So if you live in your basement, and only come out at night, let me introduce you to something that’s been around for awhile. And actually, is in a previous post of mine.
I’ve tweeted (i suppose is the word) a lot – and enjoy it.
What I like the most is following other people’s tweets; reading new stuff. Reading stuff about similar people, etc.
Quite something – and quite addictive.
The areas most sore are (1) the 2 1/2 inch area where the bone was pulverized and now I've got donor bone mixed together with synthetic bone, and (2) the triangular area which Dr. Flood figured was fine on its own.
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| From 20081225 ER - CT of Leg - Processed |
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| From Nan Fang Hospital Xrays |
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| From 20081225 ER - CT of Leg - Processed |
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| From Nan Fang Hospital Xrays |
So when I go back to Taiwan in 10 days or so, my goal is to be to have ....
wait for it wait for it
More surgery! Ayup, I need to go under the knife again ... to get that area packed with more donor (aka dead people's donated) bone so that it will heal up correctly. And while we're in there, that stupid long wire/nail needs to be changed to a plate. Oh, and if we're going to be knocking me out ... maybe that wire that's wrapped around my femur. If anyone knows where Steve Austin is - let me know.
PAF
I’ve wanted to write this post – and more – for a long time.
I’ve been afraid to do so … as I have always felt I would come back to China and his ‘guangxi’ with government officials was somewhat of an unknown.
With that said – karma is a beautiful thing.
He really stepped in it when he, apparently, fabricated an entire interview with a senior government official (after he’d announced prior that he’d be interviewing said official to thousands of us).
As he actually affected the exchange rate of the RMB to the USD, the government took it seriously.
Now, as this is the same dude that made off with thousands of USD that I know were mine … I was hoping it’d be 17 years of hard labor. But no.
While he was ‘discovered’ by those of us here in China – because he was forced by the government to recant his article …
And as he’d already put the article out into ‘the wild’ (aka the Internet), that meant a public retraction.
Then all of those people who he had threatened to stay silent in the past grouped together and started posting across the Internet… for example Twitter.
So then someone posts a picture that he himself put up on the web … after creating this site (and SO MANY of us wish we’d created this site for ourselves).
I wish I felt like he’d never be back.
However, if you read the last link, it uses the word “effectively” – which is lawyereze for not.
My $0.04 – as two cents isn’t worth three cents anymore.
PAF
Dezan Shira & Associates,Dezan Shira,Dezshira, Foreign Direct Investment in Asia,Foreign Investment in Asia,FDI,Foreign Direct Investment, Chris Devonshire-Ellis, CDE, #CDE, An International Firm Servicing Foreign Investment in Asia.A boutique professional services firm providing foreign direct investment legal, tax, accounting and due diligence services for multinational clients in China, Hong Kong, Vietnam and India. Established in 1992 with sixteen offices in four jurisdictions, Investing in China, Vietnam, India: Financial, Tax & Accounting Issues. Business advisory, corporate establishment, due diligence, tax advisory. Full service: foundation, accountancy, practical assistance, china,investment,consulting,tax,law,regulations,due diligence,business,India,Vietnam,accounting,trading,market entry,M&A,set up,joint venture,start-up,China Strategic,legal,license,export,asia,advice,information,firm
For the two of you that regularly read my site – you do know what RSS is right? Well it stands for “Really Simple Syndication” and you can read more about it here and here.
Because on your browser you can now install a button that will allow your BROWSER to automatically update you every time I update my blog. Essentially, you go to my blog (you’re here) and you go down to the RSS section on the right side of the page and click on the RSS link (I chose version 2.0) and in either IE or Firefox I’m offered the option to Subscribe.
Once I’ve chosen to subscribe, then everytime my blog is updated you’ll see the latest blog title….
Easier than checking out the site, that’s for sure. Not that I have anything worth reading here anyway … LOL.
Some of you know the dichotomy I deal with regarding Taiwan & China … and the Mao / Chiang created two China, one China one Taiwan, or one China.
While in Taiwan, I never deal with this dichotomy, as it’s my opinion that John Q. Public in Taiwan takes it as a given that they are a separate country.
