Update 1/28/08

Sorry about not getting the update to you yesterday. We couldn't get the internet.
Hi Everyone,
This morning the doctor came in to change Derek’s bandage on the surgery site. It is over the incision site of his original surgery. It is about six inches long and sewn up with stitches, not staples. I was glad to get a look at it.
Nicole took a taxi to the train station this morning to pick Whitney up and bring her back to the hospital to spend a couple of days with us. It is great to have Whitney here because she speaks fluent Chinese. We want her to stay the rest of the time that we’re here.
They continued giving IV fluids one bottle after another all day long. After Whitney got here, we had her ask the nurse what the bottle of yellow fluid was. The nurse told her that it was Ying and Yang. We knew what this was, but didn’t know that you could get it in a bottle. Derek had the nurse take the IV out of his foot tonight because his legs have had more spasms then normal. It has been too hard trying to keep from pulling the IV out every time his legs spasm. The nurse said that they will have to put another one in tomorrow, so Derek wants them to put it in his left hand.
Late afternoon, Whitney, Nicole, and I took a taxi to a store called Callefore. It is a French chain store with a lot of imported items. The taxi driver told Whitney that there were six of them in the city, so she told him to take us to the nearest one. It was about a fifteen minute taxi drive. We saw another part of the city that we haven’t seen before. It was a much more upscale section of the city. It had the largest hospital, a university, and many upscale stores and restaurants. The store was like a mall on the first two floors, the grocery store on the third floor and we didn’t even go to the fourth floor. It was great going with Whitney because she could tell us what items were, ask questions to salespeople , show us items that she likes from here, and order us food that is prepared for you while you wait. We had a feast when we got back to the hospital on the food that we had cooked for us, vegetable fritters and a roasted chicken. Nicole said that it was the best food she has had in Shenyang. It wasn’t as good as she had in Beijing, but the best from here. We think that two guys attempted to pick pocket us while we were exiting the store. Luckily Nicole was behind Whitney and I and picked up on them. She shoved one of them out of the way. They didn’t get anything and we were fine.
Lucy took Ben and Paul to the forbidden city today. They couldn’t go inside because it wasn’t handicap accessible, but they bought a lot of souvenirs. They brought them in to show us tonight and we treated them to ice cream that we had bought.
Nicole and Whitney have gone to the hotel for the night and Derek and I are getting ready for bed. Love to all and we’ll write again tomorrow. Love, Derek, Kathy, Nicole and Whitney