I'm long overdue for an update, as a few significant events have happened in the past several months.
First, my grandfather on my mom's side (Wai Gong) came for a visit to China and had some major medical incidents while here. He had done this trip many times, as recently as just a year ago. My mother was also here. They all wanted to see the World Expo and to go visit our distant relatives in Yangzhou, about 4 hours' bus ride from Shanghai.
It was great to see Wai Gong -- he had been a big part of my childhood, raising me for a year in Taiwan when I was 7. For a 102 yr old guy, he was still getting around on a cane, and had a razor-sharp mind. It was also great for him to see Sarah -- she hadn't seen him (or the rest of my family) in probably 5 years or so.
Then in Yangzhou, WG slipped in the bathroom and broke his hip. Not only was it broken, it was seriously crushed (as I saw from the xrays). Most people know that a broken hip is a serious injury for elderly people, due to the complications from surgery, possible infection during bedrest, and likelihood of further reduced mobility even if everything goes right. Adding in his age and worse, the fact that this was happening in a third tier Chinese city, and our worst nightmares seemed to be unfolding.
Fortunately, one of our relatives (the husband of my mom's uncle's daughter), a young, serious guy by the name of Dong Xiancheng, is an orthopedic doctor at Yangzhou's best hospital, a large new hospital built in the past several years. The Chinese guanxi system kicked in to our benefit as he was able to fast track WG to get surgery that night, with two department heads doing the surgery and anesthesia.
The surgery was a huge success. They did an entire hip replacement and WG was not only conscious afterwards, but quite alert and even cracked a joke or two. The next few days were tough as the pain set in, but WG was handling it. I did learn that the Chinese medical system operates quite differently than the hospitals in the US, but it was nothing we couldn't overcome and will many family members there to help out, we managed ok.
Mom and I left 4 or 5 days after the accident. WG was stabilized and we had set up care and funding for the Yangzhou family to start rehabilitating him. I had to get back to work, but arranged to come back in about a week. While I was in Shanghai, I was in daily contact with the YZ family and handling correspondence for all the worried family back in the US.
WG was making real progress -- he had managed to start walking again, and I was able to speak with him on the phone (surprising given that he's pretty deaf now). Then, the helper noticed that WG was simply spacing out, and she called the doctor. WG was unresponsive and they diagnosed a stroke. I arrived the day after this and everyone had long faces -- WG had lost movement in his left side and was in a haze.
During the next week, we stayed with him night and day and he passed in and out of lucidity. Nighttime was particularly bad, as he would wake up yelling for me, just to ask a question, or say he had to pee, etc. He even lost control of basic bodily functions and I became pretty good at being a hospital orderly :)
It was very depressing to see him like this. It was hardest not knowing whether there was more that we should be doing for him. Although my initial mission going back to YZ was to ensure he was getting physical therapy (without which he could be crippled for the rest of his life), it soon became clear that this was not the priority. WG had a high fever and the doctors could not figure out what the cause was. We also didn't trust the conflicting opinions and advice like, "Just have him eat porridge" (which has very little nutritional value). Eventually, we decided to evacuate him to Taiwan when he was stabilized for better care and the challenge was trying to get the airline to accept an invalid and also on how to minimize the risk of something happening to him while in transit.
Uncle Steve and Larry worked that angle, while I worked the China side. On the day I was to leave (had a long planned business trip I couldn't avoid), Steve was to arrive. I got the best surprise. Overnight, WG's fever broke and he was much more alert. He not only was asking a lot of questions, but he could actually move his left leg (not his hand though). It was so amazing and unexpected that I felt like crying. He was very mentally sharp -- remembered where I was going for my business trip, remarked that he felt much more alert, asked for specific foods (complained about the boring porridge), and waved to a little boy in the elevator when he was going to get his CT scan. The CT scan confirmed the stroke, but the doctors were quite happy and were hopeful for a recovery.
At this point, I left WG in the uncles' hands. They got him to Taiwan, where WG was diagnosed with a minor infection (perhaps pneumonia) in his lungs, edema in his feet. He now had better nursing, though it is not certain that the medical advice or diagnosis was necessarily better. He was taking his PT seriously and was able to increase the strength in his left leg significantly (though not much improvement in his left hand still).
He complained of neck ache and still had slight fevers, and then the doctors prescribed colchichine, some drug, which seemed to relieve all of these symptoms. So, other than his left hand, WG has made all in all, a remarkable recovery. With all these ups and downs, it has been a lot of trials and tribulations for the family, but everyone has found a way to pitch in, whether from Mom managing a running tab of expenses, to Uncles Steve and Larry putting their very busy work lives on hold to come to take him to Taiwan and take care of him there, to Uncle Ark and Aunt Agnes scheduled to watch him for the next several weeks. One other person, who I had never met before, Yu Shi Hua ("Yu Jiu Ma") has been amazing. She is 78, but is incredibly energetic and caring. She was helping me arrange the whole family visit to Shanghai, but stepped up big in the crisis and has consistently shown up in a low-key way to help out. I'm really glad I met her and hope to become closer to their family. The family in Yangzhou, Uncle Zhong Bo, his wife, and Uncle Zhong Ning, have been tireless in their efforts, and of course Dr. Dong...to this day, i don't know what kind of medical system allows him to spend so much time at the bedside of a family member. I often wondered what happened to his own patients!
So, WG will remain in Taiwan for the next several months recuperating and doing physical therapy. I can only hope that he continues to surprise us in the way he has been.
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