Good Times with Good Friends

We met up with Dieter and Mary Teres in the hotel Lobby for some coffee.  Jessica was doing pretty good so we ventured on a little tour. 

First stop - a liquor store. 

Dieter was talking about the best beer in Dusseldorf called Schumacher Alt and a spiced liquor called Killepitsch.  He told a great story (which I'm probably going to mess up) about the liquor.  The name Killepitsch came from what the soldiers said before going to fight...before they kill us lets pitch it (have a shot).  I'm just looking at the bottle and it says it's 42%...how the heck can anyone see straight after shooting that back!

We then took a drive through Dusseldorf and took many pictures of beautiful buildings!

Second stop - Kaiserswerther. 

The picture on the left is one of the oldest buildings still standing in the Kaiserwerther Markt.  It was built in 1635

The building with the blue shutters was built in 1710.  Today this building is a flower shop which you can buy pottery, plants and fresh cut flowers. 

How cool are these wheels!  This car was owned by the top chef at the most expensive resturant in the village.  I don't think Jessica's wheel chair would fit in the back of it!

Walking through this little village was AMAZING!  There was a brick wall that originally had doors on them.  When the water level was too high, they closed these doors to keep the water out. 

The grooves in the brick is where the doors would have been

Also in Kaiserswerther was the ruins of lengendary Emperor Barbarossa's medieval palace directly by the riverside.   The imperial palace, originally dating from the 10th century, was built under the rule of Emperor Heinrich III and enlarged between 1174-1184 by Emperor Barbarossa, when he transferred the toll from the Netherlands to Kaiserswerth and needed a fortress to control the Rhine. The castle was besieged and destroyed in 1702 by french forces.

The room with the round arch was most likely used as a chapel.  Later, a well was installed, which provided water for the upper floors.

  

We could walk through the castle and look at the many different rooms.  If only those walls could talk...

That's Mary Teres and Jessica sitting in the court yard while we were on the second level looking down at them.

Third Stop- We then took a fairy across the river and headed back in the direction of the hotel. 

Forth Stop - We stopped at an AMAZING Italian resturant to have supper.

  

It was a Fantastic afternoon trip.  To finish it off we had coffee and strawberries with whipped cream at Dieter and Marie Teres's home.  Thank you so much.  We had such a GREAT time!

The Forcast

It was smooth sailing through the night.  No showers of vomit and just one dose of Ibprophen during the night (around 2am).  The moring is bright and sunny in our hotel room, however, outside is the first day of clouds and some light sprinkles. 

Our morning consisted of ....ok, I'm not going to lie....NOTHING.  We had a bit of a pajama party!  I don't know what it is but, I can't sleep here.  At home I'm tucked in for the night no later than ten.  Here....one thirty, two in the morning.  The other night... picture this...my sister standing on the bed with her ear to the wall!  Why you ask?  There is a german couple screaming at each other.  I was laughing at her so hard because I don't know why she was listening...SHE DOESN'T UNDERSTAND GERMAN! 

Jessica has been motoring all over the floor getting into everything!  At eye level to table height.  She certainly takes after mom's "path of destruction"!

Playing with her favorite toy! 

She found the phone books.  It wasn't long until she was flipping through the pages!

I wonder if that's going to come off our deposit! 

This afternoon we are meeting up with some friends we met last time Steve and I were here, Dieter and Mary Teres.  It will be great to see them again.  We are not venturing very far from the hotel because Jessica isn't feeling the best still.  Very stuffed up and her snot rockets are making her gag...and Aunt Nadia when she sneezes!

Tomorrow looks like a chance of rain and scattered clouds.  Let's hope the rain holds off so we can enjoy one last walk!

The Word of the Day

HOPE

Definition:  1. To entertain or indulge hope; to cherish a desire of good, or of something welcome, with expectation of obtaining it or belief that it is obtainable; to expect; -- usually followed by for. "Hope for good success." --Jer. Taylor. [1913 Webster]

It amazes me how often I heard that word today...because really, that's all we have left.  Families from Minnesota, Saudi Arabia, Italy, Romania and Canada...Mississauga (to be exact!) came to one spot looking to improve their child's quality of life.  Is that asking too much??  We all didn't think so.  Every single one of us were on the same playing field and we all had a story to tell.  Makes you really appreciate life and not dwell on the little things.

Our appointment was bumped up to 10:30 this morning instead of 1:10pm.  Jessica was good and didn't pull her I.V out, so putting her to sleep this time was really easy.  They implanted 4,777,500 stem cells with the vitality of 90.5%.  It wasn't as much as last time, so I hope we get the same positive results. 

Jessica took a bit longer to come out of recovery than two days ago (15 minutes instead of 5).  They put some oxygen on her to wake her up.  She seems a little more tired this trip than last time.  She stayed laying down for about 40 minutes and then started sitting up.  I gave her some water and then fed her lunch...yum, yum...liquid vanilla. 

The doctors gave her a certificate for being a little trooper!

Her arm is a little bruised from the IV, but other than that she's doing just fine!

She got a hat from the x-cell center.  It's stayed on for....10 seconds!

Now the waiting game

Cross your fingers that 4,777,500 stem cells work as hard as the last treatment!

Confessions of a Shopaholic

 I had a bit of technical difficulties.  Translation- STEVE...I DON'T KNOW WHAT I'M DOING!!  Now, because I'm over 6 THOUSAND miles away...option #1 isn't going to work.  Option#2-  Work it out...you can do it girl!...hahaha-yeah right.  So here's the thing...Blogspot decided to change how you upload a picture onto your blog.  They should of put a "warning" or maybe a "memo" out to NON-computer friendly people...me being NUMBER ONE on the list.  Anyway, I DID IT!  I may not be a computer geek, but I worked it out...an hour later :(  

SO, ON WITH THE BLOG 

 

Hi, my name is Stephanie Salmon...and I'm a shopaholic.  That's the first step right?...ADMISSION. 


