Last night Billy had his first dose of stem cells administered through an IV. Today he has had his first acupuncture treatment. The Asian definitely use their medicine in association with their spiritual beliefs. The place where we are staying is called Better Being Hospital. It is a rehabilitation hospital. It is not your typical hospital. Just as you have seen from numerous movies, before you walk into a room you take your shoes off. Oh and all of you that think Texas is hot and humid think again! When you walk outside here, it's that same feeling of opening and oven and your eyelashes burning off! Haha also the humidity is even worse than home. Billy is doing a lot of resting after his last treatment because they advise you do not go into the outside light after receiving the stem cells at least for 24 hours. Everything is going well. We have had some excellent food! Way better than any Asian food in the US. 

Thankfully, coke zero tastes the same in Thailand. It definitely looks different but definitely tastes the same! 

Hanging out by the pool as you can see. Billy is have his aquatic therapy while I'm basking in the sun. I'm joking, I'm really under a good bit of shade. What's the point of this therapy you ask? Well, as the doctor explained to us, you put the stem cells in your body expecting them to just go where you need them to go. The thing is, they need help by stimulating the body with exercise to increase blood flow throughout the body. This helps the stem cells thrive and do more of what they need to do. We have met some incredible people in the couple days that we have been here. One family in particular. They are from Australia and we have become very close with them. They are here for their 10 year old son named Ethan. Ethan has Optic Nerve Hypoplasia. For those of you unfamiliar with it, it is a medical condition were there is an underdevelopment of the optic nerve. Ethan went to China last year for stem cell treatments. Prior to going he could only see if there was a bright light nearby. He could not see in color, only in black and white. And he also was no able to see anything like family or friends. After their trip to China and the stem cell treatments there, Ethan actually went home and could see his hand in front of his face. He can locate items on tables and he can notice when someone is standing in front of him. It is blurry and definitely not sharp, but he has come sooo far. Ethan was born in total darkness and could not even see lights until recently. Ethan gets around with his walking stick and he has become very partial to me. He comes and finds me every single day. We sit and talk and we play. He's got his cute little accent and runs around asking for me. He has managed to know the elevator and the floors. He's on floor 2 and I'm on 3. He goes up to our floor and knocks on my door! Lol so we take a walk. 

Well, finally made it to our destination. Bangkok, Thailand. This place is so different than anywhere I've ever been in my life. I'll be sure to take some photos of everything. I don't EVER and I repeat EVER want to hear anyone complain about traffic ever again. This place is insane. The population in just the city of Bangkok alone is 14 million. Compare that to Houston which has a total of 4 million. Do the math! Everything at the airport was very different. In the US they charge for everything including the little carts to push your luggage on. They provide water in the airport for free. As well as carts to ride around on and even charging stations for your phone. And here I am, being the proactive person that I am (yeah well I try), decided I'd go to Best Buy and purchase an outlet converter so I could charge my items as well as use my blow dryer and flat iron. I take my shower, go to plug in my blow dryer, as I said God please let this work you know how ugly my hair looks without blow drying it. I'm plugging it in and suddenly I feel like Clark Griswold from Lampoons Christmas Vacation as he's plugging in his Christmas lights. It's in and IT WORKS!!! I turn it on and POOF!!! It smells of burnt wire and plastic! How did this happen? I read the directions! Needless to say, I'm blow dryer less and I'm deathly afraid to plug anything else in. Billy starts his treatments today at 4. Oh also, I should fill you in on the time difference. For example, it is 8:54am here right now. So at home it is 8:54pm right now. Exactly 12 hours difference. The people here are much more friendly than the Chinese at the airport. I did get into a fight with a Thai woman on the plane though. I reclined my seat no more than 2 in (all you're allowed really.) I even was trying to be respectful of her behind me. The second I reclined the seat which didn't even affect her at all, she used her hands and feet and kicked my seat and started saying stuff to me in Thai. I thought maybe I had hurt her on accident however with only two inches of reclining I doubt that was the case. So I waited a few minutes and thought I'd try it again. I tried it again and she literally pushed my seat so hard that it catapulted me into the seat in front of me. At this point I knew she was just being rude because they were doing the same thing to the man that was sitting next to me. So here I am, I have to say something. I know Mom, I'm sorry. I unbuckle and I turn around. I said do we have a problem? Thankfully she spoke a little English? She said basically how I need to leave the seat alone. So after being kicked a good handful of times And flying for 29 hours somehow I just wasn't in the mood. So I said listen lady if you have a problem with economy class I HIGHLY suggest to take yourself and upgrade to first class. If you touch my seat again were gonna have a problem. And she stopped. Lol. Stay tuned for updates on the treatments later today! Love and miss you! 

We are officially in Beijing, China. And, our 9 hour layover begins. Also, on the Taco Bell update. NO TACO BELL. However, There is a Pizza Hut, although its written in crazy chinese lettering, I recognize the logo. They are currently closed or I'd try it out. It is 5:00am here in China. A 13 hour time difference from home. The 14 hour flight went well, I suppose! We did get served a very strange asian meal for dinner. (as pictured above!) My laptop is about to die. I'll get with you guys again soon!

Well the time has come and we are officially at the airport. I guess you may notice in the photo to the left that little Billy has found himself a friend. Yes, she is a cardboard cutout. However!, the terminal we are sitting in is full of about 100 NON-CUTOUT real Chinese people. They keep staring at us do to us being the only Americans in Terminal D. I kind of feel like we're already there because NO one in this room speaks a lick of English. I am definitely having fun people watching though. Ladies, you know how it feels when you go to the nail salon and the lady named Ling Ling or some other off the wall asian name is acting like she's your friend while doing your manicure, but you can tell she's really talking about you behind your back with a big ol smile on her face. Well, consider Terminal D a huge giant nail salon. Ugh.          
                              


 

You know that feeling when you're packing for a trip and you always have that feeling that you left something behind? Well, when you're packing a suit case for 2 different people for 3 full weeks of travel, I think it's probably safe to say, I probably forgot majority of the things we really need! Since air china is so kind (eye roll*) to allow us 2 free bags, gosh darnit I'm determined to fit EVERYTHING we need into 2 suitcases. My husband is only getting half of a suitcase and I'm taking the other 1 1/2!!! HAHA! I can't help it, but when I'm going to travel for that long I have to PRE PLAN on what shoes that I'm going to wear and allow the correct amount of room for them. I'm looking forward to this trip and I'm very hopeful. However, I find myself very anxious and nervous at the same time. I'm going to miss so many people that I love and although I'm going to enjoy this time there I'm already ready to be back home. Please stay tuned for the next update. It'll most likely be during our 9 hour layover in Beijing. Did I mention it was 9 hours?? What do you do at an airport for 9 hours! Especially when no one speaks a lick of English? Do you think they have a Taco Bell in the food court? I'll be sure to give you guys an update on the Taco Bell crisis. Stay tuned. <3

If you are a family or friend, you may know that we are currently washing up everything we own and packing for Thailand. We will be leaving for Thailand on September 24 for my Billys stem cells treatments. We will be there a total of 19 days. I will be using this blog for interaction with the world around us to spread the word about his progress and our trip. So please, check back daily starting Sep 23. We fly out that day and I will keep updating as we go. I will also be providing as many photos from our trip as possible. Please keep us in your prayers!