A trip to China this spring to work out some of his physical disabilities due to a stroke was deemed a success by Marshalltown's Gary Septer.
Septer spent 90 days in Tianjin, China, where he received acupuncture, aroma therapy, herbal soaks, electronic stimulation and other methods used by Chinese doctors to help stroke victims regain strength.
Septer, 64, got some movement back in his right hand but not his right arm and got more feeling back in his arms and legs.
"It went surprisingly good," Septer said. "The whole staff and all the doctors make you feel really welcome."
They also put him on a diet where he was able to get off his diabetes and blood pressure medication. He spent his first six weeks in the hospital before he was finally given a chance to experience the sites of China.
"They loaded us up one Sunday and took us to The Great Wall," Septer said.
Gary said the doctors in China were looking to heal the whole person.
"They don't just treat the symptoms," he said.
When he returned in the spring he did suffer one setback - a bout with pneumonia one day after he was back in the United States.
"He lost a lot of what he gained over there," his wife Becky Septer, said. "He's gotten a lot stronger and better now."
Originally posted here:
Stroke victim receives treatment in China