Archive for August 18th, 2007
Today was a free day for us as Martin had the day off. After the morning doctors visit, we were free to do what we wanted to do. Dave decided he had better do some form of exercise so we walked three laps around the 20th floor, without leg brace or cane. Today three laps…tomorrow five laps!
We then decided to tour West Lake in Hangzhou, with our neighbors and their baby, Cameron. Of course Johnny came with us to help out in any way. We took a very cool boat ride, then decided to have lunch in an authentic Chinese restaurant. We were seated and looking at the menu but couldn’t recognize anything on it (although Johnny said the one entree would taste like chicken but he couldn’t explain what it was).Our cautiousness got the better of us and we left without eating. Pizza Hut was calling our name so we had quite a feast there.
After such a long day out in the extreme heat, we both fell asleep by 5:00 pm. Of course we awoke at our usual 3:00 am waking hour. Hopefully, by the end of our trip, we will be able to sleep completely through the night!
August 18th, 2007
Today was a regular day of therapies. Martin is really pushing Dave in physical therapy, which is a good thing. After that session Dave needed and deserved a little rest.
We are very impressed with the doctors and nurses here. They are very knowledgeable and very caring individuals. Their sense of humor is pretty fun. Dave is somehow known as the very big, hairy, humorous American. You may have noticed that all of the doctors and nurses have American names. They use these names so that we foreigners can remember them. However, they are all Chinese and many of them speak English pretty well. For those who have a difficult time with English (and those of us who have a difficult time with Chinese), an interpreter is always available to help us bridge the communication gap!
Today we decided to immerse ourselves into the Chinese culture. Leaving our “provisions” in our room…we ventured out to KFC for lunch and then we visited Pizza Hut for dinner!
August 18th, 2007
Today, after doctors reviewed Dave’s MRI, it was decided that he would be getting one IV injection of stem cells and three spinal injections of stem cells. The IV injection took about 45 minutes and went really well, with no side effects. This injection sends the stem cells throughout the body. The spinal injections send the stem cells directly to the brain for the central nervous system. Another session of acupuncture was done, this time we played music which helped in making Dave more relaxed. The electric wave therapy went well and there was no physical therapy today due to the stem cell injection. One thing we did notice today was that the color of Dave’s feet was that of a normal color. For many years now his feet have been purple due to poor circulation. Today, we were happy to see them looking so normal. We actually saw blood vessels pulsating in his feet as the blood was being pumped. Something is definitely working to have this positive effect!
August 18th, 2007
