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
NI HAO (Hello)
It’s Monday morning and we are finally able to to let you all know that we are finally here and settled in for a long 27 days (but who’s counting).
We made it here safely but I would be lying if I ended it with that because you know me there is always a story behind my adventure. So I’m going to share…We made it to the airport fine and my sister assisted me to check in and when we were checking the bags somehow the clerk took my carry on bag and checked it and left the heaviest carry on with Devin’s milk. However by the time I noticed this it was to late and the bag was gone. So, there went all my stuff such as extra clothing, diapers, etc just in case our luggage gets lost. My sisters final words you don’t need that stuff your luggage won’t get lost. So we got to our gate and while we were waiting we realized that I did not have an extra pair of pants in case Devin had an accident on the plane. So I went looking for a pair of pants and luckily asked an information person who directed me to an office where they have donated clothing so I got my pair of pants. Well while I was gone my sister must have told one of the persons at the gate my story because she then moved the person who was sitting next to me so that we would have the 3 seats to ourselves. This was great however the weak stomach I have to food smells our seats are right next to the kitchen so for 15 hours I get to smell a variety of meals along with coffee the whole trip. They then boarded Devin and I at 11:30 and the plan was to depart at 12:15. So we got situated for our long 15 hour flight. Well it is now 1:50 and the plan is just leaving, yes Devin and I have been sitting on the plan for 2hrs and 20 mins. Putting us in Hong Kong at 7:15 p.m. and my connecting flight departs at 7:55 p.m. The flight attendant made arrangements at the gate for us so that we can get to our connecting flight. We are then given Devin’s wheelchair and find out they broke his front tire making the wheel chair unusable. The bolt that held the tire in place is completely broke in half so the only way you could push the wheelchair is by lifting it up on its back wheels and pushing it. If you set the wheelchair down it would fall over because there was no wheel. So, they had to get another wheel chair to transport Devin to the next gate. Well of course by the time we get there we MISSED our connecting flight and that was the last flight for the day and now Devin and I are stuck in Hong Kong mind you with no clothes and a broken wheelchair!!!! United put us up at a hotel right in the airport and got us on a 8:00 am flight the next day. Of course I could go into more detail as I speak no Chinese and have a broken wheelchair. But the important thing is that we made it here safely and Devin was a big trooper through it all.
Today Devin has a lot of evaluations and then from there they will set up a schedule. I can believe all the families that are here. There is 6 from the US, 1 from Italy and 1 from Australia.
Devin wants to say HI to his classmates and to let them know that he flew in an airplane for 15 hours going 7,853 miles at an average speed of 586 mph and was 37,000 feet in the air.
Well this is all I have time for I will post in a couple of days when we are into treatment. Please continue to keep us in your prayers.
Kim & Devin
February 18th, 2008
Well it’s the night before our big trip and we would like to say “Thank You” to all our friends and family for all the love, prayers, support and gifts you have given us. Please keep the prayers going and we will update you when we get settled in. Love Kim & Devin
February 15th, 2008
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January 23rd, 2008
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