Wow I am so behind in my regular work and my emails right now so let me say a public “I am sorry for my lack of timely response to any and all who have not yet had a reply to their emails to me”. I will get to each and everyone as soon as I can.
I am not getting much sleep these days. I get up around 4:30 am to read and answer as many emails as I can and get done what ever work I can before going into the hospital. My days in the hospital are long and very full. I am in meetings or doing interviews on camera with the patients and families most of the day.
Last night , Sunday evening, we had a big party in the common room for all the patients and their families. The weather here has been cold and rainy thus everyone has been forced by the chill in the air to stay inside. So Alf and Jonny and I took a car and driver and went about 25 minutes away from the hospital into the main city of Hang Zhou in search of some real American food for everyone. Our destination was a Subway Sandwich shop which is too far away for the patients to ever go to or order food in from. There we bought a bunch of subs and fresh made brownies. Our other stop was of course a large market here called Carefour where we obtained a nice selection of beer. I also purchased a speaker system with an Ipod dock so that we could have some good old tunes for our party. That speaker and Ipod dock will be left in the common room now for future use by our clients as they often have social gatherings and I thought that music would add a nice feature for such events. So for those of you coming over be sure to load your tunes on your Ipods and bring it with you.
The party turn out was great and a welcome reprieve for those here from the boredom that had set in. Everyone brought out special food items that they had been saving for such an occasion and thus we had plenty to eat and of course plenty of beer to drink. It turned out very well and for a time it almost felt like being back home at any social gathering. Everyone seemed to enjoy the break and the chance to really talk with eachother. I certainly had fun chatting with the families. Such a wonderful group of folks here and some really special and delightful kids.
My Monday morning began at 5am with emails and other work on my laptop until 8am. Then I got myself together, made a few phone calls and arrived at the hospital by 10:00 for a meeting with the entire staff.
Items on the agenda: included such things as phasing out the 18th floor. We will soon be booking most of the adults into our brand new location in Qingdao and reverting back to using Hang Zhou primarily as a pediatric unit which is what it was set up as in the beginning. I will write more on Qingdao later.
I also told the staff how very proud I am to have them and what a wonderful job they are doing. They are truly an exceptional group of people! The quality of care and service they provide to those that come here is indeed nothing short of outstanding. In addition I wanted to give them some feedback and updates on those that had been here and let them know how the patients were doing. I included many stories of the children and the adult patients. They so enjoyed hearing about all the wonderful improvements that have been gained as a direct result of their work. I know being a nurse that it is our greatest reward to know that we as medical care providers have indeed helped others to lead fuller lives. They do not often get the chance to know what happens to the families once they leave China and I really wanted to share this with them. I can not even begin to tell you of all the smiles and laughter that filled the room as I told them of the results of their work.
I also gave them a detailed account of how the littlest and youngest patient they have treated was doing. This of course was the 3 week old baby boy from the USA who is now the youngest child, to my knowledge, to ever receive a stem cell transplant as he had his first one at the age of just 4 weeks here in Hang Zhou. They were overjoyed to hear the news of him and to know how well he is doing now. He really touched so many of their hearts as I am sure you can imagine all babies do. You can read more about him on my personal blog if you like.
I also covered all the children with ONH/SOD who have been here thus far and how they are doing. I shared with them the results and improvements each child has made. In addtion I included at least one personal and fun story about each child as their families have related them to me. Again the staff was very keen to know how the kids are doing now that they are back home.
Lastly we all watched the Wealth TV Special which aired nation wide in the US back in December. I paused the show every few minutes so that Dr. Mike could translate for the staff. If only you could have seen their faces as they watched, it was a wonderful sight. Nancy, the head nurse, of course was very surprised to see herself on the television and everyone clapped for her and told her she was now a famous star!
It was wonderful for me to just sit and watch their faces as they watched a show about themselves and their work. Just as I do they take great care and pride in helping others and knowing their work is changing the lives of so many is indeed the greatest reward.
So for today that is all she wrote as it is getting late here in China and I have yet another long day ahead of me in the morn.
I have attempted to load some photos on here but appearently my blondeness is getting in the way of my ability to do so. I will try again one last time and if I do not succeed then I will have to call upon the services of Alf to assist me as he is rather more “techy” than I.
So goodnight from China.
Love Kirshner
Wow, what a blog! I mean, you just have so much guts to go ahead and tell it like it is. Youre what blogging needs, an open minded superhero who isnt afraid to tell it like it is. This is definitely something people need to be up on. Good luck in the future, man.