Betty’s MS Blog

THe daughter’s perspective

June 9th, 2007

HI everyone, it’s Veronica writing at 1:48 am on Saturday. It’s a ritual for me, getting up at 12:30 am over here. Haven’t been able to break it (regardless of how much wine I drink
I can’t believe Mom and I are leaving in 3 days. At this point, I feel like we are here for the other patients. Mom has had her last stem cell injection (Wednesday) and she’s going to accupuncture and physical therapy twice a day still. She has off on Sunday. She has had such miraculous results, her double vision is completely gone and her eyes are not “tracking” like they used to (her right eye was mostly). Looks like her neurologist back home is going to have some work ahead of him (he told mom if the stem cell treatment could do anything for her vision, he’d fill this place up). Her balance is awesome, she can go up steps without having anything to hold on to (which makes Shou hua happy since we’re not supposed to touch anything when we are outside
We are going shopping for 4 hours at a time and mom is just keeping up, not even getting tired (unless the humidity is horrible outside, then she gets overheated and has to rest). She couldn’t even walk to the corner of our street at home and her leg would start going numb. It’s truly amazing. Like I said, she has had such miraculous results, I feel like at this point we are here for the other patients and Beike to help spread the word and try and get people over here who need it but can’t afford it.

We went shopping downtown yesterday with our neighbor Marty (her brother is here from Oregon) and our hospital friend Camilla. Camilla works for the hospital and gets us great bargins (she can spot onyx that’s trying to be passed off as Jade and she knows where the good food is! We were so exhausted when we got home we figured that it was time to go back and visit the Red Hair Salon (you know the one where you can go get your hair shampooed and your head, neck, and shoulders massaged for and hour for 3 dollars and fifty cents!). We ran into our new American neighbors from Illinois on the way down, and we kidnapped Deb (her husband is here for treatment) for her first “red hair” experience.

We had a little communication problem (imagine that) and I think we all got the “ritz carlton” package with an extra egg white milk facial and some kind of cow bone tool massage, but in the end it still only costs 6 dollars instead of 3.50! (2 1/2 hours later). They really do a great job with cleaning your face. YOur laying down and they use the washcloth over your eyes to fountain the water over your nose…the girl i had before was so good at it. Last night as i’m thinking “how in the world do they do this….” i’m drowning in Shenzhen tap water up my nose! So naturally the OCD kicks in and i’m laying there wondering what kind of “microbes” are now floating in my NOT foreign diesease resistant body! Looks like I picked the wrong time to get off my meds! AFter about 20 minutes i was able to think of something else and enjoy the remainder of my “massage time”. Jessie, i’m afraid you wouldn’t last a day and we’d have to put you on a plane! I love my little sister, she makes me look not so “neurotic”. What is it with those Gulley boys?

This place is really a trip. If any of you have even been downtown New Orleans and experienced Charity hospital and it’s surroundings, that’s pretty much where we are. Two exceptions, theres 7 million people here in the same space and there’s no crime. It’s really counterintuitive to us “Americans”. We’re in a huge downtown area and we can safely walk the streets at 10 o’clock at night.

I finally got my luggage and it was a real treat to put on clothes that were washed at home. No dryers here, and nothing smells good (you know when you leave your laundry in the dryer overnight - not a word Doug Gulley) that’s what the clothes smell like when they come back from the laundry. Nothing dries here! I’ve taken lots of pictures of the apartment complexes, because out on every balcony is everyone’s laundry! Doesn’t matter if it’s the old ones that look like they should be torn down, or the skyscraper ones right behind them, laundry everywhere!).

We also found out that you don’t tip over here. It’s actually an insult if you can believe it. Although Jason and I found out that you can tip bartenders by buying them drinks to drink with you OUr friends at the Sign Bar “educated” us. The people here are wonderful. They are so nice and genuinely just want to please (if they can figure out what you’re asking for!). The hospital staff is absolutely wonderful. Mom and I are going to send them an English - Chinese phonetic dictionary. This would be very helpful (mine came in the day i left, thank you amazon).

OK, promise more pictures tomorrow, my neighbor Marty has the download on her computer so i’ll spend time with her tomorrow getting pics from the last few days. We miss home so much but obviously wouldn’t trade this experience for the world! I have my mom back! Can’t wait for ya’ll to see her. She’s like a giddy school girl, or a 5 year old on Christmas morning. Hope is a beautiful thing.

Love to all,

Veronica

Entry Filed under: Uncategorized