Found a Place

Good news! I spoke to my parents last night and they just signed a lease for an apartment! Woohoo!

I was worried there for a little bit, since there weren't any new prospects and it looked like they would have to stay longer in the hotel. But Ms. Zhang, the nice agent who showed us the roof-top apartment, found this place and my parents didn't hesitate to get it.

It's a 1 + 1/2 bedroom apartment, fully furnished, with living room and kitchen, on the second floor of an apartment building with elevator access. They will be paying NT$20,000 a month.

So the apartment is located in the Xinyi district, near Xinyi Rd. (Section 5) and Wuxing Rd. It's not the most optimum location, as I heard they have to take a minibus (NT$15) to get to the nearest subway stop, the City Hall station. Looks like it's pretty close to Taipei 101, which you can see in the photo above that I took on Jan. 21.

I'm not sure if they will be staying that long, but for what it's worth, Taipei is building an MRT line down Xinyi Rd. I checked the Taiwan tourist website and they said it won't be completed until 2011. Looks like it will connect with the Blue line at Guting.

I asked my dad what he thought of the apartment and he said that it was "OK," so I'm not expecting a new apartment or anything. But he did say it was clean and had everything so all they had to buy were new sheets and blankets.

My dad sounded good today. He told me that he's been really uncomfortable the past few days because of constipation. But he increased the frequency and dosage of magnesium oxide tablets he's taking to three times a day, and that's helping.

"My head, I still can't move too quickly. Otherwise, I get dizzy," he added.

My mom's spirits seem good, as one big hurdle has now been passed. They have an appointment with the cancer specialist again tomorrow morning, so I'll report later on that.

Up Not Down

Talked to my dad tonight. His voice sounded really normal, I was surprised since he usually sounds tired.

I told him that he sounded better and he said he feels good today. "It's really up and down."

"When you feel dizzy, or when you feel like throwing up, you really feel uncomfortable. Yesterday , I felt like throwing up. The medicine is helping, but sometimes there is still a little bit that makes you feel sick."

He added, "Everytime I take a bath, I feel so tired. I have to change my schedule - next time I take a bath should be before going to sleep."

My mom says that they still haven't found a place yet. They've been looking, but some of the apartments are actually shared with other people and there are those that are not willing to rent on a short-term lease.

They went out today to the bank and post office, mainly to make a donation to the Foundation that the liver specialist works with. From what I understand, the Foundation helps those who cannot afford adequate medical treatment. I will add a link when I find out it's name.

First Test Results

I talked to my mom and dad just now. My mom said the visit to the cancer specialist went well. The specialist told my dad that his blood test results showed that he had improved a lot. And he also told him that eating is necessary to help speed his recovery. He had lost 4 pounds from last week's checkup!

So the doctor prescribed some new meds to help him get his appetite back:

PROMETIN - counteracts nausea and vomiting symptoms
FARLUTAL - increases appetite, but is also a cancer drug

It seems to be working already. This morning, he had two bowls of rice porridge and a fried egg. For lunch, he had 4 pieces of Inari sushi and some other street food!

With the new pills, he said, he hasn't gotten dizzy or nauseous. Today, he's feeling much better, for lunch he stopped by a food stall to eat some fish cake tempura (even though he's not supposed to eat stuff like that).

"Before, when I walked by those stalls," he said, "I wouldn't even lift up my head. Today, mom went into this small restaurant and I didn't have any problem with it. I used to get nauseous just from the smell."

My dad said jokingly that I did a better job taking care of him than my mom (My dad is the king of sweet talk). And he acknowledged that it's not easy: walking slow with him, talking slow with him.

Tonight, my mom said, they will go eat hot pot. And on the apartment front, she made some calls today and they're planning on seeing some apartments tomorrow.