Life in the slow lane

Home at last! Our stay in Hong Kong was restorative in every sense --- family, food and rest. Delectable food, feather-soft beds, showers so bracing that the water literally excoriates dirt off the skin and coddling from Mom made up for a month's worth of boot camp. Oh, did I mention shopping? However, there's no place like home. We missed the clear blue skies, the mild dry weather and the refreshing clean air. Our lungs thank us!

Today is devoted to sorting through a month's worth of mail and recent emails, shopping for groceries, unpacking, doing laundry and battling jet lag. This left no time for Richard to resume his rehab. He has used the exercise center at the hotel in Hong Kong once or twice but it paled in comparison to the twice daily PT & OT regime at Nanshan. Our goal is to have him ramp back up to an hour of exercise per day. Aside from the recumbent bicycle, workouts at the Y and weekly Pilates, we plan on purchasing a treadmill and using it as per the recommendations of Big Dr. Lee. Also, I'll be looking for pegboards and the nut and screw board that Dr. Ye used on Richard during OT. These are possibly available at teaching supplies store. Acupuncture and throat collar will be impossible to replicate here. Although our friends Jeanne and Cathy have recommended a good local acupuncturist that we may try out in the future.

We will try to post updates on this blog to avoid the dreaded silence that so often occurs when the patient returns home after the stem cell treatment. Richard is slated for a visit with Dr. Perlman at UCLA at the beginning of May. We will be certain to post her comments and any findings of the visit.

*Speaking of posts, the photos of the "So long and thanks for all the fish" post are up again and this time they are captioned.

Bon Voyage - The Return Home

It's Monday morning here in Hong Kong. It's our last full day here in Asia. I'm in the hotel lobby banging away at the keyboard, checking e-mail, etc. I've cleared out of the room so that it can be cleaned up.

I just went on the exercise bike in the "fitness area" for about 20 minutes. I could/should put in more exercise time but it's easy to succumb to visiting family, eating out, etc.

We've already started to hear from recent patients from the stem cell ward. The cheering on continues. Some folks have had more adventurous returns. We depart for home Tuesday evening. Fortunately, it's a non-stop flight for us and we don't have excessive luggage.

Also, a quick update. The renewed choking while eating went away when I brought the food to my mouth and stopped craning my neck. Problem understood.