After my stem cell treatment last night I spent the whole night awake I’m not sure if this is because I had a huge rush or whether it was the little kip I had during the IV. Probably a bit of both.
This morning I walked on the treadmill with no hands for 5 minutes and this afternoon at a faster speed for about 7 minutes. One of the exercises Dr Wang gets me to do is sit a huge fit ball and keep my balance whilst he gently moves the ball around. I am getting a little better at this but I still keep my tippy toes on the ground. My next goal is sit on the ball without my feet on the ground at all.
We managed to speak to the boys this morning, they are having a great time with my parents. I hope they are allowing my Mum to rest a bit.
It is fantastic to finally read everybodies comments, it seems as though quite a few people are having trouble ringing us. Really why should we be the only ones who are getting frustrated with communications over here. You know we like to share all with our family and friends.
19 days left in China. I’ve given Dr Wang the instruction that he must have me jogging before I go home. Some of the photos below are the exercises etc I am doing. Thanks Mac and Jill for the tip I’ll do my best with the photos.
January 9th, 2007
YES
I AM HERE TO TELL YOU THAT I (YES ME) WORKED OUT WHERE THE COMMENTS WERE HIDING.
i was that impressed with the effort i went and got myself a beer while they downloaded.
rachel will be thrilled to get all your feedback.
yours in suspect litreature
garry
January 8th, 2007
good evening folks
rachel just finishing up having her third stem cell via IV (much less painful than spinal). we still have not been able to read anones comments on the blog site so are having a fellow here look at it for us.
rachel was walked down to a massage parlour at lunch time by 2 girls from the office to have a foot massage (more like whole leg) to see if shr can free up her feet like they have been able to free up her hands in the rehab at the hospital. we are also hoping that it may take some of the pain away from when she walks. the session went for 70 minutes and cost approx $4.
comments from some of the staff say rach is walking more securely with less gait (sideways movement) and a bit quicker, i would agree with this. the treatment has done nothing for her sleeping patterns, still hopeless (if she was a better sleeper at night i am sure she would have more energy which is a real frustration for her).
Actually, rach must be getting some results because she use a local chinese toilet today (there is no bowl to sit on) by herself (you bring your own toilet paper only if you think you need it). prioir to today she would not contemplate such a feat. Jon mentiioned to us last week that many chinese have not seen the toilet systems that we are used to. when they come across one they stand on the bowl with their feet/shoes (strides around the ankles i guess) and use the toilet. (don’t feel guilty trying to picture this, it cracks me up every time),this would explain the footprints rach found on the toilet bowl when she went at Macdonalds the other day.
(i will get into trouble for that paragraph)
one of the other patients here(jim, who is a dependant quadraplegic from the US) moved one of his arms today for the first time in 20 years. this result has the spirits at a good level here this afternoon.
garry
January 8th, 2007
today was a rest day from rehab. we spent most of the day with sunny and some of her friends who showed us areound the city. 25 years ago there were 50,000 people in nanshen, today there are close to 15 million, they siad today this city is the 4th largest economy in china and the development is still going nuts.
we were taken to a good traditional chinese restuarant for lunch which was interesting and very good. at one stage i was eating and i am sure i could nott feel my lips because some of the dishes were very spicey, but easy enough to eat (we also had beer).
we just watched a video in common room with george and melissa (from canada) which they bought from the market today and the movie is not even released in australia yet. the movies get videoed on digital camera(someone takes them into a movie) and reproduced in russia. we plan to bring some home and be the first to see some movies in australia.
back to work tomorrow,
looking forward to any comments
garry
January 7th, 2007
Well you wouldn’t know it was the weekend here, most people only seem to have one day off a week and I think this may vary from week to week. Today Camilla, one of the Beike staff here took me to a hairdressers for a hairwash and massage. I was there for one hour, the massage was great and it cost 10RMB which is about $1.80 Australian dollars. Plus I had 2 chinese men who work there escort me back to the hospital. I tried to make them have some cash but they wouldn’t take any.
I’ve had two very tiring physical therapy sessions today. Van a Canadian thinks I’ll be jogging next week, I wish. I got to speak to my beautiful boys today. Skype decided to work today. They are great but now that I’ve heard their voices I just want to go home.
The physical therapy sessions are wearing me out, I’m really homesick and just for a change I can’t sleep but I guess I better keep working to make this opportunity work. My goal is to go skiing in the Australian winter which I know the boys are just itching to get to. Yesterday’s photograph didn’t turn out so well, I will try again.
January 6th, 2007
I thought I would be bursting with energy today after my stem cells through an IV, but I’m not. I found therapy this morning very frustrating. My body won’t obey my brain.
Dr Wang throws a ball to me every day, most days I can throw and catch it pretty well unless I try to use only my left hand. I am of course sitting down mostly.
