Posts filed under 'cp'
We’ve been home for almost 6 weeks now. How fast time flies!
We’ve been getting lots of questions about whether we are seeing anything. I’d say that so far, perhaps she’s had some improvement in head control. We’ve been trying to get over colds/strep for the last few weeks, so our plans to really get started with therapy have been hard.
We are still very positive about our experience. And we realize that we will start seeing the bigger improvements (God willing) at 3-6 months post treatment. So we are going to do a couple weeks intensive PT in the middle of March, just to get the cells going. And then we’ll see!
March 2nd, 2010
We are finally home, arriving late last night. Thanks to our friend Tiffany who picked us up at the airport! Mabel slept until 2:00 this afternoon, and still looks beat! So now we are off to get some errands done before everything is closed. And we are both wanting to get a taco at Taco Bell!
The trip went fine. Asiana is a great airline, so helpful, so kind. Long flights, long lines to get through the 4 different stages of immigration in Seattle. That’s not convenient to say the least! No tears on the flights, though. We were lucky to get 3 seats for ourselves on the 10 hour flight, so Mabel was able to lay down and get a few hours of sleep. Then she slept another couple hours on the floor in Seattle airport. Funny.
Best part of the trip was in Guangzhou airport. There were about 25 buddhists taking the same flight. We couldn’t communicate with them, but several of them came over and smiled at Mabel. They gave her a couple candy bars and a cute little trinket bag. Very nice and kind people.
We are missing our new friends back in China, and wish we could see them all again soon! Too bad that there are so many thousands of miles between us all. We are glad to be seeing family and friends at home also! Although family is spread all around right now, we will be seeing most of them soon.
January 22nd, 2010
Well, our time is ending here. Dan left this afternoon, and we are leaving in the morning. Our time went by so fast, and we are definitely ready to get home! I’m excited to share pictures and stories with everyone at home. We are going to look forward to the next 6 months, to see if we can see any benefit for our time here. Either way, we can never say that we regret a single moment of this experience.
I’m including some pictures. First is a picture of her last stem cell treatment yesterday.
Next are a couple pics of the room we’ve been living in the last 30 days. The nurse’s are funny, always very uptight about the “rules” and always asking us to “tidy up.” Tough in a room full of luggage and beds, but we tried! Our bathroom was the kitchen, bathroom and laundry room. We did our wash by hand, as the sendout got a bit pricey for everything. Then we hung it out on the balcony. I look forward to washing everything very well when we get home!
The last picture is of the little “village” we could go to to get vegetables and wonderful street food. The dumplings were absolutely wonderful there. You could also pick out a live chicken and they would butcher it right there for you. Needless to say, we did not take advantage of that one. We did get brave and got some ground pork for some pasta sauce, and survived it! 
January 19th, 2010
Mabel got her last stem cells this morning. We now are making the preparations for leaving. Dan is leaving back to work tomorrow afternoon, and Mabel and I leave the next morning. We are arriving back in Great Falls on Wednesday night. We are so sad to leave some new amazing friends, but looking forward to getting back to family and friends at home.
We got the chance to visit a great park in downtown Guangzhou. Rode on little electric boats on a lake. We thought it was definitely the funnest thing we have done since being here! I’ll post a couple pics later.
Just a short note tonight, it is late, and we have lots still to do to get Dan ready to go tomorrow. Hope all is well with everyone!
January 18th, 2010
6th stem cells today. I still can’t believe we are almost finished. Mabel is becoming a pro at it. She actually prefers stem cell days, since she doesn’t have to do any other therapies on those days. We still aren’t seeing any results, but again, we are certainly not expecting to yet either. There have been little glimmers of new things, but nothing that stays around, so we are going to patiently wait and see in the coming months!
We had a big spaghetti dinner with friends last evening, and this evening the new folks from South Africa planned a dance party in the common room. So we danced and played music far past bedtime. So now I am sitting here trying to get a quick blog in before bed!
Here’s a pic of stem cells #6
And a quick pic of Mabel and daddy dancing tonight. What fun people we have been blessed to have around us while we are here!
