Archive for February, 2008
Danny we’re so sorry that we can’t be there to celebrate your official 1st birthday. We hope you have a great one and we thought about you all day. Happy 4th birthday we miss you!!!
Devin of course was another big trooper with his last IV treatment. He gave a couple of temper screams and then was fine for the rest of the treatment. He is very tired but will not go to sleep so I’m sure after we are done blogging it will be supper and then to bed. However, I would like to keep him up a little longer tonight because we have the whole weekend off so we don’t have to get up early tomorrow but if he goes to bed by 7:00 I’m sure we will be up by 6:00 at the latest.
Devin wants to say “HI” to all his friends at school and he sure does miss them all. You don’t have to worry though he continues to practice his “HI’S” with everyone here:) Including everyone in the elevator, at the store, on the streets. You know him Mr. Friendly.
Today, was a Jenna day. We watched her portrait DVD several times over today until Devin told me it was enough:(
Well I really don’t have much more to tell you today and I just asked Devin what he wanted to say and he said “Good Bye” “Good Bye” as he can barely hold his head up so I guess that means it’s time to go. I don’t think he’s even going to make it through his Mac & Cheese by the way he looks.
Have a great Leap Day as we are going to bed and that means another day down and only 16 more to go!!!
Kim & Devin
February 29th, 2008
Wow, thanks for all the comments today…It really made our day…we like reading about your days just as much as you like the adventures we are having. I know your going to say your stuff is boring but not to us so Thanks.
Today was another beautiful day even though the staff here does not think so. We get in trouble for going outdoors everyday because they think it’s cold and we are going to get sick but we just ignore them and still go out because it was another sunny 50+ day. Devin had another good day and was walking up a storm tonight to where I told him he was killing me and of course he just laughed his head off. I sure do miss his walker and bike!!!
Well we tried to be adventurist again today and Devin, I and another mom (Julie) with her son Mark went to get a manicure today. OK, so I and Julie were getting the manicure and Devin and Mark were just tagging along. Well another shocker, only get a manicure in the US!!! If you have ever gotten a manicure from a Chinese place in the US don’t think it’s going to be the same here. Lets just say I did have nails before I went. That’s right there was no pampering and the guy took my hand and basically got a razor blade out and cut off all my nails and then gave a gesture that he was finished!!! It’s a good thing he didn’t know English!!! So, that was my manicure, cut off fingernails. No corners trimmed or hands rubbed with lotion and cuticles pushed back or even painted. Just my nails were cut as low as they could go…yes Brenda they are about as short as yours (just kidding). It’s a good thing it only cost me $2.00 US dollars and no I did not give a tip.
Hillary – Trust me I already thought about bringing home some of the Bud. Actually, for us there is a lot of inexpensive stuff. I bought 3 oranges the other day at the mart and all 3 of them cost me $0.55 (US $) and the 4 banana’s were $0.75(US $). It’s the American stuff that cost the same as the US. But, what is really funny is that the American stuff does not taste exactly like it as home. For example, the Lay’s potato chips are not as salty and do not taste as good just like the Pringle’s. They are better at home. The only thing that tasted really good was the BUD!!!!
Julie & Gary- Thanks for taking care of my other two at home. That dinner sure did sound good!!!
Tomorrow (Friday) Devin is going to get his last IV stem cell treatment. This means 3 down and 3 spinals to go!!!
Well time to go Devin his telling me he is hungry and he wants Ramon Noodles for supper:)
Have a great Thursday we’ll be thinking about you in our sleep:)
Kim & Devin
February 28th, 2008
Hello,
Well today was just another day. I told Devin we are starting to feel like the movie Ground Hog Day. Devin, did a really good job in therapy today because I told his therapist he does not like the noise so we went to another room where it was just us and he worked really hard. Then from therapy he stood in the stander for 30 minutes and then he was tired. He has been really tired lately and the doctors say you either get a lot of energy with the stem cells or you are really tired so he took another nap at lunch time. He then had his electrical wave therapy and then we took another walk outside. Very nice day today the sun was out and it was in the 50′s. (Sorry had to rub it in)
Some people are always wondering what time it is for us and I guess I never told you that we are 14 hours ahead of you. So, as we are writing this blog at 4:30 in the afternoon on Wednesday you are all sleeping as it is 2:30 in the morning on Wednesday.
Devin and I did order Chinese food today. We had a three vegetable (carrots, peas & broccoli) dish with white rice and actually it was really good. They gave us so much food that it is more than enough for 2 meals and it cost $11.00 RMB that means it cost me $1.70 of US money. Can you believe that!!!! Also, another thing you won’t believe it that they don’t know what fortune cookies or crab meat rangoon’s are!!!! So, when I promised some of you that I would bring you home a fortune cookie I lied. I guess I should have brought them with me to give our here.
