Today was so incredibly busy for Chris. We had a round of doctors at 9 AM after Chris was already washed, fed and up on his wheelchair. This is very similar to the rounds they used to do at TianTan, bunch of Chinese doctors walking in and talking among each other and touching and examining Chris. Dr. Tony is Chris' primary doctor. Maybe because I went through this last year, I do not have any pressing questions like I had at TianTan as now I understand the basics of stem cell. My only question was whether continuous stem cell treatment had a cumulative effect/ benefits? I.e. if Chris gets one treatment a year, will he keep piling up improvements? As opposed to something like the law of diminished returns? They do not know the answer... I think clinical application of stem cell is just too new and there is not enough data yet.
 
OK, please make note of this coming Wednesday for Chris' first stem cell injection, we do not have an exact time but normally they take place in the afternoon (China time). Chris will receive a total of 6 injections: 4 through an injection in his spinal which takes the stem cells directly through his brain as they get injected straight into the cerebro spinal fluid, and 2 via IV which delivers the stem cells in his blood stream, ultimately taking them to the brain. I think Dr. Tony said it would be more effective to inject them through the spine but due to time constraints (as lumbar injections need to have at least 5-day breaks in between them) Chris will receive 2 injections via IV. I am happy he will have the opportunity to experiment both methods as I like to cover all possibilities.
 
Then Chris got his therapy schedule, a total of 2 hours per day split in 3 sessions: acupuncture, electrical stimulation therapy and physio therapy. I'm sure people know acupuncture can be used for all types of things (from stress, to quit smoking, infertility, etc). James said in Chris' case he was targeting parts of his brain to induce speech. The electrical stimulation consist of 20 minutes of upper limbs stimulation plus 20 minutes of lower limbs stimulation and I was told they are meant to "relax" Chris' muscles. The PT was much longer than the programmed 50 minutes as James took all of Chris measurements. He also spent a good amount of time afterwards explaining our two helpers (Mr. Yen and Mr. Zhou) about certain exercises they should do on Chris during his free time.
 
Its incredible how sometimes things appear to be happening completely against your original plan even pissing you off tremendously, and then it turns out for the best. That's what happened with the helpers/ carers situation. I am now convinced of this. Financially it's pretty much what I had budgeted for, and more importantly, from a practical point of view, Chris will get so much out of it... Chris has the morning pretty much free and now as he has two carers they will go through the extra PT James taught them, and also Chris will get lots of massages (my mom and I already showed them how to do routines from the water soaks to the finger stretching etc). So this will really maximize Chris' time in Hangzhou. Plus, sometimes I do not believe I think straight... to imagine that I'd have been able to spend 24 hours in the hospital... Please forgive my bursts of false heroism, sometimes I feel like I can do anything, but I am only human...
 
The PT was GREAT!!!!!! As everyone knows I was not happy with Chris' PT at TianTan as Tony was so blasé at the end, almost bored; but James did some AMAZING stuff on Chris. James is very "aggressive", he pulled, twisted, stretched and did things on Chris I never saw any other PT do before. Chris has bad positioning and tends to hunch forward in a C shape, the spasticity also adds to his poor positioning. James did this back bent on Chris and I could see Chris was in complete state of fear panting so heavily... he calmed down after a long while but I thought it was great as that's a position Chris has not been in more than three years. A lot of the other exercises were new to me and Chris. So this is really good news. I need to tape some of this stuff so that Chris continues to get them once back home... By the end of the therapies, Chris was so tired he could barely chew his dinner.
 Food situation does not seem as desperate as I thought. First we found a Korean restaurant within 10 minutes range. This means that Gabriel and my dad do not need to starve themselves or stay on junk food, this is huge news as Korean food is like their (our) everyday cuisine and Gabriel and my dad are the pickiest most annoying people I know when it comes to food. Then for Chris, we managed the following:
 
Breakfast: yogurt, cheerios with milk, chocolate cake
Lunch: mashed potatoes mixed with chicken pieces (from KFC), mango, and chocolate ice cream
Dinner: 2 pieces of white toast with butter & strawberry jam, oatmeal porridge with apple
 
I think I will just keep getting mashed from KFC and then cook some fillets (chicken, fish or beef) for his lunches - that should bring it closer to the food at the Jacob Centre.
 
OK, that's all for today. Chris seemed better adjusted from his jetlag today and he is in very high spirits, laughing and smiling for everyone... I am already being told he is "handsome boy" "beautiful" etc... What else is new when it comes to Chris?
 
So long,
 
Koo