July 26 Anniversary

Viv's Happy 40th Anniversary from China

Today is Viv and Norm’s 40 th Wedding Anniversary: She’s in China, he’s at home in Nanoose Bay, Vancouver Island. Congratulations and Best Wishes to you both from all the family.
Thank you for setting your celebration plans aside so that Viv could be with Art and Marguerite during this journey. We are very grateful.

Sat July 26: Art says he’s Back !!!!!

Walking on the parallel bars

[caption id="attachment_251" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="Say \"Uncle\"!"][/caption]

Working up a sweat with James

He’s back Yeah!!!!!!!!!!!!.

Well Art’s back to work at physio again . He received stem cells from his Bone marrow yesterday via Lumbar puncture. We kept him on Ibuprofen the whole day ,prevention being the name of the game. He was pale all day but no fevers and upper arm strength remained good . After a night’s sleep he woke up feeling rested ,colour good, and his energy level back to normal for now. The morning physio went well with Art able to assist with all exercises. He did well walking with assistance on parallel bars. The messages between brain and feet seem to be co-operating . I was impressed ,looks like his millions of stem cells from his bone marrow transplantation are working. Check out the photos from this morning ’s physio.

Art’s happy his infection is finished and energy back as he has a full week coming up. His schedule for next week came today and he’s booked for three stem cell infusions :Monday, stem cell number 5 infusion by IV, Wednesday stem cell number 6 by LP ,Friday, Bone Marrow Puncture in a.m. and stem cell number 7 in the afternoon by IV. The mornings are all booked for physio with James.
We’re so excited about his recovery we’re trying to book the van for all three of us to visit West Lake’s scenic areas again. There are many Temples, parks, dancing waters, Starbucks (yeah! ), etc. to visit. We’re hoping to go after 4 pm as it is impossibly hot and humid during the day.
Tomorrow, as long as Art is still feeling well and independent ,Viv and I are booked for the morning to visit the Silk Market ,with Cathy and Christine, both from Saskatchewan, .

Thank-you loads for all the comments ,we really enjoy hearing from you.

Art Viv and Marguerite

Bone Marrow transplant received at last!

Art with Dr Mary, Marguerite and Joanne going in for bone marrow infusion

After a very challenging past week with fever and postponements ,Art is stable and received his bone marrow transplant at 11:00 AM this Fri. the 25 of July. It went very well and he was back in his room 20 min. later.
He now is resting and cannot get up for 6 hours.
He has received wonderful care from the doctors and staff here.
Before the nurse took his temperature today he told her 36.5 – She left laughing, as he was right on.

Marguerite has been outstanding (earned another pair of angel wings) and we
have sent her back to the hotel to shower and re-energize.

Dr Mary and Dr Sword both checked on Art and explained that depending on the individual, the bone marrow transplant can give up to 5 to 10 times more stem cells than the umbilical cord Stem Cell transplant, which can be around 100,000,000. They feel Art is a very good candidate for a second Bone Marrow transplant, and are confident there is enough time between the two. Art is glad he thought of it early enough.
They are very proud of these large numbers, which seems to set them apart from many of the other stem cell researchers.

They are very busy here and surprisingly, most patients have family members accompaning them who are nurses.

Intercultural Evening July 22

Beike Staff at Romanian Party

[caption id="attachment_234" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="Romanian Party"][/caption]At the present time there are a large number of patients and families from Romania. Together with Beike, they organized an Intercultural evening. We received the following written invitation with a picture of all the different flags:
“We happily have the pleasure to announce to you that today, the 22nd of July 2008, in the afternoon, at 16:00, we will meet –all together — in the amusement room,to both take, and be part of our intercultural evening, where we will have the pleasure to share with you some interesting facts about our country Romania, some traditional dishes and a general intermingling of everyone in the hospital. We should all remember we all share the same planet and what affects each of us affects all of us, as we are all part of the “big game ” called life.
We thank you for your understanding and presence.
We count on you ! “
They had been preparing dishes a good part of the day and organized a lovely get together . Many of the doctors,nurses and support staff attended with most of the patients and their families . After eating which included Chinese beer which was very good, they showed us a couple of videos of Romania on their computer. Unfortunately Art didn’t feel well enough to attend but he did enjoy the meal we brought him.

Thur. July 24

Arrangments have been finalized for the second bone marrow transplant .Art says he’s not coming back until he has that second Bone marrow ,which now appears to have 1.2 billion stem cells . He likes the idea of a very large number of stem cells busy doing their repair work.

Art’s temperature is normal today but his strength has not returned.which is a concern. He will get his bone marrow cells tomorrow, barring any unforeseen problem . As long as his temperature is normal ,we should be ok. Hopefully the stem cells will give him renewed energy so he can continue with his physio .

