The new adventure is underway
It was an early rise as I had several things I had left till the last minute to do, house cleaning etc. Cases are all packed and waiting at the front door and I am certain that Jake and Jessie are aware that something is about to happen. After checking everything –power locks etc we were off to Chris & Nicole’s. Arrived at about 4pm and had a rest and some beautiful fried rice – just to have our taste buds prepared. Chris had prepared Jill’s birthday present a Sony 7″ electronic picture frame with hundreds of photos on it – instead of having photos on the wall as we did in Nanshan in 2006.Chris and Nicole drove us to the airport and when we booked we got the first of a series of wheel chairs for Jill. She is not the happiest of campers when she has people doing things for her – too independent.
Allison and Chris arrived and the good byes were teat jerking. We were taken through customs where Jill had another problem she had to take of her shoes and Jacket to be put through the X-ray screen. At least they didn’t offer to do the full body screen – I can guess what the reaction would have been. The two Cathay Pacific employees escorted all the way to the plane door and from there to seat 40a/c Jill had to walk with her crutches – We were the first into the plane and seated before any one else. We had lots of attention – certainly could not complain about Cathay Pacific staff. With the toilets very close everything was great except for the leg room. It seemed a log way and to exercise my legs I had to stand in the isle several times and it was great when about an hour out of Hong Kong the hostess came to us and said to come with her up to business class so that it would be easier to get the next wheel chair. I know what we were missing. Again we were escorted to the waiting lounge for the next stage of our flight to Qingdao. Sitting there Jill went off to sleep – we had about 2.5 hours to wait. When the flight was boarding another Cathay Pacific person escorted us to the waiting door of the Dragon Air plane. Another walk down the isle to be seated the attention we got was truly great. Three hours later we arrived at Qingdao. The hostess told us to wait until all the others had left and they appeared with a very small wheel chair that fitted down the isle and she was pushed by several of the hostess in turn and then transferred to the next wheel chair through to customs. If you want to get through customs wheel chairs are the go. The escort took us to the head of the line and then we collected our luggage and Jill’s walker and on to the entrance where we met Jack from Beike. He gave us a running commentary as we drove the 15 minutes to the hospital. There is a special lift that only operates between Ground and levels 8-9. Unlike Nanshan where we had to contend with the locals and a few dead bodies this sounds easy. We were settled into our room (11 on level 8). It was not long before the nurses arrived and took Jill’s blood pressure and temperature. Next was Dr Bing ( I think) and he checked Jill over and did several neurological tests which she passed with flying colours she has been practicing them for about 4 years. He discussed the treatment and the proposed BMT (Stem cells from bone marrow) but I think I may have confused him because of Jill’s osteoporosis and he finally said he would have to go back and check with the other doctors.
Jack & Lucy – interpreters arrive to order dinner – We ordered soup, fried rice and sweet and sour pork. While waiting for dinner Jack showed me around the floor, kitchen, OT etc. He also came back and helped me set up the internet connection. Finally dinner arrived and we knew we were in China. Later in the evening we hade another visit from the nurses – more temperature and a couple of small containers – one for pp and the other for kk , I can leave it to your imagination . With the internet connection up and running I was able to chat with the kids and will get Skype operating in the morning. Lights out and as I lay down on my bed I remembered how hard the beds were in Nanshan and they have not changed. Jill’s bed has an air mattress on it with a continuous air pump which is quiet noisy but better than mine.
Jill was extremely tired and was asleep in seconds although she was very disturbed through out the night.
Day one has drawn to the end and the new day will bring more doctors and nurses. Blood to be taken at 6am and doctors rounds about 8.30am
See you tomorrow on the net.