Walking the stairs is very frustrating too. The back of my feet kept clipping the stairs and pushing me off balance. I was getting so angry the other day I kicked the stairs which was not a good idea as I hurt my left foot, the really painfull one.
I’ve noticed that I can brush my teeth a little easier with a manual toothbrush since being here. I usually have to use an electric toothbrush.
My arthritis feels a little better today – here’s hoping! I’ve organised a few extra treatments so next week I will have another IV stem cell then Friday a spinal. I hate the spinal, not moving for 6 hours is really hard. This is what the doctor has rechommended as my last reaction was not to favourable.
I talked today to a 33 year old man who is practically wheelchair bound, he has Type 3 Ataxia, Josephs Machado Disease. He has trouble like I do with balance plus swallowing, speech is diffiult and when his eyes close on him for no reason he cannot open them again until the spasm passes. He is obviously not driving anymore. It will be interesting to see how much the stem cells improve his quality of life.
Last night when the stem cells were hooked up to me I was most upset about the size of the bag. They took about 20 minutes to go through – it was the quickest 3300 Australian dollars I’ve ever spent. And I couln’t even make myself feel any better with my sister’s saying “It’s not what you spend, it’s what you save”. I’m going to try and ring the boys again for the fourth time today. Communicfation really sux over here.
January 5th, 2007
It feels like you are waiting forever for your stem cell day to arrive. Any time from 3pm onwards the cells should arrive. Today I recieve them via an IV so no fasting or laying flat on my back for 4 hours afterwards. I should be able to kick back, watch a DVD for the afternoon and order Garry around a bit (you’ve got to try and milk it while you can).
I had an MRI this morning which is not a very pleasant experience. The machine is very noisy and they strap you in so you can’t move especially your head. The bed you are strapped to then moves into a cocoon type vacuum where you stay for 30 minutes. I was very tense and hoping and praying I didn’t get one of my dizzy spells in the cocoon, they tend to make me want to vomit.
Garry and I went for a walk down town after therapy today. He loves bargaining and haggling anybody down a few dollars. The girls clothing is very cute and quite cheap, cheaper than Australia anyway. My sister in law would have a field day, she would never tire of shopping over here. Garry would need to go however as otherwise you may be charged the amount on the label. He is not embarrased to quibble about a few dollars.
My hands are bruised badly from an IV every day and also the accupunture needles. Another bruise will eventuate after today. Best go and await my delivery!
January 4th, 2007
hello folks
rachel is just having a rest after a busy rehab this morning, the 2 days off was probably not the best for her. whilst her balance is improving she has a long way to go. this morning we tried some new execises walking foot over foot sideways (yes i can do this as well) which did not go so well but we will keep working on that. Dr Wang who is in charge of rachels rehab is very good at his job and is keen to learn english. it seems every session there is a reason for him to dish up a shrill of laughter after one of our discussions. I think i would like to take him out and get him on a few beers and see what he could come up with (food for thought).
Sunny (one of the chinese ladies in charge) gave rachel some little gifts this morning for the boys. rachel thought this was great. they are very helpful, kind and considerate of all the patients here (and they tolerate my good sense of humor).
yesterday afternoon we went to seaworld with another 2 canadian ladies (about 15 mins in a cab) and yes we had another great cab ride (who needs to go to the show to get the heart racing). The person in the front gets the most out of the ride as they are the ones who look like hitting the pedestrians, buses, bikes, cars sidewalks or buildings first… seaworld is nothing like ours in aust (i’m not sure if the sea is even there) but there are plenty of shops and interesting characters. rachel made me stop at paddy obriens for coffee, well i had a few pints at $3 a pop. last night i cooked up another feast (well i thought it was pretty good).
I went to the shops again after rachel finished this morning, i love the supermarket shops. everything is in front of you. bare hands in the tubs of rice, picking over the dried fish or smoked meats (rachel dry reaches as we pass this area), you can buy washed chook feet, livers from all types of animals, catch fish live in the tanks (wonder if they would let me throw a line in, might be a chance of actually catching one) and there are types of meat there that i am still trying to work out (but i will and will pass it on when i do)
i can’t believe we are not able to get the cricket over here, as you could imagine rachel is as upset about it as i am. you’ve got to love to see those poms getting smashed.
i had a game or two of pool on a mini table here last night with an italian chap who doesn’t speak english and a chilean who spoke italian and reasonable english. we made the rules up as we went along (not just because they wanted to sink the easy balls) and there were plenty of laughs, there was also plenty of hand waving (ican match the italian in this department).
cheers
garry
January 3rd, 2007
For antone wishing to phone us in chine please use this number
(86)755 26553111 31419
this should go straight to our room
January 2nd, 2007
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