Got to Guangzhou!

Feb. 6 was a long travel day. We left home at 9 am and finally reached Fuda Hospital at midnight. I was so thankful for the Lord's grace and the chance I had to rest while in Hong Kong for a 6 hour lay-over. I was obviously sad leaving the kids behind. As I thought of each of them, I could only cry and pray that the Lord will take care of each of them. They are all so precious to me. Cards from dear friends also added to my sadness. I knew that if I succumb to all my sad feelings, I would feel even more tired. I laid it all down: Lord you are in control.

I had requested a wheel chair because my legs were not exactly working properly 2 days prior to our departure. It was a bit embarrasing to be not so old and requesting a wheel-chair but I knew that I did not want to tire myself too much. I found out something that day: wheel-chair pushers (WCP) are related to taxi drivers! On the thoroughfares of airport terminals, they push their way past anyone going slower than 5 km/hr, they can cut infront of you without apology, they expect you to make way for them, they know every short cut. Despite my fear of collision, I did not mind the perks: we skipped queues, were attended to immediately by security and immigration personnel and boarded the plane before everyone else. When we were in Hong Kong, Doug must have tipped the first WCP really well bec. when it was time for us to go to the gate for our last flight, we had 2 wheel chairs! One for him and one for me! After some arguement between the WCP (at least it sounded like they were arguing), one got to push me and the other one got candy from the terminal lounge receptionist. The scariest was the WCP in Guangzhou. He wheeled me from the airport gate, on to the street and brought me to my pick-up limo: an ambulance from Fuda Hospital! Doug who was following him closely almost got run over by a taxi! I was thankful to get into the ambulance and to find that it had seats. We are in Guangzhou!

First Lazy Day
A nurse came in at 7 am to draw some blood from me. I waved at her when she came in. You see, Doug was in the patient bed which is larger and I was in the extra bed. I wanted to make sure she did not make a mistake.

I hardly slept at all last night. Not unusual for me. At about 9, a young female doctor Dr. Zhang who will be my attending physician came to ask about my medical history. We did not have much problem understanding each other. She said that she will see if she can schedule me for a PET scan tomorrow. The results come the day after and on Wednesday, we can talk more about treatment options. I am glad that things are moving quickly.

I spent most of the day just sleeping and eating. Doug has made his presence known already and now has many new friends. He hasn't been through the length and breath of Fuda Hospital yet but then 5 weeks is a long time. There seems to be a Filipino community in the hospital.

Doug ventured out this morning to find a store and was able to find his way using the 5 Chinese sentences he learned in university. He wants to find a fitness club that has a pool so that he can go back to his exercise routine. After our first day, he decided that he is bored already! In fact, he was so bored, he decided to shave his mustache!
I looked at him in disbelief and thought: Oh my goodness, for the last 21 years I've been married to Mr. Clean and did not even know it!

We had our first full Chinese meal this evening. I have to fast after midnight for the PET scan. I tried to eat so much and decided that I don't want to eat Chinese food for the next month! Lord we need your grace!