Last Day in India

Alas the week is over and we are heading home. We are all feeling a little tired but excited to be going home. The experience we have had here has been good. We are so happy that we could be here to support Mike and LaDawne and be part of this experience with them. They have done so well. LaDawne has to have a blood thinner medication by injection everyday for the next 3 weeks. Mike and I get to inflict a little pain on her. Aren't we nice. We are hoping to hit a market on the way to the airport as LaDawne was not able to do her shopping yet. One last excursion and then we are homeward bound. Thanks again for your prayers. They were truly felt and appreciated. We are so excited to see you all soon.

Jen & Kevin

Ready for discharge

Alright tonight we fly out at 10:50pm and arrive in Calgary at 4:30pm Sunday. LaDawne has one more physio session and consult with the Doctor and we can finally leave the hospital. It really has seemed like we have been here a long time, LaDawne is excited about being able to where civilian clothes again and get out of the giant sized hospital Moo Moo she has had to endure during her stay.

We are really thankful to all of the staff here at Medanta. They have really taken a lot of care in making sure my wife is as comfortable as possible. As far as hospital stays go this would have to be our best experience. But it is still a hospital and LaDawne and I both have a distaste for them.

Having Jen and Kevin here has been a huge benefit for both LaDawne and I. Getting Jen's take on the methods of practice here in the hospital has calmed us. And as a team both Jen and Kevin are a big encouragement, keeping us optimistic and providing some comic relief when things got a little stressful. It is also very helpful being able to talk to someone that completely understands without repetition. Sometimes the language barrier gets to be a little tiring.

Well we post again when we get to an airport somewhere on the way home, if not we will be posting when we arrive at home.

With Love from India,

Mike.

Touring India

Hi everyone! Thought we would give you a little update as well. We did end up getting to do a bit of touring the last two days. We went to a market on Wednesday and that was a fun experience. Not easy to leave without buying anything. You feel a little pressured but they do make very beautiful things. We also saw some monuments around Delhi like the Indian gate and Lotus Temple. All very amazing in architecture. Yesterday we went to Agra to see the Taj Mahal. Wow. It is beyond amazing. The detail and splendor is beyond words. Not wonder the Emperor went into debt making this resting place for his wife. The day was extremely hot. It felt as though we would melt away. Probably somewhere in the mid 30's causing us to burn a bit as well. Not to bad though. The drive to Agra took us 4 hours. Our driver certainly got us there in good time. They know speed and have an incredible ability to dodge things. Good thing we are not doing the driving. lol. We saw an elephant and monkeys yesterday as well. Pretty neat. We could spend a month here and not see everything we would want to.

We were happy to see what we did but are so happy to be going home tomorrow. We miss our little girl and our family, friends and the familiarities of home. We saw a flyer today for Pizza Hut and we were all drooling. As much as we enjoy naan, rice, samosas, chicken tick etc., we are missing American foods. You start to miss the basics like toast and cereal. We are trying to make sure Mike gets out today. He needs a little breather from the hospital. Mike and Kevin will do some touring today and maybe a market as well. LaDawne has a shopping list ready for them. You know how she likes to shop!! It is raining quite heavily today so they will likely want to stay in the taxi while touring. We are becoming very familiar with taxis. Rupees are their currency here so we have figured out the exchange rate and are becoming more efficient in knowing what is worth what(ie 300 rupees for a taxi to the hotel).
Well I feel as though I am rambling a little. I am spending the day with LaDawne today and I look forward to that. She is very eager to leave the hospital and get home to her independence. She has done so well though. I am very proud of here. The 15 hour flight tomorrow will be tough so please pray for that. Thank you so much for your prayers. Some of us have been feeling a under the weather at times and it is nice knowing there are people praying for us. As Mike already mentioned, we are hopeful that this procedure will help LaDawne. She is in good spirits and that is very helpful already. Physio will be a good thing. The care and support from the staff here has been amazing(From the nurses, to Dr's to the foreign patient staff). The Health care system is very different but they do a good job. We look forward to seeing you all soon.

