Just a little aftershock - we're okay

At 5:21am Chengdu time, we felt our first aftershock. I heard something "heavy" fall somewhere in the hotel that woke me up. Then felt the bad shake for about 5 seconds and then the shaking stopped. Sheila says that it was very small (she's lived in California and used to aftershocks).

We're not sure if you even got any news about the aftershock but wanted to let all of you know that everything is okay here. We tried to find out what the shock registered on the USGS website but don't see it listed yet.

We had very few patients this morning. We were at the 7th floor in-patient area. We made all of the rounds, had a mini-lecture and still made it out about 45 minutes early. We have an afternoon lecture on Bi (pain) Syndrome.

Tomorrow is a local holiday so there is no clinic or lecture scheuled and we're on our own (OYO). The 3 of us are heading to the cathedral and trying to catch up with the group from Texas. They have inivited us to go with them to the disaster zone. We hope to bring clothing, money and medical supplies to them.

We found an English channel and have been watching the news coverage and think that we can help with acupunture and grief counseling. We can't go on our own, we have to go with a sponsored group. The folks from Texas want us to go and we want to go too.

We had a GREAT lecture on the Ghost points (points for treating mental disorder disease). The woman has the government title of "Famous Chinese Doctor" who specializes in these disorders. In Chinese medicine, these includes epilepsy, insomnia, and menopausal syndrome. Yep, we're not in Kansas Dorothy!

Our interpreter for the past two days didn't have an English name so we asked her to tell us her Chinese name. I sounded like "Nancy" so I told her that her American name was Nancy. She then asked what it meant. See how I get myself into trouble?! So, I didn't hesitate and told her it meant good heart and good energy. She loved it! She got the biggest grin and smiled the whole day. We called her Nancy this morning and she grinned all over again.

Our interpreters are thinking of our Chinese names for the three of us. I can only imagine what they're going to be, eh??!!

See you tomorrow.

Peace,

Donna, Sheila and Hong Hua