While in China though … the conversation is shorter, less fun, and frustrating; as I don’t feel at liberty to truly discuss my thoughts or convictions. The question that runs through my head is – if I actually talk about this, does the chance of me being denied entry at the border increase?
Anyway, lately a new experience has started to creep into my life. Is it because I got run down?
Is it due to the economic financial crisis and the only government I know of that is publicly stating that it won’t have a problem is the Chinese (PRC)? Is it because I’ve been chemically altered by the transfused blood I received? Who knows … but I’ve started feeling more and more like I’m in a position to actually defend Mainland China.
Let’s not even go to the asinine comments that your local – ‘look good on TV’ newscaster makes of:
The USA is more communistic or socialistic than present day China is.
If you lost your entire family and all of your possessions in a fire in the USA you’d get something not only from the government, but all sorts of NGOs.
If the same happened to you here – you’d be on the street with a piece of cardboard with writing on it – begging for money saying you’d been in a fire… and 99% of the people walking by wouldn’t believe you. Unless you had nasty burn scars to go with it.
So… when I was forwarded an article about this Bus To Nowhere … I couldn’t believe it…
So who would think there would be a bus for sale where you can be executed AND carved up for organ donation?
Anyway – how do you defend allegations of organ donations for profit? It’s not beyond the realm of possibility for ANYWHERE … but especially here. (See my article on DVDs in China)
Anyway… in a lot of ways I find it strange that I find so much criticism of China. Yeah it’s different … but I wonder what I would have felt like living in the Colonies of North America in the 1500 or 1600s… and the treatment of the blacks, or the indians.
Or the Confederate south. Or the west and the Trail of Tears.
Or the Martin Luther King days.
Lots of examples … how about Child Laborers in the USA in the early 1900s.
Anyway.
How bad is it for you? Millions of people here are out of work. Tens of thousands of factories in 1 province alone have shut down. Whole industries are disapearing from China – the toy industry is only 20% of what it was 1 year ago.
It’s unreal when you think about the global loss of wealth.
We’re ploughing our way through it – but it is not easy.
PAF
BTW, thank you again to those of you who have helped out with the Surgery fund … I’ll do a tally … but your assistance is greatly appreciated.
Have you Googled yourself?
Do you care if people can find you?
First of all – it’s interesting to do different searches and see how your name shows up on the web. Apparently there is some guy named “Howard Parker Fairfield” who specializes in metalwork. Nope, not me.
Second of all … sometimes the best way to get your information out there is to put it into a social networking group. There are so many, my suggestion is that you select those which target the groups you’re interested in.
Great question. There are a few excellent ones that I know of … and if you’d like to suggest a new one please email me here if I’m missing any.
Here are some places you can either follow me, my musings, or my career:
Google Profile is, to my knowledge, new. You’ll need a Google account (click here to register for the best free account on the internet …
LinkedIn.com is the best developed business focused social networking site on the web. They’ve done a great job of integrating other sites, as well as doing business to business (B2B) agreements with complimentary sites & providers. Check my account out by clicking here.
The absolute best thing about LinkedIn is that if you can get your boss(es), co-worker(s), fellow classmate(s), service provider(s), etc [not to mention previous ones] to join, then the can RECOMMEND YOU … and you will never need to have a recruiter call a reference again.
You will notice that there are thousands of recruiters signed up – and that the CONNECTION engine is fairly well done. This is their primary way of making money – charging large fees to become a premium member.
Connect with me by adding me to your network – use my ParkerFairfield AT Gmail . com email address.
Initially I thought Twitter was stupid. But I’ve learned that the value of Twitter is two-fold. First of all … if you follow smart people that like to Tweet (twit?) a lot … you can learn a ton. Take a look at my Twitter account here – http://www.Twitter.com/ParkerFairfield – and scroll over the people I follow (pay particular attention to ACroll; he’s stupid smart. Click on his picture and you’ll go to his Twitter page … as you read his comments and follow his links … you’ll feel momentarily smarter.
Not sure how their management is going to make money – but I’m sure they’re working on it. Or they’ll go the way of the Dodo.
Xing is one of those that you’ll join when you want to start to geographically focus on an area. My account was created as I was invited by an old fellow employee at Heyer-Patz in Austria.
