The Chinese...Oh those Chinese

Now i have to be very careful in how I word this, but here it goes. The chinese are the most competative people I have ever seen. I have visited many countries, but never have I had so many elevator doors shut in my face, when trying to get on. Don't get me wrong here, I may be generalizing but let me also tell you that they are also the most efficient people i have ever observed. In the hospital for instance they Dont get bogged down with paper work. My second day here i went for an MRI and an X-ray of my ankle in another wing in the hospital and all it took was a quick 10 second telephone conversation between the head nurse of the stem cell ward, and the radiology department receptionist What a ride there OMG. It wasnt long before i realized i couldnt keep up with her, So Chaching (argueably the most kind girl I have ever met) and I comendeared a hospital wheel chair. After about two seconds I was reaching for my seatbelt (wheelchairs dont come stock with seatbelts but it is an option). We were weaving in and out of crowds of people it felt like Nascar without the crash helmets. At one point we even hit some lady, right in the back of the foot I could tell by her expression that we got her in that sweet spot. I waited for the arguement to ensue but we just kept on truckin, you see in China you are personally liable. I know its a strange concept to grasp, but that lady that we hit was in the way, end of story. Alot of the sidewalks here are currently under construction, (I think for the upcoming Olimpics in 2008) If you fall in one of many holes, which i've come very close (if not for melissa's strong arm). Lastly if any of you readers out there have a death wish, than Chinese streets are the place for you. Over here they make up thier own rules. I'm sorry there is one rule it is "Every Man For Himself". In my opinion there are 2 sides to this coin. First of all this chaos works for themselves as a community. Now you take 500000 cars and you put them into our ever updating infrastucture and you will get some accidents. In China, you will find that there are'nt many accidents even though the aging infrastructure is aging they need more than 4 lanes. Lastly the Chinese dont believe in road rage. They (now I dont mean all of them) just enough of them to wake me up use HORN RAGE.

Almost there...

Melissa and I have managed to cohabitate in one room for a month and not kill each other. In fact, it has brought us closer (but don't tell her I said that). We have managed to turn this experience into somewhat of a vacation. But I will be glad to return to our paradise in Ancaster and our beautiful daughter Charlotte. Today was an ok day in physio. I have a bit of a sore throat so I feel that my balance wasn't as good as it could have been. I am now comparing every day to my best day here which was Friday. But I know that coming here my balance was way worse than it is today. These stem cells are truly a gift from God. We heard some great news about our friend Chuck who is here with a spinal cord injury, and he had his third (i think) stem cell treatment today, it was by IV and he was able to twitch his big toe!!! He hasn't done that since his accident! Amazing. We went out with some of the staff here for dinner. We had food from a northwest region of China where spicy food is common. My mouth was on fire but I didn't want let on to anyone that it was. China survival tip #1- stay clear of the pointy green peppers.

China is Splendid

Melissa here... not too much to report today. Sunday is everyone's day off so we went on a little day trip to a place called "Splendid China". It is a really neat theme park that showcases all of the sites of China, such as the Great Wall and the Forbidden City. It also has a cultural village where you can see how the different cultures live(d). The girls from the office here organized the trip for us, provided us with a packed lunch and arranged the transportation. Camilla and Andrea accompanied us as did a couple of the therapists from the rehab room, Dr Lee and Dr Wong. They had a cable line that ran 260 metres long, and over a lake that you hold onto and swing across. George decided he HAD to do it. So Helen (from Ontario), Eduardo and Sandra (from Spain) and we convinced Dr Lee and they all did it while Andrea and Camilla watched in absolute fear. It was quite funny. And they had a great time. It really was a good day- the weather was beautiful and there were so many trees and beautiful gardens there. Tomorrow is back to therapy, only two and half more days of therapy until we go home so George is determined to work his butt off. Wednesday is his last stem cell treatment, and it will be by IV. Then we are going home Thursday morning!!!!!


Above is the mini version of the great wall of China, which is in Beijing. We supposedly were able to see it from the plane on the ride in but we didn't have window seats.

This is a building in the cultural village, I thought it was beautiful. This is more the scenery I was hoping to see in China.