The only funny story I have today and you have to picture it. Every time we go for a walk we also find humor in the what we see. Today there was a man on his bike with a little wire basket on his handle bars and inside the basket was this little baby sitting in it with her mom running beside the bike. It’s just one of those things that you would just have to see to image and I tried to get a picture but by the time I got the camera they were to far away (maybe next time).
Also, will one of you that is reading this blog please let Mrs. Casey know that we are thinking about her and hope she is doing well. Devin also told me that he really misses all of his friends at school and he says “HI” to everyone and he can’t wait to get back to school. Also, when I mentioned school he kept repeating Turkey so yes Chris I guess he misses you too and then when I mentioned Pam he let out a big YEAH!!!
That’s it for the day have a great Wednesday as ours is just about over and we only have 18 days to go:)
Kim & Devin
February 27th, 2008
Hello,
Well we survived!!!! The procedure itself went well. Devin left his room at 2:30 and he was back in his room at 3:15 wide awake. I was hoping he would have still been a little sleepy but not a chance. They only sedate him long enough for the procedure therefore it made the 6 hours very challenging to say the least but we made it through.
Today his spirits were good and no side effects so that was great except at therapy he really didn’t want to work to hard and seemed a little tired. But then again being in the therapy room today you needed a calgon moment. Image being in a room where there was a little Romania girl who had a good set of lungs on here (screaming the whole session), the mother yelling at her in Romania, the Chinese speaking Chinese and then us speaking English. No wonder why Devin went into lock down. I was about ready to scream myself!!!! So after therapy he did take a 1 hour nap and then he had his electrical wave therapy and then we went outside for a walk for about an hour. It was a little chilly and windy today we lost our 60′s weather:(
Well, that’s all I have to report today. I wish I had some news to give you however, with Devin’s condition it will take up to 2 weeks to 2 months before we see change and we will be home by then.
I sure hope all that snow gets out of its system before we get home.
Thanks for all the prayers and comments. Devin gets a kick out of me reading them to him.
Have fun in the snow:)
Kim & Devin
February 26th, 2008
The pizza party last night was a nice time. Although we only had 4 families we enjoyed listening to each others stories. Also, you know me it’s not a pizza party without beer!!! We went to the mart and the only selection I had was Chinese beer, Heineken or Budweiser. I played it safe and got the Budweiser. The only problem is you would think being around two you couples I could at least get one of the guys to have a beer but NO neither one drinks!!! So, luckily the new family from Florida Mom, son named Trey and her mom and dad showed up with beer so the four of us had a cocktail or two. Me I only had one because the Budweiser can was 24 ounces and I wasn’t going to take any chances. The can of beer cost me $5.90 RMB’s which is around $0.70 cents of US money. It broke me but it was worth it. (HA HA) We all called it quites about 8:00 and I’ll tell you what I think I’m going to have a beer a night because we both went to sleep at 8:30 and did not move until 4:30 and then woke about 6:30. I felt like a new person with that kind of sleep.
Today, was a pretty slow day a lot of people went out site seeing but I took it safe and stayed back today since tomorrow is Devin’s 1st spinal I didn’t want to take any chances. The last thing I need is to get Devin sick and the people outside like to get in your space and also like to get touchy with your kids so I didn’t want that today. Plus, we have 3 more weekends to sight see!!
Please keep us in your prayers Sunday night that all goes well with Devin on his spinal. They don’t schedule stem cell treatments until the afternoon so if your child is scheduled for spinal then that means they can’t eat or drink anything 6 hours before the treatment (so nothing after 8:00 am/treatment at 2:00) and six hours after the treatment. Plus the hardest part is that Devin has to lay flat for 6 hours after the spinal and they only have him sedated during the procedure. So it is up to me to keep him flat the next 6 hours. He can lay on his back or side but he can not raise his head. So, please keep your fingers crossed that all goes well. I think I will be needing a beer that night. Good thing I bought a six pack!!!
Since our afternoon and night will be busy I will not be able to post to tell you how it went until the next day. Therefore, there will be no posting on Monday morning for you. Sorry, you have to go a day without your soap opera (One Day at a Time in China):)
Talk to you soon,
Kim & Devin
February 24th, 2008
Today was just another normal day. PT, Standing Therapy and then Electrical Wave Therapy. Tonight the family next to me (Jenna, Terry & daughter Laylah) are organizing a Pizza Party so that everyone can meet each other. Since, I have been here 2 families left and three more showed up. We now have 7 from the USA, 3 from Romania and 1 from Australia.
