We are back in the USA!  I’ve had my bean and cheese tacos, blown off some fireworks and are starting to readjust to Texas time.  Ryan is still waking at 2:30 am for the day, while Suzanne and I cannot go to sleep until then.  We made it home with no travel difficulties.  Ryan had all eight treatments without getting sick or having any significant side effects.  Now, we just have to wait for about two months before we assess how successful the treatments have been.  I will update again in mid-September with the results we have noticed.  Thanks for all of the supportive comments.  Take care.  Dan, Suzanne, Ryan and Sarah.

We have finished our last treatment and Ryan is falling to sleep as I type.  Thus far, he has had no side effects from the treatment.  Tomorrow, we throw all of our stuff into bags and leave the hospital for the hotel.  Then, it’s just a few more hours until we take off for home on Friday morning.  As long as TS Alex does not decide to park over South Texas, we should be home Friday night.  Although it is over 24 hours of traveling, we will arrive home only 12 hours later on the clock.  After that, the long period of adjusting to Texas time will start.  We can’t wait to get home and see Sarah.  It will take about two months to see if the treatments have produced improvements.  Until then, we just get back to our normal lives.   Take care.  Dan, Suzanne, Ryan and soon Sarah.

Ryan completed the second and last stem cell treatment by Bone Marrow Transplant this afternoon.  He was slightly more sedated from this procedure than others, but is recovering nicely so far.  We have yet to find out how many cells he received from this treatment, but they are supposed to give us an estimate tomorrow.  There has been and continues to be a larger turn over of patients in these two weeks.  After this week is over, we will be one of the longest patient families remaining.  It gets harder and harder to maintain our focus, when the end is getting closer.  It is not unlike a case of “Senor-itis.”  Although it is two days late, I will be getting out with a few other dads for a father’s day burger and beer trip to downtown Qingdao, tomorrow.  We will have to see how the best burger in Qingdao compares to Smashburger or Chester’s.  I can’t wait to be back in the USA.  The good news for me, as usual, I have lost about another 5 pounds over here.  That’s it for now.  Take care.  Dan, Suzanne and Ryan

Suzanne, Ryan and I have just returned from a nice long walk through Qingdao’s Olympic Park.  It was very well maintained, quiet and a beautiful place to spend the early afternoon.  We escaped the hospital last night and are spending two days here at the hotel.  Although it can be a little boring here without the rest of the patients, having Ryan sleep in until 8 am was a nice change of pace.  He hasn’t slept past 4:30 am at the hospital, due to the lack of light blocking curtains.  Another piece of good news; the hospital director finally turned on the air conditioner.  Ryan continues to do well with the treatments and we are getting his second BMT stem cell treatment on Monday.  He received 100 million cells in the last treatment and we should have about the same or more in this one.  Tomorrow marks the two week point until we return.  After watching several of the families leave this week and more to go next, we are extremely anxious for our turn to go home.  Ryan has reached that point in the trip where he is tired of looking at Suzanne and I.  The last two weeks are going to be tough on all of us as we are all starting to get on each others’ nerves.  That’s about all for now.  Happy Father’s day to all of the dads out there.  Take care.  Dan, Suzanne and Ryan

No.  We are not going out for a subway sandwich (I wish).  Tomorrow is the day Ryan receives his bone marrow stem cell transplant.  They have grown his cells for the last 10 days and he is supposed to receive somewhere between 80-120 million cells.  The cells are slightly different than those from Umbilical cord, but they are an exact genetic match.  As some may remember, we tried this last time, but Ryan got severely sick shortly after this treatment and lost the benefits of the entire trip.  We are being neurotic about keeping him away from other people, cleaning all equipment and limiting physical contact with anyone but ourselves.  This is isolating us from some of the other patients, somewhat, but we are here on a mission.  We are also sad that the two families we have gotten along with best are leaving this week.  We hope that Isabella and Clara see tremendous improvements from their time here.  Tomorrow is also the Dragon Boat Festival here in China, however, they are keeping their schedule for Ryan and a few of the other patients.  We are at the halfway point now, though the end seems so far away.  It’s getting late and I’m off to bed.  Take care.  Dan, Suzanne and Ryan

Ryan has completed his fourth stem cell treatment and is finishing his six hours of laying on his back.  This is supposed to help prevent any headaches or backaches from the procedure.  We are planning on having bunch on Sunday with several of the other families at the Holiday Inn.  They offer a nice foreigner friendly buffet for only $10 U.S.  Each day seems a little like “Groundhog Day;” as we do exactly the same thing over and over again.  We try to keep up with current events in the states, but it is difficult with state censored news and internet.  Sarah seems to be having fun with Grandma and Grandpa as we talk with her each day over Skype.  That’s all for now.  I will update again in a few days on how Ryan is doing after the treatment.

Ryan has finished his first stem cell treatment via lumbar puncture and had his bone marrow aspiration.  Everything seems to be going well almost six hours after the procedure.  He is sleeping peacefully, at the moment, and has no fever.  As long as it continues this way, we are looking good.  Unfortunately for Ryan, he is not supposed to move much until 3 p.m. tomorrow afternoon.  He will be sore for a few days around the aspiration site and may have back pain tomorrow as well.  Suzanne has organized a get together for tomorrow evening with the patients and the staff.  Hopefully, we will get a good group to show up and relax a little after today.  That’s all for now.  Take care.  Dan, Suzanne and Ryan

It is Sunday morning here and we are going to venture out with Ryan back to the Holiday Inn for some lunch.  There is only so much rice I can eat in one week.  We took a nice walk yesterday through a nearby park.  It was good to get out of the hospital for a couple of hours.  Tomorrow is a big day for Ryan.  He is getting his first spinal stem cell treatment in addition to the bone marrow aspiration.  The bone marrow stem cells will be re-injected via lumbar puncture next week Wed. and the Monday after.  Some good news on the stem cell research front, a new study is being conducted at the Medical College of Georgia involving 40 kids with CP.  They are using their own cord blood, but this is the first double blind study to be conducted in the U.S.  Maybe someday soon, we can catch up to the rest of the world and not travel so far.  That’s all for now.  Take care and thanks for the comments.  Dan, Suzanne and Ryan.

Ryan just completed his first stem cell treatment.  The first one is always via IV.  He tolerated the procedure very well with no reactions so far.  We are just about to go into the common area and join the other families who seem to gather each afternoon.  We have met several nice couples from the states who are going to be here throughout our stay.  The weather here is much nicer than in Hangzhou, which was several hours further south.  In addition, the grocery store is just across the street and the people seem to have better manners than we have encountered before.  They also seem more accustomed to westerners here.  Ryan slept for 7 straight hours yesterday, which was great.  However, the only problem was he slept from 7:30 pm until 2:30 am.  I tried to bribe Ryan with a Porshe to go back to sleep, but he wasn’t interested.  Good News.  Sarah emailed me that my missing cleaner shrimp showed up after we thought he had been dead for a few weeks.  I know you were all concerned about that.  That’s all for now.  Thanks for the comments.  We look forwards to reading them each day.  Take care.  Dan, Suzanne and Ryan.  33 days left…