January 15th, 2010
We’ve had a couple of quiet days. Skipped therapy today, as Mabel tipped over in her wheelchair yesterday, off of a curb, and was sore this morning, so we thought we’d better take it easy today. And of course, she was fine. Wanting to play and do everything as usual. The therapists were very concerned and even offered to come to the room to eval her. Very nice people. Thought I’d post a couple of pics from the last couple of days. The first is a picture of a chicken dish we ordered. Dan and Mabel both took a pass on it, but it actually tasted pretty good.
The next pic is of Mabel and Katia playing ninja pirates, scooting the unlocked bed across the room without touching the ground. Lots of yelling and laughing. Thank goodness the walls are thick and the new patient next door couldn’t hear us!
Next stem cells on Friday, so more to post then!
January 13th, 2010
Mabel had treatment #5. It seems like our time here is going by so quickly! 
Next are a couple of pictures of some kite flying we did today. There is a lake and park across from the hospital, and we were able to buy a couple of kites this weekend. Mabel and her friend Katia, and Dan had a good time.
Next is a picture of Mabel working with Dr. Joe, her physical therapist. He is very kind and good. Mabel watches him, and actually does everything he says!
Here’s a picture of Mabel getting her 5th treatment.
January 11th, 2010
Dan and Mabel in front of the main door to the hospital, we are on the 10th floor. The hospital is huge, many buildings and areas.
Next is a picture of Mabel doing therapy, along with many other people. There are usually as many staff and students as there are patients. Mabel is at the front of the picture. We’ve been here long enough that Mabel now gets another patient on the same table as her.
Next is a picture of some of the crazy monkeys from the zoo. They were jumping in and swimming to get treats. These monkeys didn’t like the water, so they were holding their arms up and wading across. Funny stuff, these little guys.
Now a picture of Mabel and the giraffes. She got to feed them a branch full of leaves. We have that on video, but won’t post it on here.
Now a picture of one of the pandas. Amazing stuff. We have many many pictures of them, and videos. This is just a cute one of the first one we ran across.
January 8th, 2010
Treatment 4 went very well this morning. They were trying to get Dan and I to leave the room while the stem cells were administered, but as you can imagine, that didn’t happen! We then took a walk to a nearby village to eat some dumplings and get vegies. It’s quite cool here, especially with the humidity. Still warmer than home, but cold when I didn’t pack enough warm stuff! We still haven’t seen much change, she has been definitely eating a bunch more though.
There has been more families coming, from all over. It’s really nice to meet so many different people here for so many different reasons. We will leave with such nice friends to keep in touch with.
Next treatment is Monday, so we are hoping to enjoy our weekend before starting another busy week. If weather is decent, we will try to get out and do something. We’ll see.
January 8th, 2010
Well, 2 more days have passed. Mabel continues with OT, PT and acupuncture each morning, then we are working on homework and hanging out in the afternoon and evening. The staff has all been very good. All the therapies take place in community areas. The PT room is huge, probably at least 25 patients receiving therapy of some form at the same time. Accupuncture is similar, although there are curtains between the beds there. We’ve been here long enough now, that Mabel draws less of a crowd during therapy! The OT and PT speak good enough english, that we are not needing to have an interpretor along, which is very nice. This is a teaching hospital, located in an area with 10 different universities. So there is an abundance of young students that are eager to practice their english. So we have been very fortunate for this. But also we have not been learning as much Chinese as we could be. Only a handful of words so far. Everyone loves Mabel’s pale skin, always saying how beautiful she is. Other than the constant staring, it really has been a lovely experience so far.
Found out yesterday, that because of a financial mix-up, Mabel will be receiving a 7th treatment of stem cells while we are here. We are assuming that they will fit it into the days we are already here, but in case that can’t be done, we may be staying a couple extra days. Either way, we are grateful to be getting an extra treatment. Mabel, maybe not. 
Next treatment is Friday. So more from us then.
January 6th, 2010
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