Alex Gruber invited me … and so far I’ve done a crap job of expanding my network – but I’ll try!
It seems to me that they’re pricing matrix is one focusing on ‘those of us’ that are looking for like minded people and business networks.
Sometimes you’ll want to send people to a link – and not want them to either be scared off by the LENGTH of the URL … or you’ll just want to trick them.
www.Bit.ly is an excellent example of a great service – as Bit.ly allows you to change a crazy URL to a more serviceable one.
Here are two examples … each example has two (2) different URLs which go to the same place.
First Example – my Google Profile:
OR
Get yourself a Bit.ly account!
Spent the weekend doing nothing but goofing while I wasn’t writing descriptions of NarrowGate Services
Haven’t mastered all of the technologies out there – there are some new cool ones … and some tools to see how well your different sites are integrated – a great one is this Google tool.
Eventually I’d like to get all of these sites to point at eachother:
http://www.LinkedIn.com/in/ParkerFairfield
http://www.parkerfairfied.com/blog
http://www.twitter.com/parkerfairfield
http://www.ryze.com/?parker
http://picasaweb.google.com/parkerfairfield
http://YouTube.com/rawsushi
http://parkerfairfield.myplaxo.com
http://fusionontap.com
Peace
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Went to my ‘local’ hospital today… I’d been there before so at least I was registered.
Signed up for Physical Therapy – maybe I’ll try to take a camera. Anyway… I’m exhausted so it’s a record short BLOG session today.
Went in and had them wire me up to what I assume where ultrasound devices; they had to avoid areas with metal … so they literally did the articulation area of my knee, and then they did from my ankle to mid foot.
Had twenty minutes of that, and then had about ten minutes of another therapy session – maybe a different kind of ultrasound? on my fracture area of my foot.
Had two young guys come and sit on the adjoining therapy bed to watch me. Wish they’d thrown money or peanuts.
Later in the day my knee hurt pretty good.
I’ve got about 45degrees of ROM … and slowly improving. Still sleeping an impressive 10hrs plus.
Need to be off.
Later.
I've been back almost a week ... and my biggest concern before I arrived was an important, but mundane one - would I be able to use the average restroom when in need?
As some of you know, my studio apartment in the Tianhe section of this city of around 18,000,000 (the official statistics are always low) was briefly lived in by my landlord, and is nicely decorated... However the key thing about my studio is that it's a loft - with the bedroom and the bathroom being upstairs.
So, upon arrival in Guangzhou (GZ), and having my bag brought up to my studio, I started acclimating myself to my environment.
The most dangerous thing about using crutches when you've had your leg literally rebuilt from femur to foot with not only screws, wire, nails, plates, and rods, but also a combination of donor bone and synthetic bone is trying to shower. It's a daily event ... and any liquid on the floor which gets between the two (2) inch diameter 'crutch foot' and its share of the 200 pounds it supports can easily result in a sudden slippage of the crutch.
I've fallen to the floor twice now - once in Taiwan, and once in China. I slipped in my room after trying to grab something off of my bed; I moved too fast as I reached with my right arm (allowing my right crutch to stop supporting me, and the increased angle on my left crutch caused it to shoot out from under me. One's immediate thought is to put your foot down to stop the fall ... but somehow I'm good at instinctively not following 'common' reactions. I fell to the floor and laughed at myself. I was extremely thankful that I did not put my foot down - as my most recent Xrays show tha my toe is still fractured, but its healing.... and I have no idea what would happen to my femur - as its got the 6 centimenter section of 'bridging' which consists of nothing more than a metal plate about 1/2 inch wide and 1/8 inch thick with a bunch of mixed non-Parker bone (the bone is mixed synthetic bone with donor (corpse) bone).
I've lost about 20 kilograms (around 45 pounds) ... and had somewhere around 7 kilos installed into my left leg ... so I'm lighter, but visibly thinner; so much so that everyone comments on it. The ramifications of losing so much weight is that I have the joy of wearing belts every day! 
Putting a belt on while standing on crutches is something takes serious practice!
While I used to sleep only about five or six hours a day, it's a brave new world for me now. I sleep somewhere around twelve hours a day... so getting up at six like "normal" is impossible as I'm still in the office. I've gotten accustomed to getting up daily around eightish...