Gettin homesick

I feel like ive been here forever!!! When we first got here, I was petrified of the return flight, mainly because of the jetlag. Now i cant wait to get on a plane eespecially after Jon's (the brains behind this operation) advice about sleeping on the flight. I feel much better about that now. Melissa and I spent the day with Jon we went for a walk to a park to eat some street meat ( In China its way different than at home.) I took a chair we must have gone 8 miles before we found it. Its a lamb kabob that is really really spicy, I think he said its Morracan Anyway after that e took us to Mustang Sallysfor dinner. I had the escargo and the ribs. Very tasty and high in Protein!! Anyways yesterdays lumbar punch went well. No headache just a sore lower back (common should be gone by morning) Im excited to feel the results. Gotta run Mels calling!

# 5 and a REALLY good day

Hello- Melissa here. George is in his totally flat and still phase after getting his spinal injection today at around 5pm. He is doing well- he is wide awake and positioned under the tv. Though he is dying to use a pillow he is hanging in for another couple of hours. He wanted everyone to know that he had an AMAZING day today in rehab. He felt so good and he did so well today- he was just beaming at his progress. His balance and walking were the best I have seen him since we have been here. We walked on lunch and got foot massages again, and this time we also got the neck, back and arms. My guy seemed to think I was extra tense on my arms and spent a lot of time pulling and twisting my arms. At one point I actually was worried they might break!

Sorry we missed writing yesterday. George had an ok day. We went for a walk at lunch and him and Garry got straight shaves! Here are some pics.




After that we went for a trip to McDonald's for a taste of home. When we got back George had a bad headache so went down late for therapy and got some acupuncture to help his head. Here is a picture of the treatment he got.


He also made it to OT (Occupational Therapy) where they massaged his head and neck and got rid of the headache. We went for dinner with our Aussie friends as they are leaving tomorrow. We are not looking forward to them going, they have made this experience so enjoyable and we have had so much fun with them. Bye Garry and Rachel-we will miss you!

Hey!!! guess what? No Headache!!!

By the way my headache was sucessfully relieved after day six, it turns out I was'nt hydrated enough so this is great advice to anyone that is coming here. Kim told me once, Drink lots and lots of water. Anyways getting back on topic i didnt get a spinal headache this time around...Im feeling much better today, balance still sucked at physio but i had some fun in occupational therapy.They keep us busy doing stuff with our hands like squeezing an elastic grid while wearing an electro stimulation collar which is good for swallowing and speech. There is this one instrument that involves loostening and tightening all of these different sized bolts on a grid, I am the last patient of the day. Rachel (the Aussie with ataxia) is the first patient in the morning, so I put my "superhuman" strength into it and tightened the hell out of em! anyways gotta run Melissa and I wanna watch WE ARE MARSHALL in the room

I leave you with a picture of Gary (the other aussie) finding a comfy seat at the park. Hey!!! its the best I could come up with today i've run out of material. Last spinal stem cells Friday. I've had it with the beard i'm going hunting for a barber tommorow

The day after #4

Hello again. It's me Melissa, George had a rough day today. He was pretty sore after yesterday's injection and quite tired from a rough night's sleep. He made it down to therapy only an hour late, which is good considering he had the injection yesterday. He doesn't like to miss it after an injection because the acupuncture often helps the headache or back pain. So he stuck it out. He went with Garry and Rachel for a massage and McDonald's for lunch and then right back down until about 5:00 for more therapy. He had a rough time in physical therapy this afternoon, his balance was bad and he was a little discouraged. But most patients feel that way the day after the injection. Jon from Beike is here and took us out for supper. We went to a Hunan style restaurant which was really neat. You all have your own room for your party to eat in, so it was a private dinner for the staff and some of the patients. The food was delicious- spicier than we are used to but very tasty. He is getting his IV now so I am writing on his behalf. He will be back to you tomorrow- hopefully after having a better day.

Stem Cells # 4

It is Monday at 4:30 pm and it is Melissa here as George is in getting his 4th injection. The stem cells were late today (we were waiting since 3:00pm) which is normally not a big deal but today George was hungry. You cannot eat for 4 hours before or 4 hours after the injection. So he will have to wait for awhile. He had only the morning session of therapy. We are all still recovering from our busy weekend. It is hard to get back into the swing of things on a Monday. Good thing it is a stem cell day and we will just lay low and relax. I got my first real bout of homesickness today....this picture shows the main reason why we miss home (our beautiful daughter Charlotte)... though we miss all our friends and family a lot.

