China Days 48-49: Happy, sad day... a tribute to Grandma Schenk

We got the news this morning that Dan's Grandma Schenk had passed away... Dan cried. He so loved his Grandma... she was (and is) very special to him. He was born on her birthday, along with Aunt Kathie – and that has been a bond for them throughout their lives. She was an amazing woman – you always felt loved when you went to see her – we will miss her dearly, but are happy that she is with Grandpa Schenk again, and with Dan's Mom. I am sure it was a happy reunion for them!

I am posting some of our favorite pictures of Dan and Grandma Schenk in remembrance of her today – her funeral will be on Monday. We are so sad that we will not be there, but we know we are doing the right thing here in China to help Dan recover, and we know that is what Grandma Schenk wanted for him. We will continue to work hard to realize this dream, knowing that they are watching from Heaven. We will do our best to make them proud....










Dan continues to work hard in therapy, and we have the opportunity to get out and see Beijing from time to time. We will post more on a later day, but today we want to stop and appreciate the great life of Neomia 'Pat' Schenk. Thank you for your wonderful example of goodness and righteous living! Thank you for your warm hugs and kisses! Thank you for your encouraging words and unending support! We love you, Grandma!!

China Days 46-47: Back in the saddle again...

Well, Dan had a little hiccup on Tuesday as he did have a continuation of his temperature and this made him feel very weak. He did not attend any of his therapy sessions due to this. Today, he was back to (almost) normal. He did get tired after a couple of sessions, and took a 30-minute break, but then he was back at it again in physical therapy. Today he did a new therapy as they put him in a harness to support his weight so that he could work on his walking and focus on how he moves his legs and plants his feet. I took a nice snapshot of it which I have included below. He also had a great day in occupational therapy – he is getting the rings higher and higher on the peg tree – now his is up past the pegs and putting the rings on the top! Way to go Dan!

Tonight we went out to eat at one of the Nuskin leaders here in Beijing. John and his wife, Sonya fixed us a great Chinese meal with a wonderful variety of food. It was really good to have some good home cooking-- much, much better than the hospital food!

I am still working on researching the kind of therapy that we want to have when we get home. When I am at home and working, I don't take the time to look at all the options out there, and this has been a good opportunity for me to look at the latest and greatest in therapy options and centers. We are trying to figure out what type of program would best fit Dan's needs and our lifestyle. We want to make sure that we continue with what we have started here and not drop the ball when we get home. There are lots of things to consider, and we will keep you posted as we better formulate our plan....

... until then – thanks for your prayers and support!


Dan getting the 'extra special' treatment from the three Traditional Chinese Medicine doctors!


Check it out! Dan is on top of the ring tree!


The new 'weightless' walking therapy!

China Day 45: Stem Cell Treatment #2!

Today was our second stem cell injection for Dan – they came and picked him up around 9:20 am, took him to the operating room and had him back by 9:45 am. It didn't take long – and then the rest of the day was spent with Dan laying on his back. He did pretty well (he doesn't complain much...). I fed him a good breakfast before the treatment, and he survived on peanut butter sandwiches, bananas, yogurt and trail mix the rest of the day.

Tonight when he was allowed to get up, he was quite weak, and has a slight temperature. I sponged him down on his abdomen, which will hopefully bring his temperature down. It is normal to have a slight elevation in temperature after the procedure, however he said he felt weaker this time. He is resting now, so we will see how he feels in the morning.

Dan is ready for stem cell treatment #2....!



Off to the surgery room Dan goes!



Dan back in the room after surgery with the nurses checking him over.



Dan with our wonderful nurses, Esther and Kelly, taking care of him after the stem cell procedure. (Dan is waving hello...)

China Day 44: Happy Sabbath!

