We made it HOME!!!

This is RUSSIA!!

Our ride home was alittle better this time. They had a TGIFridays inside the Russian airport!! Our flight from Russia to NY was hell b/c apparently my butt is too fat for the seat and I had a couple inches of my right cheek hanging off the seat and it was very uncomfortable & gave me dysreflexia the entire flight.

When we got on the flight home, guess who we sat RIGHT next to? Michael FREAKIN Irvin!! And he sure was trying to sport his black velour and gucci luggage. He wore all black, shades, and a hat. He was trying to hide behind a newspaper too. He goes off. When he got up to go to the bathroom, I KNEW it was him. He is sooo TALL.

We got in late, at 10pm. I was sooo happy to see Billy and my sister that I started crying. You just don't really appreciate anything until you lose it. I feel like God keeps stressing this lesson on me.

Guys, you should be so thankful for what you have- your home, the food you like, your life. Being in Russia made me appreciate even the little things, like being in my own bed and just the smell of Texas air. I feel that this happening to me- you know, me becoming paralyzed- would atleast make you appreciate your legs, your fingers, sensations in your entire body... You guys are so lucky; and you don't even realize it. That tears me up inside. I would give anything to move just one finger or one toe. And most of you take everything in life for granted. I just hope this has caught someone's attention :).

love you all, T

Update #1

Saturday, MARCH 17, 2007

Wow. thats all I can say about this place. It is amazing how far advanced Russia is in technology but how far behind they are culturally. I noticed that not many Russians wear deoderent so I asked this guy patient here from California, that speaks English and Russian if they don't wear deodorant here, and he said NO, they don't AND they don't brush their teeth. I don't really understand why, but anyways . . .

There is always someone knocking and coming in the room non-stop. And a lot of the Russians look pissed off. It's like common courtesy to smile when you make eye contact with someone in America but when I do over here, noboby wants to smile back at me. When I went to go get an xray, this Russian lady was real friendly and real happy for some reason but I didn't know why b/c she spoke NO English at all; and I started laughing and she pulled me into her as she was laughing too. It was a big wow moment.

This test is called EEG, looking at my brain.

This guy that keeps lifting me, does not smell good, or smile. But we gave him a praline from El Fenix to see if he would smile and he did lol. I just talked to my neurologist and they said I will start the stem cell process soon! They are going to hook up this filtering machine to me that will draw my blood and filter out the stem cells. Then over a few days, they are going to harvest my stem cells (enough for 20 injections) to be about 5million. Each time I come, I will get 2 injections. I have to also do hardcore therapy and continue it at home... its gonna be a lot of work!

I just cant get over how the guys that lift me when i have to go to xrays and stuff DEFINITELY dont wear deoderent and I get a big whiff of it everytime!! Today was the first time we got to go outside the Russian Clinic. I've been doing tests everyday. On thursday, they stuck this huge needle in my spinal cord and got a sample of my spinal fluid. Then they made me go straight to bed for 6 hrs (i had to be off my back). That put me out. Oh yeah they do have a mcdonalds. We ate food from there today. mmmmmm fish filet and fries. It was the bomb... really.

We went to a Russian market a couple blocks away today. They have some wierd & very unique stuff. They have rows of raw fish and meats and veggies and fruits. But the meat is like hanging from a string. It's disgusting. The outside market sells scarves, jewelry, clothes, purses, cigarettes, & drinks... normal stuff. Some things are cheaper for example, a carton of cigarettes out here is $10 vs. $40 in the US. And they have no tax out here.

LOve yOu aLL, T

The trip TO Russia

Well, if you haven't heard already, the worst part of our trip was the plane rides. Our original plans were to fly from DFW to NY to Russia. Well when we got to NY, they couldnt find my chair; so we waited on the plane an extra hr PLUS we had to wait for everyone to get off before I could get off.

And just FYI: to get in my airplane seat, I have to get onto this little bity chair thing thats like half the size of my butt, if that.. to be wheeled through the airplane isle b/c my chair is too big. Then they have to transfer me into the airplane seat. Once we arrive at our destination, I have to be transfered again on that little chair and then again in a manual airport chair and one more time into my chair.

So when we got to NY, the guys lifted me into the isle chair, but they almost dropped me. AND the little dolly chair had no where for me to put my feet (I mean, I can't move them myself) or straps to keep me in the chair (b/c I cant balance on my own too good). So here I am in this chair, w/ my feet dragging under me and me almost falling out. Plus, they sent a boy that was not strong enough to lift me. I was like trippin out b/c when he "lifted" me, he actually just dragged me & my pants started to come down. I was completely mortified and hysterical. And I was having Autonaumic Dysreflexia the entire trip (sweating, high blood pressure...). So then they transferred me into an airport chair and I was crying b/c of what a hassle it was.

We went to our baggage claim area (about a 10 minute walk) and there my chair was... but it wouldnt even turn on!! My dad had to mess w/ it. Everything was Go, Go, Go. We could never just relax. We had to hurry b/c our flight to Russia was about to leave. We had to get on this airtrain thing to go to our Delta gate. We ended up getting on the wrong airtrain and we were already running late bc of the b.s. we had earlier and we missed our flight :( So since American Airlines made us miss our flight, they paid for us to stay at a hotel and gave us dinner vouchers for $10 each but we ran into another problem at the hotel b/c each plate was $30!!! So basically American Airlines completely ruined our trip to Russia in one day.

The next day, we found out that we had to fly to France first and then take a connecting flight to Russia. The Delta staff in NY were so nice and eager to fulfill my needs :)

I don't even know where to begin with the France ride to Russia... wow. They put me in a seat where half of my thigh was hanging out of the seat. So, once everyone was onboard already, they decided to put me in another seat. Well we were crammed tight and couldn't even move. And we left an 90 minutes late b/c they were destroying my chair trying to disconnect the battery when all that was needed was to just have the chair off. My blood pressure was up b/c I was so uncomfortable so I couldn't sleep. And when we got to Russia, they dropped me on the floor!! I started crying again; they dropped me on my legs, I'm surprised they're ok. But hey, we got there safely and we sure did sleep good that night but what a hassle huh?