Thursday and Friday, January 18th and 19th - Day 6 and 7 in Hangzhou, China

Hi there,

Tori has successfully completed her first week here at the Xiaoshan Hospital in Hangzhou, China!! Only three more weeks left at this point and we'll probably start to count the days as we are really beginning to miss Whitney, Brendan, Grandpa Paul, Grandma Sandy and our dog, Tinker's the Yorkie... Even though we speak with them and see them through Skype video phone conferencing multiple times per day, it's just not quite enough. We also have a camera set up at home so we can watch all of the activity in the family room and kitchen. Grandma?? We have noticed Brendan sneaking into the fridge for snacks quite often - you are so busted buddy!! ;-)

Alright, now on to Tori who is making great improvements on the PT (Physical Therapy) front. In watching James aggressively massage and stretch Tori for an hour and half each day I realize that we have not done nearly enough for Tori in this area... The flexibility improvements we have seen in Tori's arms, wrists, fingers, knees and ankles have been very impressive and that is only after a week's worth of effort by James who we might just try to sneak out of the country and take home with us. Just kidding on that one but boy do I wish!! :-) Maria and I are admittedly far too passive when we perform PT on Tori because it's very hard for us to cause her the pain that is needed for progression and it unfortunately shows in the deterioration of Tori's body... We are truly sorry Tori. It is certainly not an issue for James though who clearly knows how to push her to the pain threshold then ease nicely back again. Tori often grimaces and at times will cry out at the top of her lungs!! We tell Tori she can hit James whenever she wishes and I swear at times that right arm is headed his way but it needs a little more control and velocity to be effective :-) James mentioned that Tori and Michael, who was just here as well, are the only two that have made him really sweat during a PT session because each of them is so strong and it takes great effort to move various parts of their bodies. James will also be rearranging Tori's PT schedule next week so he can have even more time with her. Thank you James.

I have also been video taping most of the sessions with James because we, or someone we hire, will be performing the same PT sessions once we get home at least three times per week. We are renewing our commitment on this front to continue giving the Tori the aggressive PT that she needs and I will be purchasing a Mat Platform (padded platform where Tori lies and the PT is done) and Standing Table (Tori is strapped in and elevated to stand up) for our home upon our return or even before as I find the right equipment online. We would also like to find a Physical Therapist to come into our home and assist or actually complete the therapy. We will pay for the PT session time so I'm asking all of you out there to mention this great opportunity to your family, friends, neighbors and colleagues as I'm sure that someone will know of a Physical Therapist that may be willing to pursue this. Please spread the word and anyone interested can send an email to admin@pray4tori.com.

James has been massaging Tori's face and mouth and has combined acupuncture on her face as well. We are attempting to get that ever elusive smile out of Tori and she is certainly trying her best. We are teaching her to clench her teeth together first then we will try and have her move her lips and cheeks in and out and up and down to exercise those muscles. I would dare say we saw a clenched teeth smile or two but they don't count as the smiles need to be spontaneous for all of us to see!! :-) Speaking of acupuncture, Tori's still isn't too keen on it... We have been giving her the Xanax 30 minutes prior to the actual acupuncture and that has helped immensely. It seems like James is placing more and more needles with each session. So today I asked him if he has ever had it done on himself to which he replied yes, during all of his training to become a licensed acupuncturist. So I told him and motioned for him to do it on me. I wanted to experience what Tori is feeling. I'm pretty sure James knew exactly what I meant but since his english is very limited he called in the translator Salina. They were both quite shocked and had never had such a request from a non-patient before. But James was very happy to do it and placed two needles in my right arm and I posted a picture in the Image Gallery for proof :-) One went into my elbow and the other my wrist. I really felt no pain at all when the needle went in and only numbness in the areas afterward. But when James turned them and pushed them deeper into the nerve there was certainly a point where pain was felt. The idea is to get the needle right up to that pain point. Once the needle is at that point and you try and move your hand the pain will become present again. When the needles are removed a person's pain is supposed to be diminished but since I had no pain prior I can't really verify this. I can say I had no pain afterward from the placing of the needles. Tori definitely has pain so I sure hope all of this is making it lesser. We may be looking for an acupuncturist when we return home as well. For my next experience, I will have James hook me up to the EMS (Electronic Muscle Stimulation) to see what it is like as well :-)

Tori, Maria and I have been watching many movies during all of our free time. The DVD movie library is large here and we have been watching all of the movies we've missed over the past 19 months. There is only ONE english speaking channel and it is mostly business related. Wendy took us shopping again and to the bank as well. We loaded up on numerous Chinese treats, fruit, diet coke and other necessities. It is still cheaper just to order out for lunch and dinner as the cost is $1 to $2 USD for BOTH of us to eat!! Can't beat that for sure!!

Here are my observations on Chinese transportation and traffic. Bicycles, three wheeled bicycles, scooters, motorcycles and three wheeled motorcycles provide many a means to travel. There are also normal cars and some that are mini-sized along with scattered delivery trucks. Having nearly been in several accidents with pedestrians, scooters and other cars while in a taxi I feel I am qualified to discuss the traffic a little bit :-) First off, the concept of 'right of way' doesn't appear to exist and if it does exist it is completely ignored. Maybe it is the biggest vehicle or object has the right of way?!?! Not sure there. Numerous times my taxi driver has come inches from taking out a pedestrian crossing the street and the funny part is they don't cross any faster so maybe they have the right of way?!?! Or they just caught the taxi driver on a good day where he didn't want to plow them over. I'm not quite sure on this either. Another taxi driver I had would have made contact with a scooter if the scooter hadn't served away from the car almost causing the rider to crash. There were heated Chinese words flying and according to the taxi driver, he was in the right. Of course, the taxi was bigger!! :-) Lastly, white dashes in the road and double yellow lines appear to be just for decoration as there seems to be no regard for them. One of our taxi drivers started his left hand turn 100 meters from the intersection travelling in the oncoming traffic lane. He then proceeded to turn left at the intersection directly in front of all of the traffic which thankfully stopped. With all of that stated and the chaos we see when out, we have yet to see an accident. Go figure?!?! I would also like to note that we have seen ENORMOUS loads of anything imaginable on those bicycles, scooters and motorcycles mentioned. How about enough lumber to fill a pickup truck completely full placed on a three wheeled bicycle?!?! Oh yes indeed!! It is a very common sight around here :-)

I think that will wrap everything up for now and we are heading into the weekend which should give us some time to relax. The traffic on the Pray4Tori site has been wonderful and at given times we have seen over 250 simultaneous users on the system!! Thank you all for the supportive comments on this site and via email as well. They all mean very, very much to Tori and our family.

Sincerely,

Tim, Maria, Tori, Whitney and Brendan