Arrival in Houston

We arrived at our temporary housing at approx. midnight on 5 Sep 11.  It was a good thing that we had a nice relaxing transatlantic voyage because it was a pretty long day for us after arrivng in New York, especially for the kids.  The QM 2 pulled alongside at approx. 0600 and although we tried to get up early to see the ship enter New York harbour we did not manage to get on the deck until after the ship had already docked.  Disembarkation was relatively painless but once in the dock terminal it was pretty disorganized and certainly not like our smooth and easy embarkation procedure in the UK.  Once we cleared customs and found our bus that would take us to Newark Airport we ended up sitting there for over 45 mins because they were missing some additional passengers.  It would not have been so bad except that it was very hot and humid in NY and me and Punny had to carry six carry on bags and keep the kids in line.  Both Jason and Supatra handled everything exceptionally well and were excited to now be doing something different and taking in the NY scenery.  We saw the statue of Liberty from the top deck of the QM2 and the bus took us right past the former World Trade Center site, now known as ground zero.  We arrived at Newark airport alot earlier then I had anticipated and we had a good four hours of waiting until our first flight to Charlotte, Pensylvania where we would have a one hour stop-over until the final flight to Houston.  The first flight departed at 1500 and we arrived in Houston at about 2030.  Supatra was very tired by this time and we asked the airline to provide some assistance and transportation from the plane to the baggage claim area.  They were very helpful and took us in one of those electric carts to baggage and helped us sort our bags out-thank you to the two young ladies that helped us out as they were very kind and looked after us superbly.  The kids loved the electric cart ride and Jason did not want to get out of the cart - he goes nuts for anything with wheels.  We then had to make our way by airport bus to the car rental center and wait there for 45 mins until we could get our van.  By this time it was already very late but of course that was not the end of it as it turned out the microchip I just purchased before leaving the UK and that was supposed to have the just purchased US maps for our Satnav was not working even though I checked it before leaving.  So we ended up getting a little lost leaving the airport but after a 20 min detour we managed to get on the right track and made it to our apartment very tired and frustrated. 

The apartment turned out to be better then expected and we are now thinking about staying here instead of looking for a more permanent location.  The people that run this little home-based apartment/hotel complex are very nice and have a good set-up.  The place is actually made up of three houses that have been turned into several apartments and one shared accommodation house.  But what is really nice is the backyard which has numerous fountains, waterfalls, a big pond with fish, bird sanctuaries, geese, chickens and the odd tree roaches which look like big monster cock-roaches! 

On 6th Sep, once we finished sleeping in a little we went shopping for some supplies that we would need and had brunch at Deny's with all of us stuffing our faces after not really eating much after lunch the previous day.  We went to a local mall and spent most of the day there shopping and letting the kids play in the play area and riding a small mall 'train'.  Everything has been fairly close to where we are staying and the apartment is only about 2 miles from the Burzynski clinic.  It ended up being a really tiring day and it is now 11pm and the kids just went to bed!

Supatra continues to do very well and she handled to flights from NY to Houston very well, although she complained of a mild headache on the second flight and we gave her some Parcetomol and monitored her very closely.  The unfortunate affect of all this travel is that we have not been able to keep up her anti-cancer diet and she has missed taking some of her herbal meds.  We hope to start her back on this anti-cancer diet which consists of taking numerous herbal pills, drinking two glasses of vegitable juice and eating a small bowl of cottage cheese mixed with flaxseed oil (also known as the Budwig diet) tomorrow.  On 7 Sep 11, we have our first appointment at the Burzynski clinic and on the same day she will get her baseline MRI scan done and we have a doctors appointment for Friday 9 Sep to get her sub-clavical catheter inserted.  The clinic hopes to get Supatra started on the anti-neoplaston treatment by Monday 12 Sep 11. 

It's getting pretty late now and I need to sleep myself as tomorrow our appointment is fairly early and we will have to wake up at least a few hours in advance to get the kids fed, ready and out the door in time for our appointment at the clinic.  Thanks to those who have been hitting the donation button, your help is truely appreciated and thank you to those back in Canada who have helped as well (hello Jean, Tuula, CWO Malcalm and Kristian).

Oh, I should mention that the weather compared to England is really terrible..NOT.  Its sunny and about 90-95 degrees!  Its a good thing we all like hot weather!!

Good night all