Hello All, Today, we played hooky from the hospital and escaped with Ryan to visit some of the local sights. We went to the Lingyin temple in the hills over looking Hangzhou. The temple was very beautiful and we made wishes by lighting incense and bowing to the four corners. The smoke is supposed to carry your wishes to your ancestors and/or Buddha (I think). I will have to look that up later. Either way, the grounds were pretty cool and the buildings were awesome. Even though there were a lot of people, the place still had a tranquil feel to it. After paying our respects to the Buddha, we decided to increase the size of our own bellies at the Hyatt West Lake buffet. The food was exceptional and a welcome change to the fare we usually eat at the hospital. They had feta cheese, kalamata olives, steak, and excellent deserts. Needless to say, we left feeling as fat as some of the icons we just viewed. To work off some of our girth, we took a nice walk along West Lake. The lake is like a postcard with the fancy pagodas and boats that look like floating pagodas. By this time, Ryan was starting to reach critical mass so we made our way back to the hospital just in time to order more rice for dinner. Ugh! Tomorrow morning is one of our most important days here. Ryan will be having his Bone Marrow aspiration in addition to an IV stem cell treatment. We expect that the stem cells from the bone marrow will take about 8 days to culture and should provide a much larger number of cells than the usual amount he gets from the donors. Not only will there be more of them, but these cells are a perfect genetic match and will hopefully implant at a higher percentage. Unfortunately, you can only do 1 BMT per visit because your body needs about 4 weeks to replace what was removed. Thanks to everyone for reading and sending comments. Suzanne and I look forward to reading them each day. Keep Ryan in your thoughts tonight as you sleep. Take care. Dan, Suzanne and Ryan. p.s. I will try to upload all of the photos to flickr tomorrow!
Hello Ryan! Good luck with your Bone Marrow aspiration tomorrow. I think about you everyday and I miss you very much. I cant wait for you to come home and we can get started at your new school. Everyone there is very happy to hear that your doing so well and they also cant wait for your return. I know you’ll like the new school It’s VERY NICE!! Alie asks about you and I have her say a special prayer for you when we do her prayers at night. I hope you had a nice time on your walk with mom and dad. Take care big guy!! I cant wait to see all the progress you’ve made. Miss you bunches!
Love Nina
Hello Ryan, Dan and Suzanne,
I am so excited to hear you guys played hooky and did some site seeing, Dan you are very good at describing what you guys saw, it sounds amazing! I will be keeping Ryan in mind and I hope his BMT is successful. Ryan I miss you, I only met with you a couple of times before you left, but I am truly looking forward to your arrival. I am staying busy here, my birthday was yesterday, and the big Browns vs Cowboys game is coming up (we are prepared to get stared at a lot while sporting our Browns jerseys!!) and then my daughter’s birthday is next week. I have a lot to stay busy with. My best and most sincere wishes to you all!
Sincerely,
Claudia
Good luck with the procedure tomorrow Ryan, stay strong. You are in our prayers every day.
Hi All, So glad you broke loose from the daily grind of the hospital and saw some sights and indulged in some real food!!!. Sarah was so excited to hear you received the cookies we sent. Everyone is doing fine at home. The animals are fine,just minus one fish. Dad is disappointed that he hasn’t caught a pig yet.Don’t know what he would do with it but that is beside the point. We will keep Ryan in prayer that his procedure goes well today. It really helps Sarah to be able to talk to you every day. Love mom and Dad
Hi Ryan!
I’m so excited for you! You continue to amaze me with every little Blessing you receive! This bone marrow treatment is going to be great for you! I’m glad you got to take a day off and enjoy a nice walk along the lake! I can’t wait to see all the pictures!
I’m praying for you all the time! The Saddle Light Center is having their fundraiser this weekend – I’m sure they will miss you! If Anne Marie doesn’t have a conflicting volleyball game – we’ll go check it out!
Take Care! Love, Julia
Hey Guys!!!
I am visiting at Diane’s right now!! We just checked out all the pictures on flickr! It looks like you guys had a great time out!! You should have called me for your Hyatt dinner
I got da hook up hahah I hope everything goes well with Ryan’s procedure today!!! I know you guys usually talk to Sarah around 7 her time so if possible when you are done poke or beep (or whatever it is that you do) Diane’s computer so we can all see Ryan and say hello!!!! I miss you all!!!
Stay brave ryan! I love you!!!!
-Aunt Karyn-
I wish you all the luck. We will be coming to China on Sept. 24th (Qingdao) Feel free to email me at just4brooke@gmail.com. I live in Michigan. My dtr. has CP and is 5 y.o.