I thought since there is nothing new to report and George is going to be out of commission for the rest of the night and will not be able to write anything I would give you all a look at some of our memories so far.



This picture is a picture of George at Windows of the World where he got to ride a camel just long enough to take a picture. For 10 RMB's you get to ride it for a photo.

This one is a picture of our friends that we have met, they have already left- from left to right, Erica Deering, Lori and Christine.



Here is a group photo of all of us that went on the trip to Windows of the World.

This is a group photo of us with a pizza party the day that Rusty and Julie left.

This is a day George refers to as our "stem cell party"- where he received his stem cells by IV, we had snacks and watched movies to celebrate. But... we seem to have snacks and watch movies every day....hmmmm.

This is a pose I lovingly refer to as "Pinhead" where George has some acupuncture needles in his head- I think these were to get rid of a headache- which by the way works well!

That's it for today- we will update you tomorrow with his progress after this fourth injection.

Sunday, our weekend

Today we went to miniature world, sea world and a Chinese seafood restaurant, that was my favorite part. I must have gained 10 lbs since i"ve been here.
tomorrow i have stem cells again, another lumbar punch not looking forward to the headache that will follow. I really have faith that this treatment will work. There is another MJDer here his name is Ernesto he is from Chile. He is part of the Group maybe Mike or Fernando knows of him. He told me that he never speaks up. He did follow Kim Poor's blog.
My beard is coming in pretty thick im very tempted get rid of it but Im gonna need some professional help now. I let it grow way too long, all i brought with me was a gilette mach 3 razor. I'll go to the local barber for a straight shave.


A picture of a bloke from Australia and I (both of us being real good sports after our wives dressed us up)

A pic of really hungry Japanese koy eating the remnants of Mel's sweetened cobweb sandwich, (Dispite being a texture man I ate mine I was starving.)

TGIF

Check out my chopstick skills!!!

Our friends Rusty and Julie are leaving today they are from the US. Our english speaking clan is getting smaller and smaller. For the last week or so it was Rusty and Julie, Rachel and Gary (Australia) and Melissa and I. We are all sitting around laughing about our short time together (funny that most of the stories start with "when George said this, or said that") I'm not that obnoxious am I? ( I had to explain in detail to the group what TEA BAGGING is!!) It seems as though I may have started a trend with the FAREWELL pizza party hopefully the girls here keep this tradition alive!!
>>Fast Forward just got back from Rusty & Julie's Farewell lunch, Julie begged me to go with them, but of course I declined. It just so happens that the moment was captured on film


This is a picture of Mel and I, Rachel and Garry (the wonders from down under- standing) and Rusty and Julie (sitting). We will miss them a lot.

I had a test today in therapy to map out my progress and it turns out I scored much better in many areas. For the first time I was able to see the progress myself. One example was I had to reach down and pick something up off the ground without holding onto anything and I did it very easily. Another was to spin around in one direction, then stop and go the other direction. Again, no problem. I haven't been able to do that in a LONG time. So that made me feel good. I feel like progress is being made. Tomorrow is another day of therapy, then a day off Sunday and another injection Monday!

It's almost Friday!!!

Another day of therapy, and day 6 of this headache!!! It comes and goes. I had a full morning session of therapy and then Mel and I hit the streets for some more exploring. I bought a nice sweater for myself- guess what I am a size XL here. We tried a new restaurant for lunch and it was delicious. We were able to order by picture and use the reference words Mel keeps in her purse to confirm what kind of meat we were eating. It was so good we ordered seconds. I am sure we will be heading back to that place. Then back for afternoon therapy where I once again topped the charts on the electric collar in Occupational Therapy- I asked them to turn it up only to discover it didn't go any higher and I had maxed it out. There was a little boy there helping me today with some of my tasks for my hands. Oh and Mel's good news we get an english channel on our tv!!! Nothing else new to report. Next injection is Monday.

