Wednesday, Thursday and Friday - January 10th through 12th - Travel Time to Hangzhou, China

Hello all,

Thank you Guy for the Journey Updates created on the site during our travel. We did arrive safely in Hangzhou on Friday, January 12th around noon and we were very, very exhausted... I've finally finished a detailed look at our travel time that consumed 39 hours total which you can view by selecting 'read more' below. The joys of international travel with a 100% dependent child proved to be quite exiting to say the least.

After our arrival on Friday we were also introduced to the team of physicians, nurses and therapists. Dr. Shi leads the team and I'll introduce you to the others in future updates. I provided them a detailed history on Tori's accident, injuries, medications and subsequent issues and I gave them over 50 pages of medical records to review as well. I am excited and anxious to hear the results of their evaluation and subsequent plans for Tori's stem cell treatments and rehabilitation program during her stay. In the early evening Tori also had another startle seizure and Dr. Shi rushed in to witness it. They aren't very fun to witness as Tori will roll her eyes back and forth and begin frothing at the mouth... Dr. Shi had a EEG done on Tori afterward while she remained in her bed. Maria, Tori and I then proceeded to sleep from 9:00pm to 8:00am Saturday morning.

As we were just arriving in China for Tori's stem cell treatment, Dave and his son Michael were just returning home after their 35 day stay. We greatly hope both Tori and Michael see vast imporvements in their recoveries.

Thank you for your continued love, prayers and support,

Tim, Maria, Tori, Whitney and Brendan

Select 'read more' below for the complete Travel Time Journal

Travel Time Journal

I typed most of this detailed update 30,000 feet above China and at 2:00am Hangzhou, China time which correlates to 12:00pm in Orem, Utah. It also marks the 30 hour travel time mark since we left our home in Orem and since we have 5 hours of flight time left plus road travel time I’m betting we’ll hit close to 40 hours… A long time for sure but with all things considered, this adventure has gone exceptionally smooth albeit with great sleep deprivation for Maria and I least. Tori is the one doing all of the sleeping and that is plain perfect and according to plan!! :-)

Travel leg 1: SLC International Airport to Washington DC, Dulles Airport

We left our home on Wednesday, January 10 at 5:45am MST in two cars for the SLC International Airport. We were up at 4:00am to prepare Tori and slept for only 2-3 hours prior to that. FoxTV 13 was at the airport to greet us and to get some footage of our arrival and checkin. We said goodbye to Guy and Whitney and with all of the luggage checked in and with tickets and passports in hand we headed to the gate with our Delta assistant Cory and a TSA assistant as well. We declared the suitcase filled with Tori’s liquid food, pedialyte and other medications and showed them Tori’s physician letter which summarizes her condition and needs. I refer to it as Tori’s ‘Golden Ticket’ since it proved to be the most valuable piece of paper we carried. We made it through security fine and then had to change Tori’s brief in a conference room inside the Delta Crown Room. I am always open and honest in Tori’s updates and she cannot go to the bathroom on her own. Changing her briefs on a trip like this was one of our most challenging issues. Thankfully, this was the only real ‘messy’ changing that occurred on the trip since we flushed her system well before we left the house.

We then went to the gate and boarded the plane first. On the plane first, off the plane last is a trend we will see much of during the trip. We brought the three heavy carry on suitcases and our two large backpacks on first. Then to board Tori, we place her wheelchair with her in it just inside the plane where I then pick her upper body up from under her arms and Maria picks up her legs. A quick carry to seat 1B and Tori is seated. Seat 1B was the best seat since it wasn’t a complete bulk head and we could elevate Tori’s feet with a bag of pillows and have them straight stick straight out from her body. Perfect for her!! We propped her up with pillows and I sat next to her with Maria across the aisle. Tori did very well on the flight with only slight agitation. We gave her a full Xanax prior to boarding and a half a Zanaflex during flight which helps greatly of course. She watched ‘Shrek 2’ and ‘Over the Hedge’ on her DVD player during the flight. After 4 hours we landed at the Washington DC Dulles airport and travel leg 1 was done!! :-) Thank you Delta Airlines and the SLC TSA for making this travel leg as smooth and comfortable as possible. Job well done!!

