Update 1/17/08

Hello,
Nicole wanted me to let people know that they should not have to create a google account to leave messages any more. You should be able to just click on comment and write one. We appreciate the ones that we have received. We can't get them on our computers, but Shane copies them and sends them to us each day. It is great to hear from home.
Derek started having spasms in his stomach the night before last. This is new, but we don't know what is causing them. He says that they hurt and are irritating. Last night he said that he had a funny feeling in his left calf. Kind of like a tingling or spasm, but when Nicole felt it, she said that she could feel it spasm and she could also feel it contract. It is weird with Spinal Cord Injuries; things are always changing and quite often unexplainable.
After breakfast yesterday, they took Derek down to the 8th floor to take his bone marrow out of his hip. They go in thru his back. They will cleanse it and let the nerve cells regenerate for one week before they put in back into his spinal cord at the time of his surgery. After the procedure he had to come back and lay flat on his back for four hours and eat protein. He could not have acupuncture or therapy yesterday.
Derek is getting very bored, as we all are. We made him a calandar and put in on the wall next to his bed so that he could keep track of his schedule times and dates. We cross the date and procedure off when done. We are beginning to think that we should take it down because he looks at it all the time and complains that we have only been here five days so far. We downloaded Family Fued on the computer. We spend a lot of time playing it to keep ourselves occuppied. We will probably know all the questions and answers by the time we leave.
They brought our laundry back yesterday. For one 13 gallon trash bag, it cost 160 Chinese dollars or $20 US. Now we know why all the Chinese wear the same clothes for two to three days in a row. We have decided that we need to start doing like the Chinese. They are very thrifty and don't waste much. They don't turn lights on in the hospital until they need them at night, conserve their water, limit the hot water, and recycle. A lesson that I suppose we all could stand to learn from them.
We met two Australian men, Ben and Paul, who are both parapolegics two doors down from us. They both had surgery four days ago, so we went to talk to them about our concerns for Derek having surgery, the ICU and the Chinese pain management. They were helpful and reassured us. They told Derek that the damage has already been done and the surgery was his best shot to make the stem cells work. They said that the surgery wasn't that painful and that they had a morphine pump which allowed them adequate pain relief. They said that the worst part of having surgery is having to stay in bed for ten days without getting out. They don't get to have any acupuncture or therapy. If Derek is bored now, the ten days of nothing is going to be a drag. They had watched what DVD were available here, so we lent them the ones that we brought that we had already watched. A lot of the ones we brought we can't use because they are not formatted for the Chinese DVD player. Ben and Paul came to China by themselves with no caregiver. We are amazed and don't know how they got thru the airports by themselves. They hired a Chinese care giver. He calls himself Chicken Little. He stays in their room 24 hours a day and sleeps on a fold up army style cot. He doen't speak english. They have to pay him 50 Chinese dollars a day and buy his meals. They told Derek, "Don't be afraid of the op, Mate".
Nicole and I ventured out to Wal Mart by ourselves today via taxi. We got Lucy to write down the directions to and from in Chinese for the taxi driver. We took our time going up and down the aisles. We found quite a few American brand item such as Hormel bacon and ham, Nestle's ice creams, Pringles, Gatorade, Pepsi, Coke, Maxwell house instant coffee. Lay's makes potato chips here, but you should see the flavors; like cuccumber, shrimp, fruit flavored, mexican steak and a lot more. Nicole bought the cuccumber. We all tried them and didn't think they were very good. When Nicole read the ingredients, they didn't even have cuccumber in them. We did see that they have a McDonalds down the street that is across from Wal Mart. We might try it before we leave.
Well, that's about all for now. We'll talk again tommorow. Love to all, Derek, Nicole and Kathy