Unfortunately, I really don’t have much to report today on us therefore I’m going to tell you about a miracle I witnessed this week. One of the families here has a 9 month old boy Justin who is blind. His only issue is blindness and he received his first IV treatment on Monday and on Tuesday his parents told us he followed a toy. We were all in shock and then on Wednesday the doctors confirmed he had vision. I was with them on Thursday and Mom put the bottle close up to his eyes and he noticed the bottle, grabbed it and put it in his mouth. I was in disbelief and then the Dad told me that on Friday Justin was laying in his crib and he was watching his hands like little babies do. Is this cool or what!!! He had his second treatment on Friday so I can’t wait to see the results from this one. The doctors are amazed by the quickness but they say because of his age (being a baby yet) and he only has optical damage all the cells from his first treatment went right to the issue and started fixing it. I can’t believe they can cure blindness but they can. So far 9 kids have been treated for blindness and all of these kids have some sort of vision. Today on this floor 5 out of the 7 families from the US are here for blindness.
Well that’s all we have to report today. Kind of a boring day so hopefully the Pizza Party will bring some excitement to our day.
Have a great Saturday and stay warm as I know we are 
Love you all,
Kim & Devin
February 23rd, 2008
Last night was really neat because it was the last day of the Chinese New Year Celebration. Yes, they celebrate the new year for 15 days. Could you imagine that in the USA. Well for the last night they started shouting off Fireworks at 6:00 and it wasn’t in just one spot. From our room which remember is on the 20th floor we could see 4 different spots of fireworks. They did this for 2 hours straight and they weren’t just small fireworks!!! So we were able to just sit in our beds and look out the window and watch. Then after the 2 hours they continued lighting them off throughout the night up until midnight. Boy and we’re lucky if we get a 30 minute show at home!!!!
Well we did it-we ordered from McDonalds today and yes the fish was the same as home. I don’t know if that is really anything to brag about a fish sandwich from McDonalds but it was edible however by the time the food got to us the fries were a little cold so Devin was to pleased.
Not much to report today because Devin had the day off however, I still took him to the therapy room to do standing therapy since it is something I could do with him. We did go outside today and took a walk in the park with another family. The park is across the street from the hospital. The biggest adventure for that is crossing the street. People drive crazy around here and don’t care if you are crossing or not. If you want to picture us crossing a street here in China just picture us in Frogger. At least that’s what it feels like for us when we are crossing:) The park itself was pretty and I did learn a lot today. They do wash their clothes right in the creek that was next to the park and the water if you can believe it is worse than the Mississippi. However, we saw about 4 people doing their laundry. We just hope that is not how our laundry is being done. I would like to think not as my whites did come back white however it wasn’t bounty fresh by no means. Thank goodness I have plenty of body spray with me. The next thing I did learn is yes the babies/toddlers do where split outfits. These little children are playing in the park and here they are with thick pants on and a slit right between there legs. No, I did not see a child putting the split to use however you know why it was there and no they did not have a diaper on. They do sell diapers at the RT Mart except on those that can afford diapers will by them and those that can not afford diapers wears the split pants. Well these are the two things I learned today.
Also, we found out today that Devin will have his 2nd treatment on Monday and this one will be spinal. The differences between the 2 is that the IV treatments the cells go all over the body to do its job. The spinal goes straight to the brain to do its job and since Devin’s damage is in the brain we are unfortunately going to want to do more spinals than IV’s.
Devin says this message is for the real turkey-(thanks Chris every time I read your comments to Devin and say turkey he only repeats it about 20 times laughing every time). I’m still working on your question the translator I asked today did not have a clue what I was asking so I will continue searching for an answer.
Hope everyone has a good Friday.
Love you all and thanks for keeping in touch:)
Kim & Devin
February 22nd, 2008
Hello,
After Devin’s busy day yesterday he fell asleep at 6:30 and did not wake up until 6:30 this morning and yes I was right behind him. The alarm clock had to wake us up this morning and that is a first. Devin realized today that he needed that extra sleep as he had a very busy morning. He had PT, standing therapy and then Electrical Wave Therapy all before noon. The downfall was that we had the rest of the day off and for some reason he has tomorrow also along with Sunday. We really don’t have much to say today except that it was warm and sunny and tomorrow it is suppose to be 65. We ventured out today to the RT Mart and it was beautiful actually a little warm for the way we were dressed. (Don’t mean to rub it in, but since I’m here I should have one good thing over all of you)
Devin’s class: Devin says “HI” and still misses all of you. I don’t think my “home schooling” is as much fun as school itself. I think Devin has already fired me a couple of times. We are in the city of Hangzhou (Hung Jo) and the Great Wall of China is in Beijing which is way north so we wouldn’t be able to visit. The chop sticks are taking a little rest for when we get daring next week and order out. Actually we probably could have used them today with our Ramon Noodles!!! Yeah sorry everyone no PB&J today. We are going to give McDonald’s a try tomorrow and get the Fish sandwich for lunch since it’s lent. See I was just playing it smart and waited until everyone else tried all the food to know what was safe or not. Since it’s just me here I can’t take any chances of getting sick!!! Everyone else has somebody so they can be the ginnie pigs.