After dressing, I hazzard the spiral stairwell. I'd have to say that this is the most dangerous part of my day - from top to bottom it's a clockwise spinning stairwell with ten (10) stairs taking between the loft and the main floor. There is no way that the stairwell would pass whatever organization 'approves' stairwells in the USA - as first of all its width can't be three feet (about 95 cms) and the tread depth is somewhere around 5 (13 cms) inches at the middle of the tread ... which means when I'm coming down the stairs with one good foot the which is a size 13 (47 or 48) I have to step sideways. As a teenager I spent years on crutches so ... I do the advanced process of holding two crutches under my left arm and then put a vice like grip on the center pole of the stairwell with my right hand.
I've had the joy of hanging by my right arm only once - my foot slipped out from under me and the crutch propelled me forward and I just hung there like a flag waiting for a breeze. I got my foot back on the stair - and thanked my lucky stars for the fact that my shoulders and arms are already a LOT stronger due to porting myself around. I doubt I'll slip again ... I now only walk the stairs with my awesome looking
I shut down my laptop - its playing jazz all night long - after checking my email and put it in my overladen backpack... and at the same time eat get some fruit or vegetables in me (cherry tomatoes, bananas, oranges or star fruit is my normal purchase as they are fairly indestructible and I imagine they are good for me) I chow down my pills.
I take pills four (4) times a day ... with a slight variation.
The overview is, one is to help me from getting an ulcer, some are NSAIDs (non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs), pain killers, Chinese anti-swelling medicine, and anti-biotics.
Some are taken every 8, some every 6... and I was even proscribed some sort of Chinese medicine which basically tastes like it came out of the bottom of some discarded vat of gook used to die felt orange. It's taken every other day an hour after food and allegedly helps my bones grow... which as Dr. Flood did such a crap job on my tibia I'm taking it too. I'm extremely thankful that its only taken every other day, and not twice a day - as I don't know that I could keep that much of it down!
So after loading up on my medicines, I choke down something (tomatoes are easy, bananas are tasty, and oranges are a pain to peel) ... and then take my vitamins - Calcium (a pill that has to be the largest horse pill I've ever taken) and a pill that's essentially every vitamin known to man kind - which has about 200% of one's daily need of Zinc, not to mention the other vitamins the body does and doesn't need.
Then, once I've got my drugs in me - which I definitely need, because there is always some part of my leg which demands attention (although somedays I do go without taking the pain medicine as I am constantly trying to keep its usage to a minimum to keep from building up a tolerance), I find my ziplock bag and allocate my lunch and dinner allowances of pills. The bag usually inspires giggles and some laughter when people see me pull it out for the first time... the pills come in all sorts of colors and sizes.
Depending on my feeling of exhaustion, I suck down a can of "Fire" coffee... not bad, and now that there's allegedly no more toxins in the milk I feel as safe consuming it as I do about consuming anything else here.
I suppose getting to the office is actually the most boring part of the day - outside of actually getting my backpack on and then standing up. I feel like one of the actors playing a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle must have felt the first time they put the shell on.
The weirdest thing about being out in public is the stares. I've never once seen any other handicapped walking down the street... I've never seen anyone else on crutches ... and as a foreigner on crutches - usually listening to some pounding rock music to keep my march moving at a decent clip - I'm certainly about as weird looking as a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle walking down the street.
As my left foot is so swollen that nothing fits on it - one of my gym socks feels tight - I wrap it in the 6 inch wide ace bandages that I used to hold the splint on with - and depending on the amount of swelling where my femur tore through my thigh I wrap that area with two ace bandages too. As the temperature has been in the high 20s the last few days (mid 80s F) I've worn nice short pants more than half of the time ... allowing my incredibly sexy leg (photos are on the way; I need to find a photographer) is quite an eye catcher!
I've learned to protect my foot in the elevator - as it's usually chest to back, shoulder to shoulder full during rush ( I bang my crutches on the ground and casually "accidentally" hit ankles when feet get too close).
At work I decided to be right up front - as everyone was ecstatic I was back (some clapped). I told people that if they wanted to see, I'd be happy to show them my surgeries - and got a standing room only audience. The forty plus stitches which are essentially in four different areas for a total length of around thirty inches (70cms) plus all the scrapes, and holes where the 'external fixation' device was installed make for a bizarre sight.