My sister and I woke up to our "nothing day".  Not one thing on the calender to do...sooooooo shopping was slotted in.  I'm hoping this is a girl thing and that I'm normal.  There something about walking into stores and going through clothing,  I swear my heart rate slows and there is a sense of calm. 


11:00am- A walk to the corner coffee stand for our ritual coffe and "the best sandwich". We decided to sit and enjoy the plus 20 degree weather.  My sister is talking to me but I'll I'm thinking is SHOPPING, SHOPPING, SHOPPING!

11:35am- We started our walk to the old town. My sister is talking to me.  I'm half listening to her asking me how far I think this walk is, how thirsty she is and that she can probably suck the Rhine River dry!, can you please slow down my legs can't keep up to the road runner...beep, beep! and I'm looking across the river thinking SHOPPING, SHOPPING, SHOPPING!

Here is my sister wishing the town was a little closer.  I swear I heard her cursing through her teeth at me here!

12:30pm-  O.k...I now offically STINK!  I was not prepared for the above seasonal tempatures.  Thank god I brought some comfortble shoes though! Now where was I...oh yeah, SHOPPING!  We headed straight for a little store that sold some amazing mustard.  I told my sister about this mustard the first night we ate at the hotel...she's now hooked.  The nice lady at this mustard store (I'm calling it this because I can't read german) was so happy to see us.  Between the both of us we bought about....Steve...you might want to stop reading from here on!!!.... $70 dollars worth of mustard!  Hey Steve...you alright? Don't worry...Nadia bought most of it. 

1:30 pm-  Walking through the small streets seemed surreal.  I did good...talking myself from not buying anything.  I was calculating the exchange rate in my head...boy, what a headache!  I was drooling over many things there...leather coats to AWESOME shoes!  Nadia bought her kids some amazing things.  I can't say because they are probably reading this blog...but I will say, you sure are lucky!  We also stopped at this amazing little purse booth which Nadia broke down and bought one!  I swear, when I was walking past some shops looking into the window, I saw the little angel and little devil on my shoulder duking it out! 

We started to head back and stopped at this church...whew, no more shopping!  We poked our heads in the door and couldn't believe how BEAUTIFUL if was.  The pictures do no justice.

2:45pm-  Started the trek back to the hotel.  My sister and I were giggling about things...probably delirious from heat stroke!  So much, that I thought I was going to pee my pants!  Thank god we found a bathroom.  I was joking...just go in there!  Low and behold it WAS a bathroom!  You had to pay 30 cents.  Sounds easy...not so easy when you can't read german!  Thank god there was a lady there to guide us through it!

3:00 pm- Back up the ramp to get to the bridge.  My sister is ranting behind me about how she's going to high jack a cyclist , babbling how her calfs are burning, you gotta feel my thighs..I swear there're seizing, I can't believe I drank all the water, I think my feet are gunna FALL OFF!  I'm laughing so hard by now that I had to stop.  Aw, the fun we are having!

3:15pm - Back at the hotel.  Nadia is gripping the hand rail in the elevator and we laughed all the way up to our room.  I watched her walked to the door while she cursed her shoes and says to Jessica that she might have to get out of her wheel chair and push her Aunt!  Now we are now just vegg'n in the hotel room. 

So I close by saying...Since accepting my "Addiction" I've learned to listen to the angel (most times)... Don't buy it...do you REALLY need it?  You don't need  physical things to have a memory...MEMORIES can be made anywhere and pictures say a thousand words!

Ask Me How My Day Was...

Today is a GOOD day...better than the past days.

This past month has been pretty stressful.  Moving Jessica's Stem Cell date before her back surgery and mentally preparing for the trip to Montreal which will put my little Angel in so much pain!  My stress shows through my forgetfulness.  I tend to be "snappy" at my husband (I think Steve calls it something else!) , forget half the groceries I wrote on my list to buy, forget to put the eggs in the fridge that I took off the stove and placed in cold water before I ran out the door for work (probably behind schedule).  My husband calls this "My path of Destruction".  Funny eh...but it's true!  If I'm stressed my entire household is SCREWED!  I'm working on it and god love my husband for putting up with it!  I miss my family and friends (minus my sister who is graciously helping me out here!). I’m a bit of a home body and traveling to a different country with Jess and my sister feels a little strange. Of course I still have the phone (if I wanted) and the internet, but there is something much different about being physically together. Support is an amazing thing! Being away make me a little sentimental...or crazy!

Got hope? I do...lots of it. Especially after her last stem cell treatment. Thursday is going to be an exciting day for me...her re-implantation!  I see many improvements in Jessica although they are small they are still there. Sure I wish somedays that she could do one giant milestone. I'd love for Jessica to be moving faster with movements. But me being a runner, I have to remind myself that it’s not a sprint...it’s a marathon. Jessica will go at her own pace. She’s my little ray of hope and she will do her best to make it through her days of challenges. She continues to touch us all, pushes us to grow beyond who we are and keeps my life interesting!


Around every corner I'm finding help in the most unexpected ways. Such kindness from Jessica’s teachers,  E.A’s at school and daycare, therapists, non-profit organizations and foundations willing to guide and help us.  Also I can't forget the love from strangers and friends offering us support. We never forget any of you that have helped Jessica.  It was the help of every one I've mentioned above, that has brought us to Germany for this treatment.

So I can't complain.  The day started off good!...good coffee, good sandwhich (that's for my sister!)

a good amount of bone marrow that was taken out (7 vials which we are told is a "good" amount for her size),

a good two hour walk,

A good nap,

and a good dinner...with good company!

A "great day" would be doing all the above...with my husband!

MISS YA