We are home and all is well. Jeff has had very positive results from the bone marrow treatment and the other treatments as well. The doctors and Jeff concur that this will be an ongoing process as the results seem to get better with each treatment. While we were there we ran into many patients that were there for their 2nd and 3rd treatments and we saw some pretty miraculous stuff happening with those that had had multiple treatments.
We survived the 24 hour flying trip and will probably be back to 100% about this time next week. Odd isn’t it that we do nothing for a month except lay around and pamper and then one little ole 24 hour flying day just knocks the wind out of you. But, needless to say we are very happy to be home in the best city in the world!
Thanks again to everybody that stayed in touch, whether you blogged or not…I know there were some silent followers.
The day we left, the entire hospital staff came in to touch Jeff one last time. He was undoubtedly the hospital favorite!!!! How could he not be?!? He is infectiously positive and cheerful and they certainly enjoyed having his brand of fun and sunshine in Hangzhou, China! They were all just unbelievably fantastic to us and made us (almost) regret leaving!
So, this is it until the next time, which I promise you there will be a next time!
Pics of the staff are posted on flickr
xoxo
J&S
February 6th, 2009
We’re here! I have posted the last of the pics on flickr and I will get back here one more time to give everyone a summation this afternoon…just a bit fuzzy this am!
xoxo
J&S
February 5th, 2009
Well here we are in Hangzhou Hospital. Jeff lays in his bed with acupuncture needles from head to toe while I am doing cobra pose (yoga) in the corner…are we not so Asian!?!!!!!
We considered delaying our return home to get a whiff of the Lantern Festival…but, we are just going to come on home as scheduled.
Mother dearest…we will be getting on the airplane in Hangzhou today at 4:00pm which will be 2:00am your time. We will land in Korea at 7:00pm. We leave Korea at 8:00pm. We arrive in Los Angeles as 1:40pm (still working on Wednesday). This is where the big layover comes into play. We leave LA at 7:15pm and arrive in Austin at 12:05 on Thursday morning to old people, which would be Wednesday night to young people. So, I hopefully will see you at breakfast time on Thursday morning!!!!
Kristen, if you are not leaving town on Thursday, you can have your shift. But, if you are leaving…I would love to work it. I do not want to work it if you are still going to be around. Just so you know where my head is at. Thanks for everything!
xoxo
J&S
February 4th, 2009
The oops I forgot person is Robert. Thanks for taking care of the HOB while we are gone and even when we are there!!!!!
I have posted some pics on flickr. Jeff and I went for a walk and ended up in this restaurant that we keep ending up in (front door back door and side door). We have hit them all. So, we have had the same meal three times…it’s the scary waitress (Ellen from Qingdao) of restaurants!!!!
Check out the pics. There are canals here everywhere and to hide them they put up these concrete walls and then paint public service messages on them. I have thoroughly enjoyed interpreting what I think they are going for…you see what you think they are trying to tell the peeps!
xoxo
J&S
February 3rd, 2009
Greetings All! Once upon a time I wrote the most fabulous blog ever. That was when the blog site went down and it disappeared. In it I gave our thanks to all of you for keeping us in touch with the Western world. So, here are our thanks once again, but I fear they won’t be as eloquent as they originally were…
Thanks to Kelly for feeding my parents with food and gossip. First and foremost, my mom needs gossip. She is accustomed to getting the Hudson’s gossip with her morning coffee (and believe me she gets the unedited juicy version…what’s that word Phillip you apply to my story telling style?…having a lapse). We love you Kelly! Great thanks!
Thanks can’t even cover it to you Phillip Dubov!!!! You have given us a weekly movie version of the happy faces we miss from Hudson’s! That was the sunshine in our hearts…you have our undying devotions and we love you too! Great thanks!
Thanks Addie for keeping us on task and attempting to keep me in line…difficult duty! We love you a whole lot!!!! Great thanks!
Thanks to Blake for managing the managers…I know you are always on the job! We love you too! Great thanks!
Thanks to Kristen for working all those extra shifts and moving plants around and keeping us on top of the real gossip! We love you! Great thanks!
Thanks to Jeff Christiansen for keeping up with us and sending kisses…yet no hugs…really which one is most sanitary?!? Gosh we love you too! Great thanks!