Now, when in pain, I put my leg up on my desk with a pillow and continue my job; writing, reading, working on a project etc.
Having worked hours on the flexing of my knee - I have about 20 degrees of range of motion (ROM) - I don't have to worry about using the rest room ... except for the fact that restrooms in Asia are no where near as clean as they are in the USA....
I order lunch delivered to the office, and try to remember to take my meds on time.
I try to get home around a decent time - call it between six and nine ... and I usually eat something delivered - Papa John's has made a major entry into my life LOL - and I've learned what channels have decent shows on my TV - which has never had so much interaction since I've lived here.
I watch mostly soccer (football as its called over here) because regardless of the language being spoken by the broadcasters you can understand what's going on by watching. I've yet to have a favorite team - but ask me in a few months. If it's on TV in China, it's excellent football. I also watch a bunch of the propaganda on their CCTV channels ...
I do laundry daily - it's easier to do that way - and basically throw the clean laundry up onto the floor of my bedroom.... which is fairly ironic (wash your clothes so you can throw them on the floor).
And my big event of the evening is the fact that I've moved my showering to night time... as it's impossible to do in the morning. It is no longer possible for me to take a three minute shower ... I figure 'fast' is about ten minutes. Oh, and I screwed up my goatee that I was intent on keeping as it is easier to keep than being clean shaven. I should have just found a barber, but I didn't, and accidentally screwed it up, and ended up going back to good old Parker. (It took Sarah 3 hours to realize today!)
As I said - my biggest fear is slipping on the wet tile and falling ... and the fold-up stool that I have in my shower helps me get over that some ... but I still move at tortoise pace as I really don't want to end up in a hospital bed for a long time.
So what I've done is I put two carpets in my bathroom and have a stool... and then try to keep my crutch feet totally dry.... and then I take 1/3 of the normal step I take ... so that my good foot is moving only about 8 inches at a time ... so even if a crutch slipped, I don't think I'd lose my balance.
After my shower, I do my laundry, put on my jazz (usually Coltrane),
and go up and take my bed time medicine and go to sleep for the first time of the evening. My average evening I start waking up around three am, and then once an hour until I finally get up... although my first two nights here I slept almost twelve hours straight.
I also have to be more diligent about my masochism - as I don't stretch my knee enough; but that's why I'm going to find some sadist at a physical therapy department to torture me.
Did I miss anything? Don't think so!
I had an interesting chat with Jayson today … it went something like:
PAF: my leg is gonna be the sexiest leg at the beach, between the old knee scars, and the new scars – about 30 stitchs or so plus some great scars from the collision …. it’ll be like I got attacked by lawnmower
Jayson: How many new “holes” do you have?
PAF: scars, stitches or holes? Because the holes are insane.
Jayson: I thought about that when u said the bones were protruding….
PAF: Yeah, they left holes … but additionally was where my leg was crushed between my bike and the car … a lot of the scabs left round spots = about 20 or so.
Jayson: So how many new scars will there be?
PAF: Now that’s FUNNY. The scabs and stuff will go away. But the places where they stitched me up … at least 30 new stitches between the places where the bones stuck through the skin, and where they put the hardware in. And then there’s the pin in the bottom of my foot.
Jayson: It’s gonna look like you got mauled by a tiger
PAF: Looking at the outside of left leg about where your keys in your pocket hang, all the way down the outside until just below my knee, and then bending in towards the front of my leg under the knee is a long slice with stitches every 1/4 inch or so. Sexy as heck. And then some on the inside of my upper thigh … and then some on my lower leg … and some on my foot (the foot one on the ball of my left big toe is so ugly even I’m impressed!)
Granted neither my brother nor I are doctors … granted I’ve been beaten down my the archaic system that one deals with over here – want a 2nd opinion, well CHECK OUT OF THE HOSPITAL, and CHART BACK IN and get your 2nd opinion WITH your NEW doctor. You’ve just embarrassed the original one, so he won’t be doing the surgery….
