idea of fixing breakfast for everyone in the stem cell program. A few of us helped out and it turned into a great breakfast. (Kudos to Keith) When we first got here the experienced Families helped out the newbies and now its the newbies turn to pay it forward. I must say that I was following Keiths lead but I am very glad that I did, Everyone really injoyed it.
The Last pix is of Macie and Bradley killing time during thier 6 hours that they have to wait after thier stem cells. Well I moved Bradley into Macies room because Amy was really Tired and needed to sleep. I am thankful for Macie and Her Mom, Shell, because they have been awesome to Bradley while he has been going through the treatments. Time to go. See YALL later
July 16th, 2008
I just found out that the camera that I have been taking all of my pictures with is broken. I am glad that I bought the warranty but my picture taking is going to slow down untill I resolve the issue. It shouldnt take long, but Im not sure what I am going to do.
Today Braden and his father Brad were suppose to take us around in a Van, but Brad ended up getting a stomach ache and stayed home, But Braden and the rest of us still went. 10 of us total,Braden, Bradley,Macie, and Garrett were the kids and Teresa,Don,Kieth,Jenifer,Shell, and myself were the adults. 1st we went to JUSCO which is a mall and the kids got treated to Mickey D’s. They loved it. Then we went to Polar world and saw Penguins, seals, walrus’s,Polar bears, Whales and Dolphins. The had a neat little show and the kids were put on to the teleprompter, it was entertaining. After the long day we stopped for a nice cup of Baskin Robbins to finish off the trip. Again a very nice day.
I am going to go for now but I wanted to make sure we start gearing up for Wednesdays’ Spinal Stem Cell Procedure. Please pray for super duper cells and that God annoints the Doctors as well as the cells so that a maxium effect occurs from this Procedure. We love you very much, Oh yeah, we are getting alot of feed back and i love it, please keep dropping lines to us, they are very incouraging. Sorry if we dont respond but we will get to it sooner or later. Again Thank you. Todd and Bradley
July 13th, 2008
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