I often am asked about my true experience in the Chinese Medicine hospital and my treatments, so here it is…

The treatments…

Not for the faint of heart. The needles are put deeply in the skin, and turned once or twice. I listened to music on headphones and really concentrated hard to lessen pain. Not pain for the whole hour, just when they were inserted/turned. The massage after is vigourous! Be prepared for some slapping, chopping, crazy joint bending, etc. It’s all to get the circulation going. If you have parts of your body that are already showing some lack of range of motion, they will try to stretch it back. In my case it was my fingers and thumb. Best to start doing that now at home if you plan to go, it might be easier on you. Get yourself prepared to drink a tea twice a day that tastes like dirt. Sometimes I put orange juice in mine to make it more palatable. Or I took a swig and then immediately grabbed a bite of food to kill the taste, alternating.

Within 3-6 weeks I saw definite improvement in the strength of my left hand. I was able to lift a full platter of food with one hand, where I could not before. Also, due to weakening shin muscles, I was painfully rolling my ankle outwards regularly, it was becoming quite chronic. For 2-3 weeks, my doctor concentrated 3 needles where I had the pain in my ankle, followed by a painfully vigourous massage. To date, 3 years later, I have not rolled that ankle, not once. So, there are positive results.

However, that all happened at the beginning of my stay, when I was super positive and focused on healing. As the stay wore on, various idiosyncracies and injustices around me began to taint my mindset somewhat, so I was not as positive about my treatment. Also, I had a young doctor, who had done well up to that date, but I felt my treatment was getting neglected by the senior doctors. In their defense, I was there as the hospital moved locations and began operating a still-under-construction building in the ‘neighbouring city’, aka the suburbs, and ‘the Professor’ was away because his wife was ill.

So, my thoughts are the treatment only worked when I was positive in my thinking and had faith in the treatment. Or maybe I just hit a plateau, I’m not sure. What I am sure of is that, unfortunately, the results are not lasting. The TCM hospital does not promise a cure, but I experienced, and watched around me, a definite lessening of symptoms.

If money was no object, and I could easily take my family with me, I would return for 2-3 months each year, and hopefully, knock back my ALS symptoms a bit. Sort of like buying back some time.

Living in Huaihua/Zhongfang…

The experience of living there is quite a culture shock for most Europeans and North Americans. Most people would find these Chinese cities dirty and loud. Don’t go there if you are a total clean freak who, in your own country, uses antibacterial cleaner many times a day, you could safely eat off any of your floors at home, and you are squeamish of public bathrooms; it won’t be even close to that clean there, anywhere. Ironically, Zhongfang is touting itself a ‘new environmentally clean city’.  HA!  I guess bulldozing entire hillsides and filling in marshlands, and throwing your garbage just out of sight down a hill or in the river is environmentally friendly in their minds.

It’s very intimidating and for some even, scary; not being able to speak, read or talk to anyone. And the culture is sooo different. Not just visually, it comes down to the way we/the Chinese look at things, the logic; it’s completely different. The hospital provides 2-3 translators that take you everywhere you want to go, so life is do-able. We found that learning the numbers to 100 and the names of any food we wanted to eat (type of meats, veggies, fruits, staples) helped us gain a lot of independence and some adventure to our stay there. Two to three times a week, the hospital van drops the patients off at the “mall” and supermarket. Instead, we ventured alone into the true Chinese restaurants and markets, the Jiahui (jah-way) and bought farm-fresh food, bartered for goods, and wandered around. Warning: crossing streets is rather unnerving at first, we just stuck close to other people.

Summertime Huaihua not to be missed…if you are feeling adventurous:

• strolling the riverside trail at night, near the large pagoda and stepping stone bridge
• the “night market” in downtown Huaihua at sundown; food vendors are amazing!!
• the daytime central outdoor pedestrian shopping street, with kids carnival rides in the south end starting at dusk
• the Huaihua outdoor pool near the big bridge…a gem! One of the only fully-surrounded-by-greenery places in the area. Wave pool, waterslides, get a tube!
• the sectors of market stalls around the city, away from the mall!! I used photos from Google Earth for orienting myself

Unfortunately I would not classify Huaihua as wheelchair friendly. The outdoor pedestrian mall from the south end probably being the easiest.

You would probably have to get a taxi home those times. Make sure they know it’s to the next city of Zhongfang (jong-fung), some may not go that far. Or show them a note/business card from the hospital. Pre-written notes by the translators are invaluable for different excursions all over.

Wandering through the fields and the mountains near the hospital is very nice too. I really enjoyed walking up the road to the mountain pass directly north of the hospital. The access road to the village is pretty uneven and bumpy and there’s one wet crossing on the way, people on wheels might need a ride just past the village to the edge of the farmers fields. After the village the road climbs and is paved! I suspect because it was government built to accesses power lines. The view at the pass is beautiful!

There is little Western influence on groceries/restaurants in Huaihua. You may have to adapt your recipes. I would recommend bringing spices that you love from home (in new packaging), there is not a wide range of Mediterranean/European spices available.

I believe that if you are willing to adapt to the way of life there and be positive, your stay will be a good success.

 Learning to make Iranian flatbread on an upside-down wok!