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