Discovering China from a hospital

BEIJING -- Today was mostly tests and observation. I am the only spinal cord patient here at this time. The others have ALS and are getting the same treatment, but the cells are injected into the brain instead of the spinal cord.

It's kind of a culture shock once you get here. Not many people speak English, and the hospital is reminiscent of what you might have seen in the '60s in the United States. The people are as nice and hospitable as you can ask for.

When driving through Beijing to the hospital, you can see that changes are taking place in the Chinese culture. You see run-down buildings and housing, and several hundred yards from them you see new high-rise apartment buildings and newer modern structures. It would not be wise to consider China a Third World country because it appears as though the Chinese are catching up quickly.

Some of the procedures and equipment they use are outdated by our standards, but it probably keeps the cost down. For example, they use regular thermometers for taking temperature instead of the ones they stick in your ear, and the nurse carries around a blood-pressure testing unit instead of having one mounted on the walls like in our country.

They seem to know what they are doing and are professional about it. The nurses wear white dresses and the white caps like they did years ago in America. I had eight come in my room this morning and look around and look at my name and chart. They started giggling and I asked them what was going on. One of them who spoke a little English said, "They think you are very handsome man." They also thought I was 32 years old instead of 42. How many can I bring home, Mom?

They also did an EKG with a machine that used the old suction cups instead of the electrodes used now in the United States. They also did something called an EMG, which involved electrodes and needles. It was OK as long as they stuck the needles where I could not feel them.

It is hard to ask them what they are doing or the results because most do not speak much English. They did inform me that my surgery would happen more quickly because they had the cells ready.

Security is tight everywhere, even at the hospital. They say they will deport you if they catch you taking pictures of any military people or facilities. They even have quite stringent security at the Sam's store my father went to today.

Most of the highway signs are in both Chinese and English, but they need to work on their grammar. One sign said, "Do not drived tiredly."

At the hospital they do not want me to go out and are always worried about patients catching a cold or getting an infection. They worry about people getting sick from the birds here and also SARS.

I really don't have anything to complain about even though the conditions are not what I am used to. I am glad I brought my own music because all television is Chinese and there are not any American shows on the air.

The trip over was long and exhausting. We had to go through Chicago before our direct flight to Beijing. To my surprise we did not fly across the Pacific Ocean but went over the North Pole and across Siberia to China. The outside temperatures were like minus 70.