Thanks to Grama and Gramps for being our most devoted bloggers. I am sorry that you have to hit it every day or else you get the call. Who knew I was a worrier?!? We love y’all most of all!!! Great thanks!
Mary Millwee thanks once again for representing for the Red Jackets Mom Association! I love you mucho!!! Great thanks!
Kay, thanks for keeping it G-rated! We love you too! Great thanks!
Nora, Rocky, Kevin, .16, Corydawg, Brett, Ryan, Dave, Rosi, Aman, Paulino, Chuy, Ruben, Joel, James, Dennen, Bobby, Amy, Antny(?), Evan, Eleodoro, Justin, Gray, Jared, Nela, and I am dead certain I forgot someone…woops to you…we can’t wait to get home and push you around in a true Chinese fashion!
Yesterday Jeff had his easiest spinal of them all! They got in to the spot in 30 minutes! The doctors were all very happy! I cooked dinner for the last time, probably ever in my life…cheese and crackers (two kinds of cheese) for an pass around appetizer washed down with sprite and then for an entree we had spaghetti with Italian Sausage paired with apple juice and then Dove bar squares for dessert washed down with a bold Starbucks blend. Yeah!
We watched ‘Charade’, ‘Easy Rider’, and ‘Weeds’ until the wee hours (that would 9pm for us)!
Today we will take a walk and find somewhere new and hopefully unusual for lunch and then order in for dindin!
Til manana!
xoxo
J&S
February 3rd, 2009
Happy Super Bowl Sunday! Rest assured, we are doing lots of fireworks today in celebration…well Jeff & I personally are not doing it but our Chinese friends have it under control…since 5:00 this morning.
Chinese person’s to do list…
1. Set alarm for 5am
2. Get up and set out fireworks
3. Make hot tea
4. Fireworks ignited by 5:30am
(You get the picture)
Yesterday we went for our farewell pinching and scraping and foot bath and got the best one yet.
Then we walked over to the new restaurant that I had found during the run…the Japanese restaurant. We walked in and discovered that we were walking in the back door of a restaurant that we had entered through the front door 3 1/2 weeks earlier. It happened to be one of the best meals we have had, so we went for it again. It was the Japanese Chef’s tasting menu. The chef cooks for you table-side Benihana style. It was delicious and fun and we got pics with the chef. He was happy to see us upon our return and took good care of us!
We walked home amid the evening fireworks and called it a night with another Steve Martin movie…”All of Me”.
Today Jeff has his last stem cell treatment at 2:30pm. So, I’ll be cooking tonight!
CU Soon!!
xoxo
J&S
PS restaurant pics posted on flickr
February 2nd, 2009
The blog comes and goes so don’t give up on it. Had another 8 hour dark period, but the light is shining again.
Check flickr for picture updates…
Yesterday Jeff had no visits from any of the hospital staff. We got Sam to drive us to West Lake about lunch time and we went back to the delicious Indian Restaurant and took pics and had another delicious curried lunch. Mother, I was telling him about your curry (which by the way is equal to theirs) and he wants you to whip up a batch for the next big family event if you are so inclined.
The weather was gorgeous, sunny and warm. We ate and then we walked the hood and took lots of pictures. Then we went to the famous Pagoda here…LeiFing or something along those lines. We actually went up and down the steps and Jeff is still virtually pain free in his feet. Then we stopped at Starbucks and re-stocked for the next couple of days and had a personalized venti 5 shot 1 pump sugar free vanilla soy latte and ooooh was it good. We have been drinking a lot of green tea. In fact, (Addie this will amuse you) I can smell it on both of us as it is oozing out of our pores.
Last night we ordered Chinese delivery and watched movies.
.16 your scarf is done, so I think we will head on home very soon!
Today we will go for our last pinching, scraping foot bath and dinner at a Japanese restaurant in then neighborhood. Again, it is a warm, beautiful, sunny sunny day!
Love you all and can’t wait to get home!
xoxo
J&S
February 1st, 2009
In response to brother dear, I too thought that I had crossed the line and we were incommunicado…I had described the New Year’s Eve fireworks with very arsenal type language. But, it seems we have been forgiven!