Today has been a great day... we were able to attend church this morning and then after church, our gracious home teacher's family invited us over to their home for dinner – apparently this is going to be a weekly habit as they had Dan and Heather over the last two weeks as well and have invited us for dinner next week too! Mac Coleman works for the Embassy and he was busy today preparing for the arrival of the Secretary of the Defense, but his lovely wife Janet was our hostess today.(Janet's maiden name is Maughan - we are related!) She had invited a few other couples to join us and we had a really nice time. She has a Chinese cook that prepares all of the food, and it was just like eating out! Several dishes to choose from – all very good – and the company was great as well...

We had one of those 'small world' experiences as there was one couple that is here in China on a service mission from the Seattle area. We met them in church when the woman approached me and asked if we were allowed to leave the hospital and have dinner... of course I said – Yes! We were interrupted in our conversation and never were able to finish it, but then they were one of the couples that came to dinner! Their names are Phil and Donna Coleman and they are from the Seattle area – they know Ken and Earlene very well! (my brother and his wife--) They were very complimentary of them and I got quite a few kudos from being the sister of Ken Balls! So thanks – bro – for setting such a good example up there in the Seattle area! Apparently you have a great reputation for 'getting things done' and I am just proud to be your sister! :-)

Also -- we tried to track down Cory Sellers - he is in the ward here, but we couldn't locate him today. I think his wife was there, but we couldn't find her after church... we will hook up with them next week. (Cory is an uncle to Nic Clark's wife Steff and we are looking forward to meeting him!)

They came and informed us tonight that Dan will have his second stem cell treatment tomorrow.. so this will be a great experience. Heather did such a good job of taking care of Dan during the last treatment... I hope to do as well tomorrow. (By the way, Heather, all the folks at church think you are just wonderful... quite an accomplished young woman! Just thought you would want to know that...)

So – until tomorrow's report – enjoy your Sabbath where ever you are! :-)

China Day 43: The AMAZING Great Wall of China..... and Dan climbs it!

Today we will have a picture show of the Great Wall Adventure by Dan and LaNae (and our new friend Gary!) We are exhausted from our trip out – Dan is resting on the bed getting his daily IV's which probably won't be done for a long time as we were on the go most of the day. We went out to the Mutianyu Great Wall site, and trust me – it was NOT handicap accessible! I don't imagine many of them are, but this one was not. The driver of the car most likely thought it would be a good spot as it does have a cable car service – but the trick is getting up to the cable car! ... and then after the cable car ride, there are also a lot of steps! Gary was a real trooper though – he helped push Dan up a very, very steep incline, and then when we got up to the top of it – we found there were a lot of steps to climb up before we could even get to the cable car! True – there were a lot of Chinese guys trying to sell us a service to hand carry Dan up the mountain in a chair with two long sticks on it.. it would take 4 men to go up the incline, but they wanted 200 RMB per person – and so we told them no way. That would have been 800 RMB for four of us and 600 RMB for three. So we just bought our tickets (which alone were 95 RMB) and ventured up alone. I never could have done it on my own... bless Gary ... he is a fine young man.

Here are some pictures of our adventure--

Dan's swollen right leg... I mentioned this in yesterday's blog - thought you might like to see it... not too good.


Our group ready to go in the van! (L to R) Shirleen our wonderful nurse, our driver (don't know his name..), Judy's caregiver, Gary (the hero), Judy and Dan.


The Olympic stadium that we passed on the way to the Great Wall.



A camel – I realized after I took the picture that if you want a picture with the camel, you are supposed to PAY for it.... oops.


The VERY steep trail that we pulled Dan up in his wheelchair!


The stairs before the cable car ride!


The stairs after the cable car ride! Dan climbed all of these - and more that you can't see!



A map of how far we had come to get to the top...


Dan on the Great Wall of China! Wahoo!!!!
Dan just emerged from some VERY steep steps to get up on the wall...


Looking the other way – much better view.



Someone was kind enough to get us BOTH in the picture – see I was there too!



Cool picture from inside one of the buildings up top the Great Wall.



This is inside the building – a little Chinese girl was playing hide-and-seek with her Grandma in here... it was really cute!


Dan holding up the Great Wall... sure glad he is there...



Dan and his buddy Gary on the VERY STEEP steps up to the wall.


