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Posted by Vicki Barels at
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Brooke and I are happy to report we are home! We left Shanghai 4pm local time and arrived 4:20 local Chicago time. The flight went well, Brooke did fine. It seemed faster coming home than going, she did sleep about 2 hours total. It was so nice to see Ed and Brady waiting at the airport with "Welcome Back" balloons for the girls. We ate at Cracker Barrel on the way home, (thanks again Roy & Nancy!). It will be interesting to see how long Brooke sleeps in this morning, course it's 4am and I'm up. Although, hopefully not for the day. I came home to a clean house, yes! Laundry and bills will be on my agenda the next couple days as well as getting back on USA time. Then back to work and school next week, and we pray for many upcoming improvements for Brooke, and for Rachael and all those special children we met while in China. The love and dedication you see in these families is remarkable. If any of you are keeping up with Brooke's blog, we are praying for success for all of you. We will keep in touch.
Thank you again, all you supporters out there, it's comforting to know you care.
Edit: Adding some pics...
  
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Posted by Vicki Barels at
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We are so happy to report the last treatment is completed! Dr. Mike did the last of 4 stem cell injections today. Brooke is doing fine. It is 2 hours post and she is just starting to ask to eat, so I'll give her a little something to hold her over until she can eat more with no nauseous effects.
As thankful as we are to have this opportunity to receive stem cells that are safe and hold no ethical issues, we are so happy to say we are leaving in 2 days! Thank you again, to all of you who care for Miss Brooke and have shown us just how much by helping make these treatments possible.
We look forward to seeing everyone SOON.
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Posted by Vicki Barels at
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Happy to report we're down to one week left. Brooke has her last spinal on Monday, May 4th, and we leave Wednesday, May 6th. I hope the weather has improved at home. It has been pretty warm here these first 2 weeks. We went to the Grand Century Hotel yesterday to the 41st floor and took some pictures. It was pretty neat. Something different to do and see. We went to a large mall downtown yesterday also, you would need a whole day to see it all, many levels, lots of stores. Didn't buy anything, just walked around.
Brooke did better with her 2nd spinal. She was doing well the next day already so I'm hopeful for this last one, as we'll be coming home after. That sounds good, we miss everyone and are looking forward to next week!
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Posted by Vicki Barels at
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Just testing out some of the new blog features - I hope you all enjoy
Webmaster Craig
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Posted by Vicki Barels at
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Today is Saturday morning. Brooke has continually gotten better this week after her first spinal. She is just SO tired still. Today we need to get to the store and tonight is Sophie's wedding. She is a nurse here who is one of our favorites. They are all good.
Thursday Jon was in town with a Doctor from Jordan who does stem cells in his country for spinal cord injury. He did a lot of studying stem cells in the states, but was frustrated when he could only take his knowledge so far, and went back to Jordan. Jon stayed in town the night so invited Nancy, the girls, and myself out for dinner. We went downtown to a place called Shamrock's and had western food. Burgers and steak, it was fun. ( Jon is the head of the international department here who we dealt with a lot the first time, two years ago.)
Weather forecast looks decent for today so our walk should be nice.
Monday most likely another spinal, I'll let you know.
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Posted by Vicki Barels at
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Brooke slept well last night and I thought today was going to be fine. It's not terrible, but we went down for Physical Therapy, and after about 10 minutes she said "nah." And said that her back was hurting. I brought her back to her bed, they have a heat lamp I put on her back for 30 minutes and now she is getting the electric wave therapy on her arms and legs. (not painful). We cancelled Occuptional Therapy for today. After the electric wave therapy, we're going to go for a walk to the park, get some KFC and have a little picnic with Rachael and Nancy. Just something relaxing, so as to not overdo it. She is not scheduled for another stem cell treatment this week, but most likely another spinal on Monday. They space them apart, and she has therapy in between. Rachael is still doing the accupuncture in her head, Brooke watches but will NOT participate! Can't say I blame her!
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Posted by Vicki Barels at
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Brooke is resting comfortably....following her first lumbar puncture of stem cells. We are about 2 hours into recovery, she can eat soon. She has not asked once since she was out, maybe a little groggy from the sedation yet. She just asked to go potty, sweet thing. Bummer is she cannot get up for another 4 hours yet! Her lower lip came out when I told her we couldn't go potty but it was okay if she used her pullup. What a big girl! No other option.
GREAT NEWS: We did get Dr. Mike for Brooke's injection. I let it be known, somewhat subtly, that I preferred he do the procedure. For those of you who don't know, he was our Doctor last time, 2 years ago, however now he is "in charge" and does a lot of speaking and teaching, but he did come through for us, that was nice to see him in the OR ready for Miss Brooke! Very comforting during a stressful time.
2 treatments down, 2 to go. Nancy and I are considering an early flight home, we'll see what the schedules look like after this week. We'll each have 2 stem cell treatments left. We'll see what Doc says.
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Posted by Vicki Barels at
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Brooke is just waking up this morning, it's about 7:30am. Today is Monday, she has her first lumbar stem cell treatment. She cannot eat after 9:00am, so she'll have breakfast, then I've tried to plan her morning and early afternoon in such a way as she won't get bored and think about eating. SO, the plan is to have Tom (one of the drivers employed by the Beike Group) first take me to the bank so we can exchange some money. Then, we'll come back, and the 4 of us, (Brooke, Nancy, Rachael, and myself) plan to go out for a walk, go to the store, just keep busy following their therapies in the morning. They start an IV for Brooke up here (20th floor), then wheel her down in her bed to the OR. Anesthesiologist was up and checked her yesterday, she will be under a general, and the procedure won't take but an hour total, including the 20 minutes or so they keep her while she wakes up.
She can then eat 2 hours after the procedure, she needs to lie flat for 6 hours following, although they said she can roll up onto her side to eat. So we're planning a little picnic in our room today, the Schindlers will come over.
We've met some real nice families here. There are several here from the States: Florida, Texas, Oregon, and Michigan. In addition, Malaysia, Japan, Australia. There is a man her with MD, he is improving already, his blood work is showing slowed muscle atrophy. He's pretty excited!
Took some time to update this, as I said internet connection is pretty slow.
I'll let you know how today goes, until then......
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Posted by Vicki Barels at
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Happy Easter everyone! Hope this finds you enjoying your Holiday with family and friends. We enjoyed an Easter Brunch today, the whole family was there. It was a special day for all of us, a way to celebrate Mom's heart surgery recovery, which is going very well. Thank you all for keeping Mom in your prayers!
Tuesday is take off. Brooke and I are returning to China for another stem cell treatment. We will be there for 3 weeks this time. Last time was a whole month. She will receive 4 stem cell injections, under the care of the same Dr. Mike at Xiaoshan Hospital, Hangzhou China. I will keep her blog updated for those of you who are interested. We will miss everyone, we have such a supportive family and group of friends, we love you all and thank God for having you in our lives.
Brooke's journey continues......
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Posted by Vicki Barels at
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