Hello person reading this blog !
We've been in the China for three nights now and my dad left for Korea today to get a larger supply of clothes, medicine, and books for my mom. Mom and I have stayed behind per the suggestion of the head surgeon at the hospital.
The latest news from China is that Chois has decided to extend our 4 day stay by a couple weeks as my mom has been put on a temporary 2 week waitlist for a kidney. The reason the waitlist is so short isn't because she's guaranteed a kidney in 2 weeks but because our hospital is apparently stopping all organ transplants in 2 weeks in preparation for the 2008 Beijing Olympics. So they have put everyone here on a two week hold just in case an organ should become available and if not, we will have to return after the Olympics hoopla is over..that would be in October or so. If my mom receives a kidney in the next week or so, they will go ahead with the surgery. If not, we will start dialysis until October and try again then. My parents and I had a long, emotional discussion about it last night and they feel this is their only option.
Our hospital is in the city of Tianjin and performs the most organ transplants of any hospital in Asia. It is huge. Everything in China seems huge for some reason. Tianjin is about a two hour drive from Beijing so the hospital here is also under massive construction and renovation to a back up hospital for the Olympics rush. Our room is pretty quiet but the lobby looks something like an asbestos fair. Dust and powder everywhere, my dad told me that the name of the construction company in charge of the renovations translates to something like "In A Rush Construction"...hmm...comforting...
Dad will be returning to China on Saturday with our clean supply of clothes, etc. In the meantime, we do have a couple interpreters with us to help communication between the doctors and us. One of the nurses speaks Korean so she has been super helpful. She just came in now! Hi! She told us to always keep our money and cell phone on our bodies and never leave our room unlocked. eee...okay. Now's she's gone. Bye!
Our room has two twin beds so it's actually pretty comfortable as my mom and I each have our own bed. We have our own toilet too, the normal kind, not the squat-over-the-urinal-in-the-floor kind that's more popular here. Ah...the good life :).
I had three cokes today which tasted so good. Per the advice of my roommate Gavi's friend Ben who told us to drink diet coke if you want to be obese and diabetic when you're old, I've started drinking regular coke again. It's not so bad!
I miss the US and Korea but there is something to be said about roughing out a tough situation with family that I don't think I will ever forget. Signing off for now,
love,
Minna
6 comments:
I find the idea of an "asbestos fair" particularly amusing.
I had no idea your mom was so sick... all our best wishes and thoughts are being sent her way from Berkeley.
Matt
wow. :o( Sounds like your vacation has its ups and downs.
That was a very thoughtful entry. Thank you for letting us know how it's going. My thoughts and hopes go out to your mum and your family.
And I agree w/ Matt. I want pictures of this "asbestest fair"... >,>
-Paul E.
Minna, I'm so glad you posted your blog address on fb or else I might have no idea all this was going down...I am praying for you and your family earnestly! Love ya THIIIIIIISSS much. Ok, maybe more than that, but it's the internet! --Sylvs
I am thinking and praying for your family. It's been so long!
Ivy
WHAT? Tell me more about the diet coke and elderly obesity- I am a diet coke fiend and I have been for most of my life!!!
I hope a donor is able to come thru for your mom in the next 2 wks. I still have good memories about her Halloween tangerine story...
Asbestos air? At least, the hospital's air won't burn up if there is a fire!
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