Update 1/19/08

Hello,
We had quite a day yesterday. We got Derek up and ready for acupunture. He doesn't have physical therapy today because Timmy has the day off. He says that it is to sleep.
At noon Lucy took us by taxi to Middle Street which is the shopping mega of Shenyang with lots of stores and malls. We knew one of the malls was handicap accessible because the Australians had gone a week ago and told us all about it. Derek was on the persuit of buying some new sneakers. Derek sat in the front of the cab and Nicole, Lucy and I squeezed in the back seat with some of the wheelchair parts and the remainder of the wheelchair was in the truck which would not close. We were really afraid that the wheelchair was going to fall out as we went over the bumpy streets and weaved in and out of traffic. The taxi driver stopped once in the middle of the road to try and adjust the wheelchair and trunk hood, but to no avail. When we got unloaded on the very busy street, Lucy pointed out where the malls were and helped us cross the street. No easy feet here. There are four lanes of traffic all going the same way with no crossing walks or traffic lights. Everybody just takes their life in there hands and walks out into traffic weaving between moving vehicles and hopes that the vehicle will slow down long enough for you to get to the next lane. Lucy agreed to pick us up in three hours at the same spot that she had dropped us off. After leaving Lucy, we attemped to find the big mall that everyone had told us about. The first thing that we noticed was that every store had multiple steps and no ramps to get you inside. After standing in the middle of the busy street pondering what to do next, we saw some police officers and tried to communicate to them a ramp for the wheelchair. They finally helped us carry Derek and the wheelchair up a large set of stairs. Once inside, Nicole and I made a purchase and communicated with the salesperson that we needed an elevator and were looking for the floor with sneakers. She took us to the elevator and signaled the third floor. We kept trying the third floor but the elevator wouldn't stop on three. It would only go to 1, 4, or 5. We rode up and down several times and had people help us, but it kept doing the same thing. So we got off and tried the second elevator, but the same thing happened. We finally got off on the 5th floor only to find the entire floor was coats. The fourth floor was childrens and a playground. Giving up on this mall, we found a ramp to the outdoors by the elevators. Upon exiting, we found that we ended up in a parking lot and could not get back down to the main street because there were stairs with posts just wide enough for a person to fit through not a wheelchair. Finding no other way out, we went through the parking lot and down a side street and a bumpy, filthy alley to get back to the main street. We went by a lot of vendors who cook different foods and sell them right on the street. We kept walking and tryed other stores by people helping us lug Derek up the steps to get in, but once in we found that they had no elevators only escalators. We could see an elevator from the street in one department store, so once again got help to get Derek in. There was a Starbucks in the store which we all got something hot to drink. One of the girls working there was very nice and could speak quite a bit of English. She showed us where the elevator was, but once again you had to go up stairs to get to it and then the door at the top of the stairs was too narrow for the wheelchair. I am beginning to think that they need some good architects here. The girl went and got a manager to help us. He thought that we wanted the ramp to get us outside so he took us out throught the back of the building to an alley. We conveyed that we wanted an elevator to go up stair to find sneakers. Derek was looking for some Nikes. He put us on a service elevator. When we got to the sixth floor, the Nike section was closed for renovations. Back down the service elevator and out into the back alley. It is very dirty in those alleys. We continued walking and looking for any store we could get into with not much luck. I found a ramp at one mall around the side of the building but no way to get there other than going through the store which had many steps. We were cold and at a loss as what to do. We tryed making calls to the hospital to get Lucy but couldn't catch up with her. We finally found just a Nike store with a couple of steps. The sales clerks helped us carry Derek in. He picked out a pair of sneakers. They cost more here where they are made than in the states. But we had worked so hard, we were going to let him get them anyway. We showed them his size out of his sneakers. When the salesperson came back he had a size 10 US. We said no and again told him what size. Several of the salesperson were watching now and all said that they don't make them that big. It would have been nice to know ahead of time that they don't sell sneakers in larger sizes. We gave up the shopping idea and went to a nearby McDonalds. I ordered two Big Mac value meals and one chicken sandwich meal for Derek. We had to eat them out in the cold because of all the stairs. Like most things here, they are small. With a value meal you get a small fry and small coke. Derek didn't eat his sandwhich because it was to spicey and ate most of my Big Mac. It was good at the time, but later in the evening Nicole became very sick and still doesn't feel well. Lucy showed up while we were at McDonalds and we proceeded to try to hale a taxi. This brings on another whole dilema since the taxis are small and they do not like to take the time to stop for wheelchairs. Paul had warned us about this previously. The other part that makes it hard is that they don't believe in waiting there turn for anything. We have seen this in the airports and stores. There are no lines or waiting your turn. They reach in front of you, push, shove and we have even seen them fight and hollar. We finally told Lucy to tell the cab driver that we would pay double if he would take us. After a long time Lucy convinced one to take us. All the while people are hovering over us hoping that the driver won't take us and they can jump in. Once again we rode home hoping Derek's chair would still be in the back when we arrived at the hospital. When we got back to our room, we immediately started heating stuff in the microwave to warm Derek's feet and legs. It took a while. I am in no hurry to rush back out to souvenier shop. Three hours with no luck. Afterwards I asked Lucy what people do after they get injured and end up in a wheelchair. She said that they don't work and they don't go out. They just stay in their house. How sad it that. We did get to see some of their culture and surroundings. Another tidbit: There are no public restrooms here, so it would make it hard to do a full day of shopping like we do at home.
We had Lucy order us Chinese food again for supper and again didn't get our correct order.
We met a girl from Canada, Naomi. She is here with her father. She is a parapelegic who is 10 days out from surgery for the removal of a cyst. Everyone on the floor including her father have been saying for a week what a wimp she is. She is constantly asking for pain medicine.
We borrowed some DVDs from the hospital and are planning on putting one on and hitting the bed.
Michael, to answer your question, the needles don't hurt when they put them in Derek's neck.
Love to all, Derek, Nicole and Kathy