Derek’s question: why does it look like the break on your lower leg isn’t set all the way? (in the new pics on picasa…)
PAF: cuz i’m in Taiwan and it probably isn’t. Which picture?
Derek: http://picasaweb.google.com/parkerfairfield/Surgery4567On20090114#5294532672384261122
You know how there are so few smiling faces at any airport?
Know how you've always wondered how hard it really would be to bring a bomb or C4 or some explosive on an airplane?
Know how air travel has morphed into some sort of masochistic exercise of hurrying up and waiting, followed by hurrying up? Something like being cattle led to slaughter?
Carrie & her mom picked us up at home in Taichung around 12:30pm ... and drove the 20 minutes to the airport; Carrie's mom makes any short ride exciting. One thing that's for sure is that her VW van has authentic brake pads, because the thing routinely proves that it can stop on a dime!
So after arriving at the incredibly small - but nicely laid out (and overstaffed) - Taichung airport (RMQ) I checked in for my 14:40 flight with:
I was a little surprised when the Hong Kong Express Airways girl checking me in freaked out that I'd been in the country more than 30 days - I'd forgotten to give her my Alien Resident Card which allows me to live in Taiwan (virtually) permanently. When I left she was as sweet as pie... smiling and wishing me a fast recovery.
She checked me in to the best seat on the plane for me - the aisle seat on the right side of the plane facing the bulkhead... allowing my left leg to stick past the bulkhead yet out of the aisle.
Two employees went with me to the 3rd floor departure lounge. Me, sporting my massively bushy beard (unshaven since the first week of January) and two guys in blue pull overs. We weren't a TOTAL scene - but enough of one that 95% of everyone looked, a few pointed, and all listened to our conversation; it's nice knowing that I can provide entertainment to about 50 people at any given time!
One took off ... while the other waited. Pushing me for water, and talking to me about the risks of driving - from his perspective - in Taiwan. He had a lot of experience, according to him, for 20 years old. Although he'd never been in an accident. [giggle]
The boarded the whole plane before me, and then, with my escort, I took the elevator down ... had three guys take my wheel chair to be gate checked ... and my escort carried my backpack for me as I made my way to seat 3D. Nice! The only thing that they could have done nicer is upgraded me to first class!
Hey, I'll take whatever I can get!
The purser came and with a big grin... we discussed the merits of be getting off first or last. She allowed me to convince her that I knew what I was doing and could get off first. (Well, first after First Class; you know how it is).
The ride was crappy only because it was painful. The people were great! And I can't wait to fly UO again!
I got to the gate and sure enough, my wheel chair -undamaged- was there. As well was a smiling young lady ready to (try and) push me to the ferry area.
I bought my ticket from the nice, smiling girl (she was a Jekyll and Hyde because I heard & saw her sneering at the previous ferry passenger). The irony was that my 99 pound wheel chair pusher (who was catching her breath) had of course cut the entire line and now the others that had been waiting for god only knows how long got wait as the lady became super kind. The Ms. Hyde told me that they'd take care of my luggage transfer for me if I'd give them my ticket - now that's a deal! "Here, take it".
My pusher steered me down to the waiting area ... and I was told that my ferry was in like an hour and a half.
I thanked the pusher lady, and gave her a tip - she was stunned (maybe I shouldn't have done that but she was cool, basically a tour guide and saved me 20 minutes at least!).
So the pusher girl sent over one of the Ferry customer service girls ... who informed me (smiling of course; it was one of those days) that my bus would be there at 5:45 (for the 6:10 departure). Cool. I had awhile. I got out of the wheelchair, got comfortable - realized I lost my Time magazine, wrote some SMS messages - you know ... just hung out.
At about 5:30, Ferry girl came over and said "will you come with me" ... as it was early I asked, as I was going with her, "You are putting me on a ferry to Dongguan, right?" Yup, she was.
We went out, I got on the bus, and I watched two twiggy looking young girls try to figure out how to pick up my wheel chair and get it onto the bus. I asked in which seat I should sit ... and was told "Which ever one you like". I was stunned when I sat down to find out that the bus started moving. I was the sole passenger on a bus with 42 spots.
When I got to the bus terminal, I asked yet another young girl - of the wheel chair pushing variety - why I was the only passenger on the bus. Her reply was "We thought that you'd be more comfortable." Well as a matter of fact, I was!