Art’s appetite is still ok so we’re hopeful this is a temporary setback. Mind you Marguerite has put put both Art and herself on a diet, so they should be much lighter on return to Canada. Marguerite has told Art she is his personal dietition while they are in China and for next 75 days. On return Art will be off white flour ,sugar ,red meat ,orange juice, and potatoes. All fresh fruit is allowed ,yogurt allowed but no other dairy products. A few exceptions will be allowed, of course.
Viv has been spending extra time sending energy to Art. It’s great having all three of us here . We’re busy most of the time with Art, but when he’s stable we take off while he’s resting for short periods , The last five days we’ve stayed close to the hospital with him as he needs our support and strength during this infection. as it’s been very draining on him .
Chinese food has run it’s course ,we have been cooking our own food for the past week. Believe me that ’s not so easy as all the chicken and fish we see at the store looks unappealing to us. The chickens still have their heads on ,while the fish are rather small with many bonesto choke on..All in all we’re becoming vegetarians . The good news is the eggs are tasty even tho they come stacked one on top of the other and need washing as many are broken . They put a dozen or more eggs in a little plastic bag for you. The trick is to get them home without any breaking on you ,hoping the rickshaw ride isn’t too rough ,which could be dangerous as we usually carry them in our purses .

We’ve been enjoying the company of other people here and have many good laughs retelling our adventures of the day.

July 24 Happy Birthday Andy

Birthday Greetings for Andy

we’re thinking of you ,wishing we were able to party with you for the big 70. Happy,Happy Birthday Andy . We’re sending you a Birthday picture of us standing with a good luck Fan behind us , The Fan has chinese characters on it that stand for Good Luck and Prosperity.

Wed July 23

It was another very difficult night with Art spiking a temperature on and off throughout the night. Dr. Sword visited him at two am and ordered IV medications to help him battle this infection. Jo-anne, his chinese nurse ,was wonderful ; bathing him and helping me change his wet sheets from the fever. His fever broke this morning at about 5 am and we both slept in until 8 am .
He was ready for a shower and had just enough energy to get it done . Needless to say Art missed his physio with James ,which he hates to do.
Dr. Michael saw Art first thing on his rounds ,listened to his chest, checked his throat and ordered a blood test. His wbc is quite elevated so he’s started him on Iv antibiotics and Iv fluids with nutrients he says contain Vitamin B6 and vitamic C. He feels Art will soon be fit again and ready to continue with the treatments. His bone marrow infusion now will be given on Friday, if all is well again. Art says lets get on with the show, he’s tired of this bug that’s got him down. Viv and I will second that .

Tomorrow we’re sure he will be energized and ready for James again.
It will take more then a little bug to keep Art down for long .

Flower Market and Wushan Square

Viv and Marguerite at Wushan Square

[caption id="attachment_209" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="Orchid Market"][/caption]

Flower Market arrangement

[caption id="attachment_196" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="Serving of Chinese Tea"][/caption]

Ancient Chinese Tea Shop

While Art rested on Sun Marguerite and I shared a cab visiting a flower market and Wushan Square. We went with Rami from Saudi Arabia (family lives in Ireland) who is here with his 13 year old son with Autism . He very kindly showed us the market and took us for some Chinese tea. We had Jasmine tea served with dried fruit and nuts and some fresh vegetables. The serving of the tea was very entertaining as the pictures will show.
Viv

Chinese Medicine for Marguerite

Marguerite's acupuncture treatment

[caption id="attachment_187" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="Marguerite with hickey from cupping"][/caption]

Cupping on Marguerite

James ,Art’s physiotherapist, does acupuncture and cupping with his chinese medecine ,so she asked him if he could do my neck for her . Last summer they were in an small accident where she ended up with a whiplash injury . James first of all did acupuncture to her neck and shoulders ,placing 20 needles in all, attaching 10 to the acupuncture stimulator for 30 mins. He then did some massaging followed by a heat application with a bag of chinese medication heated up for 50 minutes . Then he returned to start the cupping , He lights a flame to remove air from the inside of the cup, creating a vaccum, which he then placed (9 cups) on her neck and shoulders. They stayed suctioned until they turned red and black then he said ‘they’re done’, (about 10 minutes ).Following this he removed the cups then gave her a very deep massage adjusting her neck like a chiropractor would do, putting her neck back into alignment . That completed her treatment . She was left with several round hickey looking circles ,hopefully to be absorbed within a week. The pictures tell the story. Her neck does feel better now but will let you know how effective it was next week . All this treatment for 120 Yuan (18.00 cn.) only .

Migraine headache treated

Acupuncture for migraine

Art had a migraine so we asked for acupuncture instead of an Imitrex, (his headache medication). We didn’t want him to have any Imitrex in case the side effects made him weak, as we need him strong and moving on his own. Hopefully the antibiotics will work quickly,and get him back to normal. The Bone marrow will be postponed until Thursday, as we do not want all those good stem cells used up to heal a sore throat. They need to do other repair jobs. James put 20 accupuncture needles total, from top of head to the exits from hands and feet.There are 6 acupuncture needles attached to electrical stimulator for 30 mins. Art says he’s being very careful not to move any facial muscles (no smiling for this treatment ). Hopefully It will work well.