Hi everyone,
Yesterday after we met with the doctors about Derek having surgery, we took him down to the second floor to have acupuncture. The doctor has been doing acupuncture for 40 years. Derek had to lay on his stomach on a table. The doctor put needles in around the base of the spine and one behind each knee. Then the nurse hitched electricity to all the needles in his back so that he could feel it in his legs. They leave the electricity on for about 30 minutes. The needles are longer that the ones that Derek has had in the United States. They re-use the needles for the Chinese patients because they are very expensive, but the foreigners get to have one time disposable needles.
Derek had physical therapy twice yesterday. They worked some on balancing in a sitting position.
Today is laundry day. If we put our laundry in a plastic bag outside our door around 2:30 on Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday, a laundry service will pick it up and return it to us two days later for a fee. We sent out first load out Monday so we are waiting for them to return it to us today. We'll see how they did and how much it will cost us. Most things are pretty cheap so far. A taxi cab ride to Wal Mart cost us 8 Chinese dollars which is equal to 1 US dollar. We ordered our first traditional Chinese food the other day for lunch. We had pork and celery dumplings and chicken. It only cost us the equivalent of 3 US dollars. Derek thought that it was OK, Nicole loved it, and I thought it was pretty good.
We were up quite a bit through the night last night. Derek is scared about having the surgery here. Nicole and I also have our concerns. He will have to spend two days in the ICU after surgery and we will only be able to visit him certain hours for a certain amount of time. A Canandian girl next door to us had surgery and didn't like her stay in ICU. She says that there pain management if very different here. There are two Australian men with spinal cord injuries in the room two doors down from us. They both had surgery four days ago. We plan to talk with them to discuss our concerns and then we will present them to Tony for him to convey to the doctors and staff. We know that if we don't have the surgery, all the stem cell treatments will probably be a waiste. We will talk to you all again tomorrow. Thanks for the thoughts and prayers. Love, Derek, Nicole & Kathy
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4 comments:
I am so glad to hear that things are going well!! I know it is an intense journey, but I pray that it will be everything that we are all hoping for!
I really miss you Nicole and it sucks we haven't touch base yet. I know you are busy taking care of Derek and being the best sister possible. I am proud of you and your mom and Derek for embarking on this journey.
You are in my thoughts and prayers!
Hi guys- Thank you so much for the updates- It sounds like a culture shock over there! I want you all to know that we KNOW Derek will be just fine. Keep the faith right?
Dustin's off snowmobiling, we are getting more snow here on Thursday/Friday, FUN! Love McKenzie
YOu all are truly amazing with all your updates and letting us know all that you are going through. What decisions you have to make---I am so glad that there are other people that you can talk to who are going through a similiar situation. There was a great piece on NBC Nightly News about monkeys, robots, and technology helping people who are paralyzed to walk again. You truly have to write a book with all the information that you have learned---there is so much to learn, and you are certainly in a place to learn so much. Our thoughts and prayers are with each of you. Lots of love, Jill
Thinking of you always.
XOXOXO Morgan
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