We had a going away pizza party for one of the families here in the hospital. It was a welcome relief from the usual boredom. We can’t leave the hospital for too long because of the doctor visits in the morning 9:00 to 10:00 and then therapy and acupuncture in the afternoon. The weather has been cold and a little wet the past few days. Highs are around 40 degrees so we don’t want to go out much anyway. Right now it is 36 and starting to snow. We went to a very fancy restaurant close to here (more Chinese food of course – yum). It was very elaborate inside but surprisingly not expensive at all.Carl’s light perception is still improving slowly. It gets a little better every day. Still not seeing any movement, shadows or colors but Carl seems to think it won’t be too much longer if things keep improving. Carl has the bladder of a 6 year old girl. When he gets the stem cell treatment he also gets 2 pints of fluid in an IV. He went to pee twice before the treatment and still had to get up 5 times during the 6 hours he was supposed to be lying flat. That is probably why he got a headache this time. He is doing fine now this morning. (click on the pictures for a larger view)
January 15th, 2008
Carl just had his 4th stem cell injection and is doing great! He has had 3 spinal and 1 IV stem cell injection. He said he can visualize a bigger area of light now when the sun is coming up…he still cannot see anything but he has light perception which is more than he did have. He is not enjoying the acupuncture (he wants to strangle the tech-see below) but we all think it is helping him. They have been trying to find the McDonald’s but not sure they were ever able to locate it (Paul must really be desperate if he wants to eat there)! They said they did get some sweet and sour pork that was not too bad but it did not have the sweet sauce on it. They are meeting lots of friends there from all over the world that are there with their children mainly. (Click on the picture for a larger image).
January 14th, 2008
Paul just reported that the doctor had just come in to do the regular eye exam on Carl, where they close the blinds and they shined a flashlight in Carl’s eyes…he could barely see a flicker of the light out of the corner of his right eye (the first flicker of real light in 4 years)! They said his pupils were definitely changing and they were different than before! As you can imagine Carl is very ecstatic after just getting his 2nd stem cell treatment! This is a true miracle…stay tuned for more updates!
January 8th, 2008
Latest email from Paul: They went shopping on Saturday and Sunday they went on a long hike:
We went to see a monument that looks like the Washington monument on a small mountain top about 2 miles from the hospital. We had to walk around to the back side of the hill to get to the steps so it is probably 6 or 7 miles round trip. There are 728 steps going up the hill. Carl didn’t complain a bit but we had to make several rest stops on the way up. On the way back, we stopped to get some lunch at a place called UBC coffee house. I thought it would be a simple cafe but when we got inside it looked very high class. I ordered a dish called crispy pigeon. It sounded good at the time but what I got was not crispy, not even warm and I don’t think it was pigeon. It was like a half of a small chicken that had been boiled and chopped up (bones included). It was not edible. Carl got the fried cod dinner which consisted of some kind of fish steaks that instead of being filleted it was sliced through the center of the fish and pan fried with the bones in. We got some fried spring rolls that were some kind of sweet purple stuff wrapped around some green paste stuff and dipped in some light crispy batter then fried. Of course it was served with ketchup. Carl said “this sux”. Carl did get what I think was vegetable soup with his meal that was good and a glass of white wine that tasted like a good grade of gasoline. We ended up spending about $30 US. We have decided not to complain anymore about the greasy chinese food that we get delivered to the hospital. It is reasonably good, about $4 and feeds us both for 2 meals with food left over.
January 7th, 2008
Carl says he is seeing false flashes of lights like never before. He still cannot see light from a flashlight shined in his eye but he says something is very different. He says that everything is now gray instead of black. He is getting excited and hoping he will start seeing any second now but knows it will take awhile before the stem cells can start to grow.
January 6th, 2008
Carl has had one spinal stem cell injection this week. He said the hard part was that he had to be very still for six hours afterwards. He is receiving the electrotherapy/ acupuncture every day except on the stem cell injection day. He is seeing the firework effect (flashes) so he thinks something is happening. Carl is becoming quite the photographer. Below is a picture of the hospital and pictures of the stem cell staff. It is quite cold there but they are trying to get out and walk every day. This weekend, they plan on walking several miles to some type of monument/temple that has hundreds of stairs to climb. They can be gone for longer periods of time since Carl has no treatments scheduled over the weekend. Stay tuned for further updates on Carl’s miracle waiting to happen!
January 4th, 2008
They are 14 hours ahead of us so they are having a hard time adjusting to the time change. Their hospital room is pretty nice, it’s on the 20th floor and is very modern. Their floor consists of people from US, Australia, Canada, from everywhere and some Chinese people (that were born and raised and lives in the US) that are there for stem cell treatments for various problems (brain injuries, paralysis, etc). Paul has a double bed in the room and a regular hospital bed for Carl (Paul said he looked at the mattress and it is indeed a box spring that he is sleeping on as the Chinese believe this is supposed to be good for the back but Paul and Carl do not agree – Carl was smart he had Vickie get him an air mattress he could blow up). They have a semi-normal bathroom, a TV (all China news), small refrigerator, microwave, Ozarka water fountain, phone and internet connection for Paul’s laptop. They have found an awesome grocery store nearby with great fruit (flown in from the Philippines) and pastries. They had a traditional chinese breakfast which consisted of noodles in a chicken broth. Carl did pretty well with the chopsticks! Also they have found a KFC (they only had sandwiches – no fried chicken parts like here in the USA) and Pizza Hut that they like as well. We are able to communicate with them over the computer with a program called Skype and we can talk as long as we like and it is free! Anyone can download this program skype.com and search for Paul Clevinger to talk to them (if they are online – which it will show you if they are online). Carl has had some blood tests and an EKG. He also received an acupuncture treatment where they had about 10 needles surrounding the eyes and through the thumbs and forefinger. They were hooked up to some sort of electrical pulses that stimulate the nerves which Carl said it hurt and felt like he was getting shocked. Also after they pulled the needles out it was bleeding quite a bit. The good news is Carl said that his blackness he was seeing is now a lighter shade of black after that acupuncture treatment. They have to now wait for the blood results to come back before they start the stem cell treatments on Wednesday. They have to match the stem cells with Carl’s blood. Stay tuned for further developments! It’s Carl’s Miracle Waiting to Happen!!! Happy New Year to all!
(See pictures below) – view from hospital window, crazy fruit, and acupuncture treatment
December 30th, 2007
Carl and Paul left Houston at 9:15pm tonight – Dec. 25th, as scheduled. They are flying to L.A. where they board Air China flight to Beijing and then on to Hangzhou.
They will arrive in Hangzhou at 9:50am on Dec 27th (Hangzhou time) they are 14 hours ahead of our time here – so 7:50pm our time on Dec.26th.
December 24th, 2007
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