Travel leg 2: Washington DC, Dulles Airport to Paris, France Charles De Gualle Airport

When we arrived in Washington DC at 2:30pm EST our airport assistant was waiting. Requesting the airport assistance in advance certainly proved invaluable during the entire trip. We waited for everyone to depart then used the same ‘pick up and carry’ method to get Tori back into her wheelchair. I discovered Tori’s wheelchair took some damage during the trip as we lost her headrest allen bolt and a plastic button was broken off… So I had an airport maintenance crew member deliver a set a fallen wrenches and I proceeded to borrow another allen bolt from elsewhere on the wheelchair. Chalk up an allen wrench as being one item that wasn’t on my packing list…

Our airport assistant took us straight to the Air France Lounge where the travel agent proceeded to check us in. He tried his best to move our flight from our scheduled 10:30pm EST flight to one that left at 6:30pm EST but was unsuccessful. It would have been nice to get the earlier flight because waiting in the airport isn’t much fun and more importantly there was only 1.5 hours between our arrival in Paris to our departure to Shanghai. So we waited in a corner of the lounge, watched some TV for a while, had a late lunch, gave Tori some of her medication and her lunch of pedialyte through her G-Tube. We opted not to feed her the standard Jevity 1.2 liquid food as normal because we were worried about fight sickness or rough air which could cause her to vomit. It is not worth the risk so Tori will be getting syringes full of pedialyte throughout the trip to keep her hydrated.

The Air France staff was very accommodating and they even let us still use the lounge privately during their two hour closure. We were able to change Tori again, albeit with a blanket on the floor, and take a quick nap as well. The real fun excitement began about two hours before departure when the Air France supervisor approached me and stated they might not let Tori on the plane. Needless to say, I was NOT AMUSED in the slightest at that time… Of course I calmly but firmly inquired about the issue and it appeared that the numerous Air France medical agents I spoke with on the phone prior to the trip did not place a record on Tori’s condition. When I spoke with them I described Tori’s condition, injury and disabilities and their main question and concern was if she requires oxygen and she certainly does not. Having oxygen on board ‘just in case’ would be nice but again, Tori does not require oxygen at this time. The medical agent then stated a medical record isn’t necessary in her case though I pleaded with her to just make a note. Well, that note never made it into the system… The Air France supervisor said he needed the ‘Golden Ticket’ physician letter which would be faxed back to Paris for review and approval by the medical director and by the pilot of our plane as well. I then informed him that Tori WILL travel on that plane and if needs be, I will personally speak to the medical director on his level. Do they really think I would spend well over a year researching, finally deciding on and funding Tori’s stem cell treatments only to unduly and recklessly risk her life in getting her there?!?! Yes, Tori does have a brain injury but her lungs, heart and though uncontrollable body itself are as healthy as any other 16 year old’s.

The faxing and behind the scenes discussions occurred while we moved Tori and our luggage into the initial boarding room. While standing and waiting in the room we were informed 10 minutes before boarding that Tori was finally approved. Of course she was!!! We are here already in the boarding room aren’t we?!?! :-)

The boarding began and Maria and I used the pick up and carry method to place Tori in her seat though it was a much longer walk through the aisle this time. Her wheelchair was placed below in the storage hold of the airplane. Tori was immediately comfortable in the business class seats as we laid her all the way back and raised her foot rest as well. With a few additional pillow props she was off and sleeping well during the first half of the six hour flight. We noticed that she has small cries and agitation whenever food is being served. We give her very small samplings of cheese, cake and other foods but we know it’s not enough and it frustrates and saddens Tori that she can’t eat more… We are hoping she will be eating more food after the stem cell treatment progress we will witness in the very near future.

Tori watched a few movies during the flight as well and Maria and I sporadically tried to sleep. Towards the end of the flight we hit some major turbulence and there were quite a few ‘stomach droppers’ that Tori wasn’t enjoying… Maria wasn’t enjoying them either so I motioned for her to get a Xanax ready for Tori fast!! I wasn’t sure which one of them would be sick first as Maria frantically made Tori her Xanax and herself some Dramamine… They both got eventually got their doses and the turbulence finally died with thankfully no vomiting episodes.