Gary helping Dan down the steps. (I took a cool video of this event – however I turned the camera sideways and so you have to watch it sideways! Sorry about that.... )


Dan checking out the scenery on the way back down in the cable car....


The Great Wall of China!


Be happy for this great team accomplishment today!

China Day 42: Research... research

More therapy today – all I can say is that Dan and I don't have nearly as much fun as our kids did while they were here..! (just kidding.. just wait until tomorrow!) We usually stay in the hospital room and eat food we bought from Wal-mart, send Dan to therapy and research our options for therapy on our return to the USA. I am finding a lot of cool machines and gadgets – I am still looking for the right mix of things for Dan to have the best chance for recovery over the next several months.

GOOD NEWS! Well – it was a good day because the 'directors' come to the hospital on Friday's. The directors are the neurologists and they come and see each patient in their rooms and then have a meeting to discuss progress and provide guidance to the doctors on staff and the therapists for the upcoming week.

I had the MRI films that were taken of Dan's brain before coming to China (fairly recent – April timeframe). Anyway, as I might have mentioned before – this MRI technology was not available when Dan was first injured and I had never seen any films of his condition. So I have always pictured in my mind where his injury was in his head and how it has affected his abilities. Any time we had ever asked for an MRI to be done, the response was – we can tell he has sustained a head injury by a neurological exam – so we don't need to do an MRI to know he has a head injury. But, in my mind, I want to understand how these new cells are going to fix the problem that he has, where is the problem and what needs to happen to help him recover. Today the neurologists took enough time to look at the films, and explain the areas of the brain that have been damaged (in Chinese). Basically, Dan has two main injuries – one on the upper left frontal lobe and another in the brainstem area – the medulla. It is the second area that impacts his motor abilities and is the most noticeable to his current capabilities. Anyway – it was really good to learn and to see on the films where the injury sites are. Also, there is good hope for recovery for Dan – the main improvement will take a few months to see, but we are told that anywhere from two to six months from the treatment is when the cells start to take hold and improvements are seen. The prognosis for recovery was really good from these doctors opinion... pretty exciting news and very encouraging!

It was kind of fun to watch them today – they took the films and held them up to the window and talked very rapidly amongst themselves in Chinese. There were about 10 of them in the room as they go around as a group for the checkups. After they had the big discussion about it all – the interpreters told us what they said. So it was all good!

The only other thing to note is that lately Dan's right leg has been swelling with edema. They have stopped the acupuncture for now as they think that has aggravated something and they don't want the problem to continue. His right leg is noticeably larger and has been causing him some pain in the foot area.

Last and certainly not least – we are going to the GREAT WALL tomorrow! A few of us, including some patients are heading up to the Great Wall tomorrow for a day trip. I am sure Dan won't be able to go very far – but we will definitely make him hike up a few stairs to get a picture on the wall! We will keep you posted on this grand adventure tomorrow.

China Day 41: A new month ... a new life?

Well-- here we are to November already! My how time does fly when you are having fun...! Happy Birthday to Joy! (Dan's sister) – it is her special day today. Dan wants you to know that he is thinking of you Joy...:-)!

Dan spent the day in therapy and also spent a few hours cleaning up the blog. You will notice that there are new links to our main web page as well as to the videos posted on Maxcast. This should make it easier for you to navigate to them. For some reason the default 'add a link' wasn't working but he looked into it and figured out a way to make it all work right.

I spent the day reading today and catching up on a few things. I leave you with a quote for the day--

"Opportunity is missed by most because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work." -- Thomas Alva Edison

I think we need to work even harder than we are to make this dream a reality. The body doesn't seem to 'get it' that it is supposed to be using new neural paths unless we beat it into it. The body is not very smart – it needs the brain to tell it what to do and in many ways this is a lesson of mind over body and which is the master of our destiny. We must show the body a new way of functioning, and that sounds like an awful lot of 'work' to me. I hope that we do not miss this opportunity because it is dressed up in overalls and looks like work....

Take care friends. All the best from China....