Week 129 – Day 30 ” Cream Cake “

This morning is the start to the countdown for our flight out to Melbourne tomorrow. A reasonable night, although I woke around 3am and with my blocked nose found it hard to get back to sleep. Jill was also a bit disturbed and turned a bit. Finally 6am rolled round and I was up as we had Owen and his electric wave at 8am for the last time. At 9 am Dr Tony, two colleagues and Wendy (interpreter) arrived to do the final rounds. They commented that Jill’s voice was better – no croak from the cold. Jill asked a couple of questions about one of the reflex tests they did on her fingers, also if we were to get a report to take home. They explained the reflex test and confirmed that we would get a report in English and Chinese if we would like. Owen arrived back and that pin cushion look appeared again for the last time here in Qingdao. While Jill was a pincushion I went to the office to get Wendy to confirm our flights, seats and wheel chair. Everything appears to be OK. After the acupuncture and the nebuliser were finished we had to be in the PE room for a final assessment. Owen put Jill through the Berg assessment test as well as a range of strength tests for her fingers, arms, legs and feet. One of the young women doctors videoed the complete assessment and helped with the verbal translation. Jill was upset as she felt very tired and had trouble doing some of the tasks. We gave away some kangaroo and koala souvenirs to the therapists and nurses. I have to go shopping for the last time this afternoon for a couple of boxes of chocolates for the staff and nurses.

The weather today is clear, sunny and cool. I went via taxi to the Jian Jian Mart and as usual had the normal trouble finding the things, but with my electronic translator the problem was solved. As I was leaving I saw some beautiful scarves and purchased Jill a silk scarf. The rides in the taxis were quite different. When I climbed aboard at the hospital I observed a sign that said please put on seat belt and as I did the driver in English “no need for that I am a good driver”. About 500 meters down the road there had been an accident, a car was on its roof and two others were badly mangled. The driver said “see bad drivers”. On the way back I am glad that I put on the seat belt as this driver abused other drivers that would not let him in , he drove flat out down a very narrow alley and also drove on the wrong side of the road. I was extremely glad to get out of the taxi.

When I got back to the room Jill asked what had I got her to eat – she wanted a cream cake. I decided to walk down the road to the K Mart about a 10 minute walk. It was quite small in comparison to the big super marts but had a good range of stuff and upstairs was a bakery. I was able to select Jill a slice of cream cake and a coffee scroll for myself. As I walked back down the corridor I met Jon and asked him back to our room as we had brought a present for the new baby. We cleaned up the leftovers for dinner and I returned any utensils we had borrowed from the kitchen. We have decided to pack our cases in the morning.

See you on Wednesday back in the land of OZ on the net