Much Love,

Jen & Kevin

One more day in Incredible India

Hello,

Well it sure has been quite an experience. The Doctors here are recommending aggressive physio-therapy, due to LaDawne's severe muscle atrophy. We are glad we can stay a couple of days past the surgery to get a good Idea of what kind of physio would be most beneficial for her. So far it includes 15min on a peddle machine followed by 15min of standing with knee immobilizing braces and on a support stand. Keep in mind LaDawne is not standing on her own yet! We have hope that with this good follow up at home she will continue in her recovery. The Doctors did say that because it has been so long since her initial attack that it will take a long time for recovery. I talked to LaDawne about this and she is up for the challenge. Her experience with physio so far has been very tiring for her, but we are gonna whip this girl into shape! =)

Tomorrow we get discharged and are off to the airport. All of us are a little exhausted and ready to go home. I have full intentions of firing up the BBQ as soon as we arrive home for dinner. LaDawne is looking forward to getting home and being able to talk you, her friends. She will also make a post as soon as we get home, as this work-station I am on is in accessible to her.

Thank you all again for you love.

Sincerely,

Mike

Just a couple more days of follow up.

Hello all,

Mike here just checking in to let you all know that all is well. LaDawne seems to have more energy than I do at the moment. The surgery went well and the Doctor came to talk to us last night. There were 3 veins that had been blocked with one in particular down by the spine that had a lot of blockage. This Azygos vein had been blocked for a long time, already having grown new veins around to compensate for the lack of proper flow. I find it interesting that, regardless of MS, Doctors in Calgary would not go so far as to check her vascular system.

At any rate, LaDawne is doing well and we still wait for some bigger positve results from this procedure. LaDawne is not dicouraged, knowing that results will take time. She also realizes that even if there are no positive results the progression will be slowed if not halted. It is very important that we remain realistic as well as optomistic. There have been so many ups and downs in our walk with this disease we have learned to curb our emotions to the point of having low expectaions. We thank you all for your contiued prayers and support. We are very hopful for complete recovery and trust that God will be glorified in any case.

yours truely,

Mike

Surgery is done!

Hi all. I am posting on behalf of Mike and LaDawne. The surgery was at 9am today and was done around 11am. It ended up being delayed a day due to other patient emergencies. The Dr said everything went well and they were able to open up 3 blocked veins. LaDawne said the sensation of the angioplasty felt a little strange when the ballon was inflated. The vein in her thoracic(chest) area was quite blocked so we are hoping that the restored blood flow will be a postive thing. Thank you so much for your prayers. It is not easy being in another country undergoing a surgery. LaDawne is a trooper and despite feeling a little groggy she is in good spirits. She is happy that they found veins that needed to be opened. There are so many differences in how things are done here. We do a lot of waiting but the care is good. We will be hearing from the Dr's later today and we will update more then. Please continue to pray that there will be healing and no complications.

Jen

The Streets of New Delhi

Questions I Ponder...

...Why do the streets have lines or traffic lights?

Every one is everywhere - bicycles, cars, trucks, scooters, motorbikes, pedestrians, rickshaws, and our taxi driver singing away with his favourite Indian music. At least we are all driving the same direction! Oh wait...I take that back. This morning we took just a little shortcut - against the flow on a one way!! Our driver is good at dodging oncoming traffic.

...where is all the Chai Tea?

I've seen lots of coffee shops, but none (so far) have served Chai. This was one of the things I was looking forward to the most. This morning, though, a very nice lady, Rashmi, found someone to make us a few cups of Chai. SOOOOO GOOD!

...Why do cars have horns anyway?
Now I know!! The are used to say "Here I am!! Coming through!!!" Our taxi driver was turning a corner honking away. A man on a bike so casually tapped the front corner of the car and proceeded to continue cycling right in front of us! The really neat thing about driving in India, Is that you don't have to wait for an opening in a busy street. You just drive right in and hope for the best. No wait time at all. Drivers around here are so efficient. Especially on any kind of bike. It is amazing what kind of places those guys can fit. Oh ya one more driving tip. Fold in your side mirrors...they may get ripped off from a car trying to pass. It is not uncommon to see 5-6 vehicles (bikes included) across a 3 lane street.

That will be all for now. We plan on hitting the streets of New Delhi later today.

Kevin & Jen

Tired in Delhi

Hello all,

Sorry for the delay in posts but we had quite a challenge finding a spot to access the internet.

We arrived in Delhi yesterday morning around 1:30am and went directly to the hospital. Because of the time of day the hospital seemed deserted. We went through the admittance process with our main contact at the hospital, Sanjeev. By the time all was said and done we got to bed around 4am. Jen and Kevin found their way to the hotel without incident (only one cockroach thus far in the room!). LaDawne and I were up at 6am for our tea followed by breakfast at 7:30. We have yet to get more than 4 hours of sleep at one time.