We finally landed in Paris after a 7 hour flight and we were even slightly early. After everyone departed the plane the Air France crew sectioned off the first class area of the plane so we could change Tori once more before catching our flight to Shanghai. We were hustling as fast as we could and by the time we got off the plane we had 35 minutes to find and catch the next one. We then ran into issues when we had for some strange reason go through another baggage search or transition area. They searched our suitcases quickly and Maria and I made it through the body scanners fine but they informed us Tori would have to stay and wait for a French policeman to search her. We told them our next flight was very close to leaving and we wanted them to relay the message to wait for us but we never got a confirmation that they did so… I also inquired as to why we needed another search since we just departed an Air France plane only 50 meters away?!?! I was told it was ‘procedure’… I personally would call it a very bad, worthless and not needed procedure but that’s just me. We waited and waited for the French policeman to show and he finally did 25 minutes later!! Now we were 5 minutes away from our Shanghai flight departure!! Maria went to the gate to hold the plane after about 20 minutes of waiting so we were separated as well. In two minutes the French policeman asked for the ‘Golden Ticket’ and then ran a hand scanner across Tori’s legs and upper body. Tori and I were now free to go!! Our assistant grabbed two suitcases and while I pushed Tori and pulled another and we raced through the airport as fast as possible. We still had no idea of our flight status at this point and when we arrived at the gate it 10 minutes after the scheduled departure time it was still fully boarding but most importantly - the plane was still there!! :-)

Maria then summoned us over to another line and they completely halted the boarding process so we could wheel Tori down the tarmac and get her on the plane. With the excellent assistance of the Eastern China Airlines flight attendants we located our seats and completed another pickup and carry with Tori. We were on board!! They then informed me Tori’s wheelchair would be to be checked in and retrieved at the baggage claim so I explained that would not be possible as she MUST be transported in it. So we picked it up over our heads and carried it up to the first class section and parked it. So we ended up flying business class which is wonderful yet Tori’s wheelchair rode first class!! We thought it is was quite humorous at the time anyway.

Travel leg 3: Paris, France Charles De Gualle Airport to Shanghai, Pudong Airport

With Tori and her wheelchair secure we took off and began our almost 11 hour flight to Shanghai. There were 7 rows and 42 seats total in business class but there were only 10 of us on board. So they sat Tori, Maria and I on the left hand side and very middle rows and placed everyone else in the first two rows and back row. It was really convenient because we had a lot of privacy and in the dark we were able to change Tori during the flight several times. The flight attendants were very caring and supportive and took great care of Tori and us during the flight. I had to use the galley to prepare Tori’s medications and pedialyte and while there I answered many of their questions about Tori.

Tori watched the ‘Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants’ and ‘Polar Express’ movies on the flight and slept during the majority of the time. The worst of part of the flight was when my folding tray accidentally slapped together creating a noise that started the sleeping Tori into a startle seizure… We comforted her and it lasted a minute or so then she was fine. We eventually landed in Shanghai at 7:00am local time and departed after gathering Tori and our belongings. One of the flight attendants insisted on carrying my very heavy backpack but ended up sliding it behind her on the floor :-) At the baggage claim we stacked 10 of our suitcases on three hand carts but we were one short… One of the 74 lb suitcases filled with liquid food didn’t arrive so I waited with Tori while Maria worked on our lost luggage claim. They will send it to the hospital when they find it was the outcome. So we left the baggage area after 1.5 hours and headed out to our greeting crew who was thankfully still waiting for us.

Travel leg 4: Shanghai, Pudong Airport to Xiaoshan Hospital, Hangzhou

With the assistance of 3 people we then FULLY loaded a van with everything we had and had to lift Tori into a van seat as well. We then left for the 3 hour drive to the hospital in Hangzhou. It went by fairly quickly and it gave us an opportunity to scan the countryside and ask our assistant Wendy numerous questions about China and our trip. After 39 hours of travel time we finally pulled up at the Xiaoshan Hospital!! When I exited the vehicle I was immediately surrounded by 10 or more hospital nurses and staff. The nurses wear traditional nursing outfits complete with the hats. As I was getting her wheel chair out of the back and trying to put it together I had 3 nurses chasing me around trying to tie a blanket around my back. It was 42 degrees Fahrenheit and they were VERY concerned that I didn’t have a coat on. All of the commotion and attention was quite amusing and they quickly loaded all of our luggage onto a hospital stretcher. When I finally opened the side van door to get Tori out and into her wheelchair I found Maria giggling uncontrollably and hysterically. I then started laughing as well as all of the scrambling and attention was quite funny and I’m sure that my new ‘blanket cape’ was quite appealing as well :-)

All of us then headed up to the 20th floor where we found our room was ready and waiting. It was about noon local time and once we got our luggage into the room and Tori into bed it was immediately nap time for all us!! And thus the conclusion of our travel time from our home in Orem, Utah to our hospital room in Hangzhou, China.