Dodging the Dog

Just finished by morning session of SHOCK therapy AKA Electro-stimulation. Honestly its not that bad for me and it looks way worse than it feels.>>>Fast Forward Its 9:30pm now and I am just finishing the last of my first IV Stem Cell injection. Man they injected me quite full of fluid the way i figured it, and Kim could confirm it, they put about 1 liter(about a quart) of fluid into my arm. According to Kim and several other patients, I am waiting for this sudden burst of energy. My head has been pounding for over 5 days now and its driving me nuts.
Today was a somber day the Deering Gang, Shannon and Erica, their nurses Faye and Lori, and Tony their dad have all gone home and will be missed. Also, our friends Chris and Van from Vancouver left as well.
In case anyone is curious, the picture of all of the meat in the last blog the 3rd or 4th carcass from the left is Go Roe AKA Dog meat!!


The above is a picture of me posing for the camera shortly after my first IV, dont laugh at my underware I dont feel different. Do I look different?

Melissa's opinion

Hello, I thought I would give my opinion on how George is doing these days. I felt he was a little hard on himself in the last entry where he thought his walking was worse today. As an eyewitness I would like to say that I thought he did really well. We walked to the McDonald's for lunch which is a pretty good walk. I am including a few pictures of how well he is doing in therapy. Remember before we got here he rarely walked without the walker.



The picture above shows how narrow of a path his therapist gives him to walk and he is not holding onto the bars.

This one shows him balancing on the wobble board, and below is a close up of his feet balancing.

So... I think he is doing well. He just felt like it was an off day. But we can all be proud of him.

Back to the grind

Monday Mornings are always the worst. I just Finished my day of physio I am a little discouraged to see my walking and balance had gotten worse(melissa does'nt think so). I might have overdone it yesterday, their are so many variables who knows!! Anyway anybody that knows me knows that im no tough guy...But I beat 3 Asian MEN in arm wrestles Today... They all thought I was some form of super human because of my grip strength and pain tolerance to Shock therapy, anyways at the end of the day it was a tiny ego boost and more importantly the viens in my hands reappeared. I think I have tapped into a new business venture. My friends and family eat for free though, Dead serious Benny Tome Email me!! I heard a buzz of a winter storm back home can anyone confirm??

Day...Ive lost track. I know its Sunday

It was a beautiful day in China today. We went to sea world, I wore a sweater and shorts. I bought a small souvenir and some lunch. maybe spent $17.00 things are sooo inexpensive here. Sundays are our only day off so we used it well. We took some pictures until our camera batteries died (Thanks for the battery hogging camera Jen.) LOL

This is a picture smack dab in the middle of the action. All that interlocking stone its a Landscaper's dream!! Actually downtown Shenzhen is currently undergoing extensive boardwalk reconstruction utilizing lock stone pavers. I sat and watched them work on my lunch last week... was that ever an eye opener what 6 guys can do with no machinery at all. I'm sure your all wondering what the heck I'm doing at the operating end of a grand Piano- I was playing it rather well before they escorted me off the boat. This was on a cruise ship docked in sea world that has been turned into a hotel. Once we got back to the hospital the smog was so thick you could cut it with a knife. No major changes except the leg pain is gone. I did a fair bit of walking today and it felt pretty good. Back to therapy tomorrow, and next stem cells are Wednesday- this one will be an IV.

ps- must thank Kim Poor for getting bars put in all the showers- they've come in handy a few times for me.

Keeping busy in Shenzhen

Hello... sorry for the delay but the last couple of days have been very, very busy. Yesterday we went on our lunch for a foot massage. There were about 8 of us from the 14th floor that went and we all sat together and I got a foot and leg massage by this really hot chick. It was a lot of fun, and quite the experience. A couple of the girls from here took us!

After we got home it was time for stem cells injection #2- it went smoothly, I was not as groggy when I came out of it, so Mel set me up so I could see a movie and I was able to just lie still and watch a movie. I was able to eat after 4 hours and then it was bedtime so I managed to stay fairly still for the rest of the night and I avoided the dreaded headache. This morning I was feeling well enough to go to therapy. I had an afternoon off and spent it at a military museum. I felt very alone amongst all the soviet fire power. There was no weaponry from the US or Canada there.

Melissa here now- I spent the day at a shopping place called "the train station". it was quite the experience! They had 5 floors of tonnes of stores everyone shouting at you to come in and look at their store. Offering handbags, dvd's, mp3's.... it was crazy. But definitely a great experience. They would ask what you are looking for and then climb a ladder and go up into the roof to find it. It was definitely neat to see, did some good shopping... but I don't need to go back.