During the day LaDawne was brought to several different rooms in the hospital for pre-op tests. The day ended around 2am! we were up and about around 5:45 this morning. LaDawne's surgery is scheduled for 3pm today. The head Doctor for LaDawne is very thorough and well articulated. His competence inspired confidence in all of us. There was a time early in the morning when I was chatting with LaDawne where I broke down expressing my severe angst, thinking we have come half way around the world just to get some test done to tell us something we already knew. So this talk with the Doctor was great for me.

I will add more today or tomorrow after LaDawne's surgery to let you all know how things went.

Jen and Kevin will add another post here with some trip details as well as some cultural experiences with pictures.

Thank you all for your love, we love you too.

Mike

Frankfurt airport is nice this time of year

Hello all.

Just wanted to update you all as to our progress. Our flight was delayed in Houston by 2 hours. It just so happens we had a two hour layover in Frankfurt. Well that left us with to little time to make it to our Delhi connection. But no worries All has been rearranged and is continuing on smoothly. Our contacts in India are most accommodating. We were going to arrive late Saturday night but instead we will be there late Sunday night. All still in time for our appointment at the hospital for Monday morning.

The two flights have been pretty uneventful otherwise, Which is good.

Thank you all for your prayers and support.

Just a quick story LaDawne wanted me to share with you. While I was typing up this post on the iPod talking with LaDawne. I was sitting in her wheelchair and I decided to put my feet up on a bench. Well, maybe it was the lack of sleep the caused my lack of cordination but I promptly flipped over onto the floor finishing a little untidily on my back. And of course my loving wife, after knowing I was alright of course, was laughing while covering her mouth the way she does. Saying "Im going to be laughing about that for along time."

well that's it for today, we will be back tomorrow.

Mike

Almost Time!

I cannot believe that we leave in 2 days. Mike and I are feeling the reality of this trip today and it is a bit overwhelming. We are excited, nervous, anxious...did I mention scared? There are just so many things to think about. First off, our flight is 23.5 hours-how on earth will I survive that? Mike will be right by my side the whole time-that does make me feel safe. Then, the procedure! We hear great things-is this going to be great for us too? We are begging God for a miracle. And...when we got our vaccinations, the nurse gave us all this information. Don't get bit by dogs or any other animal because rabies can kill you and don't get bit by bugs because malaria can kill you too. Mike is calm, cool and collected as we are hearing all of this where as I am sitting there asking her to write all of this down and asking her what exactly does it mean when you say it will kill me? I need to know specifics. Oh yeah, and should I wear some sort of a net all around me when I am outside? I mean, all I need is to get malaria, right? Mike thinks I am crazy and I actually am beginning to agree with him.

Anyway, this trip brings about many thoughts and emotions for us. I am praying that we will rest in the assurance that God knows what he is doing. Sometimes, I try really hard to debate those words but I do know the truth. He does know. More then this though, I am praying that it is our turn for a miracle. I hear how selfish this sounds but, if I am going to be honest with you, this has been our prayer for a long time

Thank you for all of your support. We are very blessed and very thankful.

Preparations

Hello all,

Mike here just signing in to get this thing started. LaDawne and I have been getting a lot things in order in a short time to make this trip happen. As usual LaDawne puts in a lot of work to make sure all the details are going to work out. She is very tired at the moment, as well as anxious.

For starters, the flight is 23.5hrs. We hope to have bulkhead seats so that I can ferry LaDawne to the washroom when ever it is needed. There are going to be a couple of stops along the way which always make me nervous. I find that I am always anxious about getting to the next plane in time (one of our layovers is only 45min, and the next flight is in a different terminal).

Once we get there we will have to make a constant effort to stay in the air conditioned areas. Heat is never a good thing for LaDawne, she gets so very weak at these times. Today the heat is a incredible 37 degrees Celsius in Delhi.

I have a feeling that once we get into the hospital most of our traveling nerves will have subsided. And a whole new nervousness will set in shortly. I wouldn't doubt if the nervousness will just continue seamlessly.

Anyway, we want to thank all of you for your current and future support and prayers for LaDawne and I on this trip. We will keep you posted on our progress. We love you.

Mike Boehlig.