Well I don’t have much to say today and the only story I can come up with is when we were leaving the RT Mart the bottom floor has clothing stores and as I was walking by this kids store there was a rack by the entrance with sweaters on it and believe it or not one of the sweaters was the same sweater I bought Jenna at Target this winter.
February 21st, 2008
Devin sure had a busy day today…
As we were heading to PT today we were told Devin had to have a medical examination done instead which consisted of an ECHO of his heart and then a CT Scan. They actually thought he would lay still for this and they could get a CT Scan done without relaxing him. (NOT) So this morning we only got the ECHO done. So this was his schedule:
ECHO, Standing Therapy, Eat, Sedative, Sleep (not), CT Scan with mom holding his head still since the Sedative did not work , then to Stem Cell and he finished with Electrical Wave Therapy and now he is blogging. It will be an early night tonight.
The Stem cell treatment actually went really well because the sedative may not have made Devin sleep but it did relax him so he did a really good job. The whole process took about 40 minutes and we were with two other kids so the time went quick.
I know all of you are always looking for that funny story so today’s will be experiencing the rest of the hospital. Because if you all know the 20th floor that we are on is set up for American standards per say. What is done on the 20th floor is not how the rest of the hospital operates. One example is that it is pretty scary walking by someone who is smoking next to an oxygen tank. That’s right it is common for smoking in hospitals in China and you thought a bar smelled bad (Got you beat)!!!
Brittney -Thanks for the LOL it worked. I don’t have to worry about running out of PB&J it’s the bread I’m going to run out of as I only have 1 loaf left.
Lynn- Thanks for the reminder of Mannies like I’m not already thinking of foods you had to mention that:)
Devin’s Classmates- He really misses all of you and we look through his photo book everyday to bring a smile to his face. He loves when I read the comments you gave him. Pam, Devin wants you to know that we are vegetarian’s for a month so you don’t have to worry about us eating any meat!!!
Now I don’t want you all to get the wrong impression. The staff and the families are all really nice. The families just never want to leave the 20th floor that’s all. We certainly do miss everyone (especially one little girl) who I can never forget because the mom that is next to us her name is Jena and she has a 7 month old little girl named Laylah. So, I’m always getting my baby fix even though it’s not the same it works. She is so cute and every night at about 1:00 I wake up to hearing her coo and giggle it is music to my ears.
I hope everyone is doing great and thanks for your prayers and comments they put a smile on our face.
Well, Devin is starting to get very tired and I can’t find spell check on this computer because I’m using a different one and I don’t have time to go back and proof read so if something does not make sense just blame it on these dumb key boards we get to use and the busy day I had.
Love you all,
Kim & Devin
February 20th, 2008
Hello,
Well it’s Tuesday afternoon and I have good news we got Devin’s wheelchair fixed and also have his schedule for the week which is Therapy from 9:00 to 10:00, then standing therapy from 10:00 to 10:30 and then Electrical Wave Therapy from 2:00 to 3:00. Devin will have his 1st IV treatment Wednesday afternoon so keep your fingers crossed that Devin will cooperate as he is catching on that this trip is not all fun and games. My concern is that the older he gets he is going to out strengthen me!!!
We ventured out today to go to the RT Mart which is like a Wal-Mart. I thought it would be nice to get some fresh air so we decided to walk to the RT Mart. Well fresh is not what you would call it. The town is full of smog and stinks!!!! Even on a sunny day it looks cloudy. Then I can’t even start to explain the RT Mart. I don’t know about you but I have never been in a store where they have dead carcass hanging around along with live frogs, snakes, turtles, etc. where you pick and they kill right in front of you. The smell of the place is still stuck in my nose!!! The weather is about 45 so that is nice and no we have not eaten any food out yet. I’m on my 3rd PB&J sandwich for the week and Devin has had a lot of goldfish crackers & mac & cheese. However, the other parents here have told me I am safe with McDonald’s as that is American food imported and Pizza Hut does offer an American Cheese pizza. The one mom had Chinese food the other day and just the look and smell of it she threw it out.
Also, can you believe that Devin and I are here in China and on the same floor there is 3 of us from Wisconsin. One of the translators here is from Milwaukee and there is another family from Wisconsin so I have been told but have not met them yet to find out what part of WI. Also, another family is from MN. What a small world!!!!
Well that’s all I have for you today. I will post after Devin receives his first treatment.
Kim & Devin
February 19th, 2008
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