Our 2nd Week's Schedule

Today we had a day off from the doctors and therapist and treatment altogether. So we took a trip to Downtown Qingdao. We went to the Polar Express (kind of like a Sea World). It was super hot, but fun. We then drove around downtown Qingdao and had the best dinner buffet I have ever had. Our interpreter Michael and friends Aaron and Braden went with us. We had a fun day. Tomorrow we start a new week.

Our week is similar to last, except we have therapy all day on Monday and a spinal on Wednesday. He also has an IV injection on Friday, but that is not until the afternoon, so we are going to go back downtown to do a little shopping.

I think Grandma Marleen and Joey are really bonding here. He sits so quietly on her lap all the time.

Overall the trip is good, no complaints. I would do it again.

Joey's 1st Lumbar Injection

Joey and his new friend Braden

First I have to say Joey has been great this whole trip. He hardly fusses and he will sit in his chair and just hang out for a long time.

Yesterday (Friday for us) Joey had his first lumbar injection. He was not allowed to eat or drink for 6 hrs before and 4 hours after. He also had to stay on his back for 6 hours after. That was the tough part. The nurses took him in at 3:30 and he was done by 3:50. As he was waking up from the procedure he was talking up a storm (yep it runs in the family). He stayed calm for about 2 hrs (he was wide awake but calm) after. Then he got tired of laying on his back and began to get really fussy, with 4 hours of bed rest to go. It took the Dr. about an hour later to bring Joey some Valium. When they inject the Valium it burns and hurts so of course Joey screamed, but as soon as it was in he was fine. He literally knock out in 20 seconds, but that only lasted for about 3 minutes and then he was wide awake again. So to say the least the Valium didn't really work. I had to lay with him the rest of the time. My poor achy back. Joey didn't get sick or have any issues with the procedure.  So all in all the procedure wasn't to bad. I'm not sure of our schedule for next week, but Joey will have 1 or 2 more lumbars.

Now we pray that the stem cells hit the parts of the brain that need healing. Go Stem Cells Go!

Today, Saturday we are going to go down to Century Park where they held the Olympic ceremonies. We are also going to the Holiday Inn (fancy hotel here) to have some American food. We can only eat so much Chinese food.

Well that's it for today. Please send some extra prayers out to Joey's friend Santana and his mommy who are in the hospital again. Hurry up and get better Santana. We love you guys.

First Day of Therapy

Today was Joey's first day of therapy. Boy did he need it. He has been so tight. He is much looser now, but still has a way to go. He did PT  twice, standing therapy, Electric Wave therapy and Acupressure today. I think by the end of the week he will be back to normal. 

We went to Pizza Hut for dinner. This Pizza Hut is not like home. It is a fancy restaurant. They service you and the pizza is better than at home. We will be going there again.

We are adapting fairly quickly here. Joey actually went to sleep at his normal bedtime hour. Hopefully he doesn't wake up at 3am.

Everything is very inexpensive here, except for American food and supplies. One of our friends bought a can of AW Root Beer and it cost him $9. They do not have to go boxes. Everything is just put in plastic bags. Cars have the right of way and kids don't wear diapers, they pee and poop in the streets. Although the streets are very clean, go figure. Locust buzz in the trees and it sounds like live electricity. People stare like crazy at us. Many have never seen Americans before. The hospital staff is super nice and helpful. Everyone wants to help always.

Well that's about it for now. Joey has more therapy the next 2  1/2 days and then a Spinal injection on Friday.

I have posted videos and some pics on www.dropshots.com/fightingjoey

Schedule for the Week

We just received Joey's schedule for the week. It looks like the following:

Monday - IV Injection 4pm

Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday - 8:30 - 10 Dr. visits

                                                                       10:15-11 PT

11-11:30 Standing Therapy

1:30-2:15 PT

4-4:20 Electric Wave Therapy (OT)

4:25-4:45 Acupressure (OT)

Friday- 8:30-10 Dr. Visits

               10:15-11 PT

                11-11:30 Standing Therapy

1:30 - Spinal Injection ( he can't eat 6 hrs before and 4 hrs after and has to lay on his back for 6 hrs after, I                                                                         don't know how I'm going to manage that)

Saturday and Sunday are our free days to sight see.

I'm very excited about our schedule. We will get a new schedule every week.

Bye for now.

Made it to China

Wow what an adventure so far. It took us about 17 hrs of flight time to get to China. We flew on three different plans. Joey was great the whole time. He only had fits going through security, which actually made it easier for us because we got pulled aside and made it through security with help and not having to rush. Finally after the second day we made it to our final destination. It is 15 hours ahead of CA time here. When we got here we got settled in our room and of course we are all off on our sleeping. Joey has been falling asleep early and waking up early. Our room has two beds a mini fridge, microwave, tv and dvd. It is an average size room.