The weather here has been delightful. If it is raining–it is warm and if the sun comes out–it is cold, dry and brisk. Yesterday was a rainy and warm morning (running time) and then as the day wore on the sun came out and the wind whipped up and it became that brisk mountain air that we love. Sometimes it feels like we are in Aspen!!! We saw on the Chinese news that the southern states in the US have had severe ice storms and won’t have power until mid-February?…where is that?
Jeff has gotten much useful information from the doctors this go round. He has a better idea how to maintain his growth from the stem cells and how to enhance the progress. All around, it just feels like he has gotten so many more benefits from this trip.
Yesterday we went to the RTMart mall and shopped to wrap up gift giving and had lots of laughs. It is so much nicer when we go out together. I do spend a lot of time ‘out there’ by myself. The people here are just so curious to see Westerners. Jeff and I were in the elevator and ran into a bloke that had just gotten here from England with his daughter who is in a wheelchair. He was returning from his maiden voyage to RT Mart and got so angry at the rudeness (his interpretation) of the Chinese that he left empty handed and was still explosively mad in the elevator. I explained to him that it was not necessarily rude, but could be interpreted as curious…he didn’t buy it. Anyway, that is something that you hear on this floor often from us Westerners. The culture here is just so completely different on the manners front. I don’t think they have the time or the space for what we consider polite. But, it is something I will treasure forever…the shopping trips to RT Mart where people ram into me with their carts…just says I love you to me. Enough on that…
…At 4:00pm Jack (hospital driver) drove us to West Lake to eat at an Indian restaurant that I found while googling….Haveli. Oh my curried goodness, it was the best meal that Jeff and I have ever ever ever had in our entire lives. It was so not Chinese food. It was the most adorably decorated restaurant…right down to the bathrooms!
(Oh, by the way, Jeff did not have a treatment on Friday so my predicted calendar is all askew. We are just going with the flow ’til Wednesday.)
We came home and watched the last of our ‘Heroes’ season two and then watched the movie “Fool for Love”.
Today we have a free day and who knows….
See y’all in 5 days!
xoxo
J&S
January 31st, 2009
As you have all deduced by now, the blog site crashed for the luna new year! And this is a holiday that lasts and lasts and lasts. They are vague about the length of the holiday…keeping it in the gray area…some say 15 days and some say a month. So the web site fixer guy finally showed back up yesterday and we are back in bidness.
Catch up time. Monday must have been New Year’s Eve and what a sight it was! The fireworks have been amazing and everlasting since the minute we got here…day and night and day and night…but on New Year’s Eve…baby you ain’t seen nothin! It started at 4pm and at midnight there was an onslaught like you’ve never witnessed that lasted until about 2:30am and then suddenly for the first time since we have been there, there was complete silence for about an hour. This must be part of the ritual, because I am talking not a single pop…what were they doing for that hour?!? Must find out?
Jeff had a treatment on New Year’s Eve (spinal) and it went better than the first two but still a bit slow to get in. They are having a hard time with his spine.
I have been running by morning and Jeff and I have done lots of walking around together by afternoon to grab some lunch. We’ve had a wide range of dishes and proudly we have never resorted to KFC or Pizza Hut…wouldn’t do it at home, why would we do it here?
Tuesday night we went to dinner at the New Century Grand Hotel with every single patient on this floor. It was fun and interesting to hear everyone’s story. The more you hear, the more the stem cells are validated!
Wednesday Jeff had a spinal that was the quickest one yet, however they touched a nerve that ran down his leg to his foot and he laid in bed for about 4 hours afterwards with his leg bouncing up and down. After the 4 hours was up, I walked the hospital with him and that seemed to help. Dr. Courington always recommends movement for a cure…imagine that!
Yesterday we walked out for a traditional Chinese lunch and had a fun and hmmm interesting lunch. It was a nice foggy rainy day all day. We will send some your way.
Today, is Friday. Jeff has one more treatment. We think it is today, but communications have broken down.
Our plan is to do stem cells today. Lay low on Saturday. Go spend the night in West Lake at the Hyatt on Sunday night. Come home (hospital) on Monday afternoon. Go get a full out foot scraping and pinching on Tuesday and then head on back to Austin on Wednesday!!!!
Peace out!!!!
xoxo
J&S
January 30th, 2009
Testing…testing…testing…
January 30th, 2009
Previous Posts
