The home stretch

These last two days have been a whirlwind of activity. We didn't think that anyone would notice that we did not post yesterday but Ernesto did! Yesterday marked the 20th anniversary of my father's passing. My mother held a Buddhist memorial service in Hong Kong which lasted from 9am to 4pm. I went to Hong Kong in order to participate in part of the activities but hurried back just in time for Richard's 4pm LP. The procedure lasted a little longer than usual because Richard misunderstood the doctor's instructions and straightened out his back too soon during the injection. Luckily there were no complications and he had a restful night's sleep, waking up headache free.

Before going to bed last night, Richard was treated to Paola's homemade pizza. Paola is from Sardinia, Italy. She is accompanying her brother, Antonio, who has ALS (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis or Lou Gehrig's Disease) to Nanshan for treatment. I got her some Italian pasta, spaghetti sauce, tomato sauce and olive bread while I was shopping for groceries at Portofino. She was overjoyed because she couldn't find any of these ingredients locally at Nanshan. Thus, she returned the favor by making Richard the delicious pizza.

Today I went with my sister and brother-in-law to visit my father and grandmother's grave sites. They were both buried in Shenzhen. Richard, on the other hand, was invited to tour a new hospital facility in Shenzhen that Beike is considering as a potential candidate. The Beike staff wanted Richard to provide them with feedback from the patient's point of view in terms of accessibility and desirability of the facilities inside this hospital. As a result, he missed the afternoon sessions of both PT and OT.

We find that time seems to zip by as we head towards the home stretch of our stay in Nanshan. We've decided to check out of the hospital early to spend time in Hong Kong for some R&R and to visit my mother. If all goes as planned, we'll be leaving Shenzhen late Saturday morning for Hong Kong. Tomorrow will be our next to last day at the hospital. We plan to put it to good use as we bid our fond farewells to the doctors, nurses, staff and patients who we've grown very close to and fond of during our time here.

P.S. We've posted a sample of Richard's handwriting after 3 weeks of treatment at Nanshan in the right hand column under "Before and After". Is there improvement? You'll be the judge.