She huffed and she puffed, and she pushed me into the waiting room - which had the Power Puff Girls on tv (in Cantonese Chinese). Perfect! I put my iPhone earplugs in and zoned out.
About ten minutes later, the waiting area filled with passengers ... and at some point we did that ever Chinese thing called waiting for no good reason. Sometimes it works like this, one person (in this case me) goes up to the podium/door area and asks a question (like "what time are we going to board?") and all of a sudden you can hear the 100 or so people jump up and make the mad rush to stand behind you - as they're sure that you've inside information and we're about to board.
I rolled out of the way - no need to get shoved around.
Ten minutes or so later the recovered pusher girl showed up and asked me if I could use the crutches that were hanging on the back of my wheelchair - I guess she'd had enough of pushing me! LOL I got up and showed her I could. On the way down to the boat I realized that it would have been a MAJOR undertaking to roll me up and down so many gangplanks with me IN the wheelchair; not quite like building a pyramid ... but it would have involved about 4 healthy males and lots of slipping, swearing and maybe some blood loss. Crutches were fine.
The hid my chair on board, and I made my way upstairs to a comfortable seat as far from the door as I could get; no need someone tripping over me. I had a great conversation with Doug Leavy who is clearly one of the Pittsburg Steelers' biggest fans. Doug works for Emess Design Group, and is a really nice guy... and is in China a lot!
Once we docked, a nice guy - of the wheelchair pushing variety - took me to the Staff Immigration line for my passport stamp ... and when I mentioned my bag his reply AFTER we exited was "Don't worry, we'll get it for you."
By the time my driver showed up, they'd brought my bag out for me.
I'm not sure if it was the wheel chair - or the crutches - but I highly recommend traveling with BOTH of them. I went through two (2) metal detectors and each time (as I was in a metal wheelchair and have a leg full of metal) made the machines beep incessantly. I could have smuggled a small VCR unit onboard if I'd wanted to as the searches were so incomplete. I have no idea how big a hand grenade ACTUALLY is, but suffice it to say, I could have had 8 baseballs in the padding under my behind and they never would have found them.... as they didn't LOOK.
Having my bag go around - through - or whatever - customs without me ... that was awesome too.
But best of all was just the happiness of the people helping! Amazing.
And yes, I got to my apartment - exhausted and sore - at around 10pm. It's a nightmare going the short distance from Taiwan to China only because of the political garbage involved.
My foot is nice and swollen – Oh, I still haven’t described my trip to see Dr Flood on Monday… I’ll get to it. Going to bed soon.
So, I decided I needed to see a doctor – so I got my driver to take me to a hospital I’d been to before … their orthopedic clinic was closed in the afternoon.
So, we went to a second hospital – Nan Fang Yi Yuan 南方醫院 because I know a guy who’s friend went there and liked it; yeah, you’d have to live in Asia to understand that logic. Anyway… we go to the first place … and after walking quite a bit we’re directed to the third floor; by now I’m exhausted (as I’m not WALKING, I’m swinging on my crutches).
We get there, and are informed that “they can’t be seen here… they need to go to the other building.” I was pissed. Oh, so white people aren’t welcome here. I have to be Asian to be seen in this hospital? What’s wrong with seeing us white people?
You can come back Saturday, we’ll see you then. Or you can go to the back building. It’s not far.
So I asked, not far walking, but how far on crutches.
She replied, you might want to take a wheelchair.
We took the car to the “other building” …. and were redirected to a third building.
When we got there, I registered – to then be told they’d call the doctor and he’d be there in awhile.
20 minutes later, as I was fighting a minor mutiny (let’s come back tomorrow) the doctor showed up.
Long and the short, US 90 got me a TON of xrays of my leg and my foot and 1 hour with the doctor – as well as a bag full of foul tasting Chinese medicine.
His comments were, I will definitely need more surgery on my ankle, and that my leg looked okay. And that western medicine will kill me and to stop taking it, and only take the two types of Chinese medicine he gave me. Hey 2 out of 3 aint bad.
My left 2nd toe is clearly still broken… and he thinks that’s why my foot is so swollen.