We will find out today our course of treatment. On the first day they came and took blood from Joey, he had and x-ray and EEG. Boy are there medical instruments old school. Joey will get more blood taken this morning and then at 4:00 will have his first IV injection. We are going to see if we can add in another injection before the end of the trip, so we might do 6 not 5 injections. We will see later if this is possible. We were told that we will have two days off a week to go and sight see. 

There is a huge mall, target like store and market right across the street. The hospital will take our lunch and dinner order and order food for us, or we can go to KFC across the way or the mall. I ordered noodles soup at the mall to go the other day and they dumped the soup in a plastic bag. It was funny. Everything is fish here, NO BEEF. ha ha ha The people here stare at you. They are not subtle here. They stare and follow you with their eyes until you are far out of sight.

We have meet a lot of people here. There are many people from California. One gentleman actually lives only 15 minutes away in Northridge, another in Calabasas and another in San Jose. Small world. Most people are her for 5-6 weeks doing as much therapy as they can. Many people are here with their whole families. We have been hanging out with a gentleman and his son who are here for 40 days. the boy starts his treatment the same time as Joey. The boys name is Braden and has CP like Joey. He is 6 yrs old. Looks just like Joey.

I have ichat on my computer, so anyone that has a mac computer and want to talk, my email is jessjackjoey@yahoo.com. It is very cool.

I am going to post videos and pics on Joeys dropshot site. The site is www.dropshots.com/fightingjoey

I will also try and post some here. Well thats all for now. The internet is controlled by the government here so they can shut it down whenever and many sites are blocked, so bare with me when sending emails or wanting to talk.

Bye for now.

Getting Ready for China

Well it is almost time for us to leave. We leave on Thursday Aug. 6th and will be gone for almost 4 weeks. Boy do I have a lot to do with organizing the kids and hubby and dogs and the house and not to forget that I still have to pack. How do you pack for four weeks? I guess I'll let you know in about a week. ha ha ha

I have some other friends that have recently come back from Costa Rica for SCT. They are already seeing some results. One is trying to climb on the couch. He couldn't do this before. The other is starting to roll back and forth and she has not done this before. Keep up the good work Charlie and Makenzie. 

Ok one last quick note, please send extra prayers out to my friends Lindsey and Santana. Santana had his near drowning accident 1 month before Joey. Unfortunately they have not seen results like we have had with Joey, so they need extra prayers. His website is www.prayforsantana.com

Ok my next update will be once we get to China in a week. Please pray for a safe and easy trip to China.

Busy Summer

WOW, it's amazing that we are already half way thru July. Summer has been busy. Joey goes to therapy 5 days a week from anywhere to 2-3 hrs each day. Between me and our most wonderful, can't live without her babysitter, we have been switching off taking Joey to therapy and doing funny things with the older kids. I have my nephew Elijah staying with us for about a month and a half, and it seems my daughter has her whole  middle school over every other day. So our house is busy.  We leave in 2 days for a vacation to the lake. I guess we felt that the 95 degree weather wasn't hot enough so we are going to Lake Havasu where it is 115 degrees. Joey is staying home with our most wonderful, can't live without her babysitter. It is way to hot for him and I don't want anything to happen to him before our China trip. Anyways, I think Joey likes the babysitter better anyways. :) Speaking of Joey, he is doing AWESOME. His body has been loose and he has been a happy camper. He hasn't been wearing his braces though. He hates them and I hate them. I have been spending extra time and making an extra effort to stretch his feet and ankles as much as possible. It's been working, because when he walks in his gait trainer he is able to get his feet flat. WHOO HOO! 

He has also been commando crawling more. He use to only move his left arm and leg and he went in a circle when on his tummy. WELL, he has now started using his right side too. My living room is not big enough. He is all over the place. As for his eyesight, well that hasn't changed much. He still can't see well at all. I'm praying hard that the Stem Cell therapy will help with this. Speaking of Stem Cell Therapy, Joey, me and my mom leave in exactly 3 weeks. I am so nervous, anxious, excited, hopeful, and scared. I kind of feel that this trip is a make it or break it for Joey. I don't expect miracles, but will be disappointed if we don't see even the smallest improvement. Thats all I want is the smallest improvement. No actually it's not. I WANT A MIRACLE, but will settle for the smallest improvement. I don't want this SCT to just be another therapy we mark off the list. I believe that SCT is the future to help healing our kids. I know people who have taken their kids all over the world, and 9 out of 10 have seen improvements. On the other hand, I am very excited to go to China. I have never been. Thanks to my mom and Aunt and Uncle we are flying first class. We have three flights to get to our final destination. A total of about 17 hrs in the air. I hope I have enough Valium for Joey and I. ha ha ha When we are in China, I will post updates as much as possible. I will also post picture on his dropshot site.

Ok, I'm done talking for now. Time to take Jack to football camp, Jessica to her friends, me to the gym, then a little work and then Joey to a late afternoon therapy session an hour away.

OHHHH one last thing, Joey has two friends, Makenzie and Charlie who are in Costa Rica right now having their SCT. Please send extra prayers there way for a safe trip and a successful treatment. We love you guys.

Bye for now.