Wednesday in Guangzhou

It's Wednesday in Guangzhou and we are so happy that we will not have to spend any part of the day in the hospital. Yesterday we had an echo cardiogram done on Lily's heart. The process took several hours. There were very many children in the cardiac department that needed the same test. Health care in China is very inexpensive, but there are a lot of people waiting for treatment and all must wait their turn.

The young doctor that ran Lily's test was very kind to take the time to translate the report into English, and so we were able to send it to our Seattle cardiologist immediately. The cardiologist's response was that she felt Lily was safe to travel. She also gave us some good advice on how to deal with any situations should they arise on the trip home. The one thing that is clear, however, is that Lily will need to have her heart surgery as soon as possible. The hole between the two chambers of her heart has grown substantially since her first test at 7 months of age.

We are feeling better that we have taken these extra steps to ensure Lily's safety and that our guide, the Chinese doctors, and our Seattle doctors have been so very helpful.

Speaking of feeling better, Lily has been doing very well the last couple of days. Her fever has stayed down, and indications are that her throat feels better. Her appetite has been great and she's expanding her food choices. She has also learned to feed herself Cheerios and such.

Today was the day that the children in our group had their picture taken on the famous red couch here at the White Swan Hotel. It's a tradition and the children dress in traditional Chinese clothes.

We were also able to get into the hotel pool for the first time. It was very nice given the hot humid weather. Lily was not interested in cooling off in the water, however!

Later this afternoon we are hoping to get out for a long walk across the river from Shamian Island where the hotel is located. We hear there are very interesting shops to browse, including those that sell exotic meats like snakes, centipedes, cats, dogs; and every imaginable animal part. We're not sure whether we will do much tasting!

Tomorrow we are off to the American Consulate for our oath ceremony. We're not sure exactly what we are swearing an oath to, but if it means taking Lily home we're ready to swear to anything!

Mostly what we've seen about the earthquake is on CNN and in the English newspaper published here. The newspaper has contained very sad pictures of school children being unburied from their schools. We are feeling so incredibly fortunate that it did not occur where we were staying.

Thanks for checking in.




The children on the famous red couch











The family photo

Having fun on the bed

Ladies dancing in the park












Napping with Daddy

A very bad hair day