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Although my knee has been slowly getting better over the last two weeks, and I’ve felt good enough to stop using the crutches, I still haven’t been able to completely straighten my leg without pain. So I decided to get an MRI. I figured I might as well do it here since it’s probably ten times cheaper. Some random web searches indicate that back home, without insurance, an MRI could cost a few hundred bucks. Here in Shanghai, I scanned my knee for RMB300 ($37.50). Oh, I also had to pay to see the doctor first. That cost RMB17 ($2.12).

The scan itself is a pain. You have to sit there with your leg stuck in this machine for about 40 minutes, and you’re not supposed to move. The machine makes all these whirring and buzzing noises, then it’s quiet, then it starts clicking and clucking, then it whirs again. I fell asleep and was awoken at least three times with a start – the kind where you jolt awake and your body tries to leap into action like there are commandos invading your bedroom. Each time I jerked my leg a bit and got worried they were going to have to start over again, but nobody said anything. In fact, most of the time I was alone. A doctor came in every 10-15 minutes to check on the computer and see that it was still working, then he’d leave again. I wondered why the computer still had a drive for a 3.5 inch disk – you know, the kind everyone stopped using about 3-4 years ago at the latest.

That was yesterday. Tomorrow they will have my results. Dr Zhai, who referred me to the MRI and was the type of person who immediately gains my trust (I don’t know, he just seemed to know what he was doing), gave me his cell number and told me to call to get his recommendation. Let’s hope I don’t need surgery. It costs about RMB10,000.

Moving is going to be harder than I thought. I’ve been so wrapped up in getting the visa that I haven’t had time to think about the follow-up. And now that we’ve got it, I’m looking around the apartment thinking, How am I going to get all this stuff home?

Does anyone have any advice in terms of shipping? A friend once mentioned a “book rate” on shipping books, but FedEx and DHL both said no such thing exists here.

It’s going to require some masterful cash-flow management (as well as the use of my credit line) to make this happen. If you don’t see the Portfolios cavorting about town over the next few weeks, you know why!

Today is the first day of my new period of unemployment. I have officially left my job.

My boss knew it was coming for about nine months, ever since I enlisted his help in securing Xianyi’s visa. He has been very supportive. Over the past few months I have hired replacements and additional people to help keep the company’s operations running smoothly and efficiently. For the last couple of weeks there hasn’t been much for me to do except answer questions from people filling new roles. Of course, I’m still available to them if they need me. But imagine my relief when Xianyi got her visa. If she had been rejected, I would have been in a difficult situation, having already written myself out of the company.

My time there was great. I went from an inexperienced “freelance writer” to an accomplished editor and project manager in a little under two years. My resume already landed me a phone interview that I thought I would never get with a company in NYC – although it doesn’t look like I made it to the next round with them, it was definitely a boost of confidence to have been called.

Now Xianyi and I are getting excited about the next chapter in our lives: The USA. It’s really exciting, and at the same time daunting. I know we’ll be fine, but I know lots of challenges lie ahead. The visa was just the first step.

Bumming about

My leg is slowly getting better. I never bothered scheduling that MRI because every day it has felt a little stronger, and a bit of internet research seemed to confirm that many cases of torn cartiledge can heal themselves given enough rest, ice, and eventually exercise. And even if I’m wrong, and the knee doesn’t get back to normal after a month or so, I can always go back and get it checked out again. Surgery down the road won’t lose any advantages of surgery right now. So I opted for wait-and-see.

I think this is the first weekend all month that there hasn’t been something major planned. The band did two shows this month, plus there was Coley’s birthday/Bananas and the Roller Revival. So I hopefully won’t be missing anything while I sit around trying to get better and get a job in America.