What Happens in China...Stays in China

Well...let me tell you something about China......waiting...waiting Na could'nt think of anything intelligent to say. The main reason for this blog entry is to talk seriously about my current medical condition known as SCA III or Machado-Joseph Disease. At this moment my head appears to be clearing up (Ataxia Patients refer to it as "a buzz" or "dizziness" that won't go away) I am watching TV without any glasses and i can walk short distances without support. This is all I expected from this treatment (all though I am going to continue to train myself to walk longer distances) i am not confident enough to drive during daylight-because of my random eye spasms. I see my neurologist in the next couple of days and I have a flurry of questions for him. Its not every day that an ataxian gets to talk to another ataxian while riding the stationary bike.
To sum it all up this is our last night here in Shenzhen. Thats why it may be a psycho-sematic response to treatment (I'm my own toughest critic) Pretty brutal eh? Im on the verge of passing out so I'm gonna rap it up here. We leave at 6:00am and its 11:30pm local time

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