Tonight we celebrated a birthday- it was Rusty's birthday (from the US) and his wife Julie planned a little surprise. It was lots of fun. We enjoyed the cake... even though desserts are not sweet in China. They are very different. George likes the desserts- big surprise there.

Tomorrow is our day off... think we will do some more shopping and site seeing. Then back to the therapy on Monday. Next stem cells are Wednesday- getting them by IV. Should be interesting to see how George feels after that.

Ah Ah Ah.....Shenzhen >>>>>>Bless you

Hey Dudes:
Im back... sorry it took so long to write back... but even sitting is excruciatingly painfull. Since the first injection the backs of my legs have been burning, kind of like a good workout X 100,000 but Doctor Wu gave me pills for the pain and I feel much better now!! Next Stem cells are tommorow!! I am feeling much stronger and way sturdier.
Man o man there are alot of people here and I know most of them. I was too busy feeling sorry for myself to see that most of them are worse off than me.
We are all going out to dinner tonight, because one of us is leaving tommorow, its sad to see him leave. It becomes like a family here on the 14th floor. Sorry no pictures today but we will put some on tomorrow. Until then....

Sushi Not Shu Shi

Hello again.... Melissa here. George is getting his daily IV and can't type with it. We just came back from an interesting dinner out. We went to a sushi bar and it was awesome. It had a big conveyor belt that the food goes around on and you grab what you want. It was delicious. A really neat experience. George was walking today without anything to hold onto. Just completely on his own. He had an eye test this morning and spent the afternoon in therapy. He had two occupational therapists laughing up a storm. He wears the collar for his speech and it gives little shocks on his throat. He keeps telling them to turn it up and they cannot believe it! They laugh because I guess he likes it kind of strong! We had a few hours of shopping/exploring again this afternoon and we ran into a couple of police dogs- there is a picture above... reminded us of our dog Simon. Next injection is Friday... can't wait! Oh by the way.... Shu Shi means rest, and they say it in therapy... not to be confused with sushi... which we had for dinner. Bye!

Pictures from around Shenzhen

This is a picture of one of the shops selling all the Chinese New Year decorations. Chinese New Year is in February.
This was at a restaurant at the nice hotel across the street where we went for dim sum. Thought these were kind of neat....
Here is George and one of his many antics since we have been here... always the joker...

Day 9 (i think)

Hello- Melissa here again! George is tired but did not want to neglect the blog so he sent in a replacement. He is doing really well. His legs are still very achy but he says it is a good ache. So we'll take it. He was amazing in therapy today. He was walking so well. We normally walk (when without the walker) with his arm around my shoulder and today we walked just holding hands. He was also standing (briefly) on one foot! I am very happy with his progress. Everyone is commenting on how well he is doing. He has also been told that there has been improvement with his speech. It is hard for me to notice things because I am with him all the time, but when others point it out it is very exciting. Above is a picture of George balancing with his therapist Olivia. He can walk these bars without holding on. He goes slowly but he can do it. That is all for now... George will write more soon.

Day 7

I am going on seven days without shaving. I am going to attempt to grow a full beard while i am here. It is driving me crazy it is soo itchy, but it is just the distraction I need. I have started my daily IV of saline and"Chinese Medicine" as it is affectionatley refered to here by most or more accurateley Nerve Growth factor. The internet here is getting faster today the repairmen must be working hard in Taiwan fixing the problem. Melissa and I enjoyed our day off (Sunday is our day free from PT) checking out shops and enjoying the beautiful tee shirt weather. FIRST SIGN OF IMPROVEMENT I AM GETTING MUSCLE ACHES IN MY LEGS THAT I HAVENT FELT IN OVER TEN YEARS.On to a more serious note there are these propane powered bikes that i tried to capture on film but came out as smears (i swear these things do mach) travel very fast. These bikes are very funny looking, they have at least two BBQ propane tanks attached to the back end kind of like saddlebags. We found our first dvd vendor and got some pirated movies. The quality on the one we have watched was not bad. Hopefully the others will be ok too. But for less than $1 each we are not that concerned with quality. All in all it was a good day.... back to the grind for me tomorrow.

Day 6

Firstly, I apologize to all of those who are reading this blog who don’t know me personally, and may not appreciate my extremely sarcastic sense of humour. I am not used to writing to this wide of a reader base. I have the up most faith in Chinese medicine and would not “opt” out of any part of my rehab no matter how uncomfortable. Believe it or not despite my first reaction to the acupuncture I am actually seeing the benefits of it, and it is not very painful. What I can say is that this is a state of the art full service Hospital (to anyone contemplating the journey). All the staff here at Nanshan are fully dedicated to patient care. So yesterday I'm “walking” past the CT department on my way to get an MRI and I noticed out of the corner of my eye I saw someone staring at me. I thought I would stare him down, This guy had a 2x4 sticking out of his head.and he thought a guy with a disturbed gait was interesting!!
Back to my treatment experience. As you know yesterday was my first stem cell implant. It went fairly smoothly except the stem cells were 3 hours late which made the operation at 6:oopm, which made for an interesting night’s sleep. The procedure itself was painless, including the iv which I was worried about. It lasted about 20 minutes and I was sedated so I did not feel anything. Nor do I remember anything. I did my best to remain completely still to avoid the headache that they warn of, but unfortunately I did get one. Once the doctors were in they were able to give me something and it went away pretty quickly. I even made it down to acupuncture where I asked for an extra one in the head which also helped my headache! My therapist Olivia is awesome.

I attached a picture of the room above- notice the windows we have!!! Wall to wall, floor to ceiling- what a view of the city!!!

First Injection- Yay!!!

It is Melissa here writing for George as he is resting up after his first injection. The last couple of days has been pretty crazy and eventful for both of us. Yesterday George had to go for some "routine" tests. We went for an MRI, an ankle x-ray, and what they called a "muscle test". This test was a little more intense than he thought, and he found it rather uncomfortable. I think the worst part was that he was not expecting it. But he puts up with it all without complaint- I am very proud of him.

Today he had his usual therapy, including a new one- speech therapy, which involves tiny shocks to his throat. He has the therapists laughing with his good spirits. I ventured out alone to the grocery store and bought some food for us to make our own meals. The restaurant food is good but you need some "normal" food every once in awhile. I got a cooking lesson from one of the other ladies here who is from Thailand. It was delicious fried rice!

George had his first injection today at 6pm. He is back now and resting in the room. He is to lie still completely for 6 hours so he is just trying to fall asleep. It went well it seems. We will see what the next couple of days brings.

We will keep you all posted.

Day four

Today was my first day of physical therapy and let me tell you, they kept me very busy. The acupuncture here is 10 x worse here than it is back home. The needles go in almost 1/2" and to top it off they run electrical current through a machine that makes your body gyrate. Melissa stood there and watched in disbelief that I wasn't crying. Like I've always said: me and pain go way back!!
I don't think I've let you guys in on a little secret of mine. I am deathly afraid of needles, not the kind that just poke you, but the kind that go inside your veins for blood retrieval or an IV.
I almost passed out my first day here from a simple blood test.
On a lighter note we ate McDonalds, it tasted exactly the same as back home, right down to the card board fries!! The drink on the other hand appeared to be a mix Iced tea and flat Coke.
First round of stem cells arrive on Friday...Cant wait

Arrived in Shenzhen (safely)

We are finally here. Air Canada was great! With all of he cutbacks I was expecting a bargain hunters economy flight what we got was 3 good meals (i know im a freak but I love airline food) and some good entertainment. Air china on the other hand was terrible aside from leaving ourr luggage in beijing , the crew watched as Melissa and I struggled carrying the walker up the stairs to board the aircraft. I also didnt know what jetlag was till now. I tried to write my entry on the day we arrived, but all the prompts are in chinese so it took some trial and error to finally get to the posting screen. The internet is extremly slow because of the earthquake in Taiwan.
Everyone here is sooo nice including the patients. So far ive met the Deering sisters, Shannon and Erica and Naomi Merchant who is really positive, and an all around Super gal ( She fell off of her parents unfinished deck and broke her back, thus paralizing her from the waist down.) Just now i met a man named Van from Vanccover who has a daughter with Ataxia who has been here just a couple of weeks showing many Signs of improvements.
Anyway i could write for days about what ive seen but im afraid of running out of material. See ya!!