Well we're home from our whirlwind weekend. Busy? Yes. Fun? Yes. Wonderful? Definitely. We arrived Friday evening in Idaho, later than planned because of construction- what seemed to me to be a HUGE last ditch effort to finish before snow comes. Other than construction the drive went well and we listened to Harry Potter 3 Audio book, that seriously helps the long trip go by faster. After arriving we were chauffeured to the church to help set up for Sam and Kaelee's reception. The colors were blue, black and white. The reception decor was simple and elegant. I loved it. While at the church we were able to visit with Joseph's grandparents and catch up.
Saturday:
We slept in. And slowly got ready for the day. I even got in a nap before we were due to show up to the temple! It was an afternoon sealing, the sealing room happened to be the same one that Joseph's parents were sealed in. The room was filled with family and friends. It was beautiful. We feel so blessed that we were able to be there. After family pictures we filtered over to the church for lunch. We went home & switched shoes & put our feet up before the reception started.
The reception was awesome. There was a pretty constant flow of guests. We ended up at a table just off the reception line. So we always had someone visiting with us, and even a line of people waiting their turn to talk to us. It was really enjoyable. But by te end of the night we were exhausted & our voices were raspy. What a great night!
Sunday:
The family let us sleep in, and sleep and sleep. We had more family come to the house to visit and eat lunch before heading home. It was a slow, relaxing, rest-filled day. We did play an electric Uno game. And finish the day off singing hymns around the piano as a family. Jessica played the piano for most of them, John played the ones he knew, then I took my turn to play. It had been something of a tradition to sing hymns around the piano when we came to visit on Sundays, when we lived in Idaho.
Monday:
We slept in once more and slowly packed up to travel to Spokane to stay with the Toth's, and go to Joseph's appointments on Tuesday. We drove north up through Montana on over to Washington. It is a beautiful drive, much better than the way we usually go where it's mostly desert. The drive through Montana is mountainous, had lots of trees and we were in and out of rain so the clouds were gorgeous. Joseph even used the camera to take some pictures. We arrived at the Toth's in time for dinner. We were able to relax and visit with Kaelee's brothers, then staying up way too late talking, but it was wonderful to visit
Tuesday:
We got up and got ready for Joseph's neurology appointment, had a fun time finding the new office- actually it's much easier to find now that it is located in Holy Family Hospital.
Nuerology Appointment
The nurse Shy, took Joseph's vitals, then noticed his "shoes", she didn't want to call them shoes, she just kept saying they were a trip. Pretty soon we had the other nurse and P.A. in there to look at them. Aline Snow the P.A. is the one that saw Joseph. She was awesome! She did a lot of the same tests and physical assessments that Dr. Cooke does. After teh tests she asked lots of questions the main thing she wanted to address was Joseph's walking. He still has spasticity, she suggests yoga & more stretching. We will purchasing a yoga DVD that is meant for those who have Multiple Sclerosis. He can do it with his vibrams on, he will still have full movement and not slide around. She also suggested more water and more fiber. And prescribed a medication for spasticity.
Neurotherapy Appointment:
Intially we thought it would be a consultation, you know, just lots of talking. At first it was then Dr. Thurber wanted to go ahead and do a brain mapping to see if there is anything he could do, anything that can be improved. Brain mapping is very interesting, He hooked up sensors to his ears (those were to filter out any stay waves) hten he had another sensor that he would move to different sites on Joseph's head to transmit and recieve electric waves. The scan is is used to see if there are any areas in the brain that are over, under or dis-functioning.
Dr. Thurber can read the waves and maps and know they mean and know what they control, pertaining to the body. It's incredible. He taught us that the nervous system's main job is to filter out unwanted information, so with degenerate diseases like Multiple Scerlosis, can cause the Nervous System to filter itself out.
So Dr. Thurber performed a brain mapping and did a small treatment at the same time. While the sensors were on Joseph's head I would look at a screen and see the waves (delta, theta & alpha). Dr Thurber printed out the results and brain maps, there were a series of maps that were all different colors. Each the maps showed different areas of his brain, and the colors and patterns or locations of certain colors each meaning different things.
What we learned from the brain scans:
One scan showed his brain works well, with the exception of one small area, over the left side
(which controls the right side of the body) showing a difference in efficiency. Which tells the Dr. that Joseph is left handed and that his right side has had some struggles. A correlating bar chart showed that Joseph's brain is rigid, or lacks flexibility which could manifest itself in personality or physically. Another map showed efficiency, the right side of Joseph's brain is more efficient, left side inefficient. (True, his right side drags when he is tired). One scan was to see if there were any injuries to his brain, none were found. The most interesting scan was a colorful one, with a white center. The white part is supposed to be towards the back of the brain. Joseph's was more center, which shows that his brain is trying to "re-wire" itself to repair his vision. His brain is still trying to see, which is normal for someone who has optic nerve damage. It showed his brain is compensating for his lack of sight, which is true, his hearing has definitely become more sensitive.
Dr. Thurber has heard of Vibram 5 fingers, recommends them and said we were smart to try them!
He had us purchase Nikken Magsteps, or magnetic insoles. Joseph has had them for 2 days now. They are supposed to help enhance body and space awareness. And help his body communicate, which is a common problem with MS, body and brain not communicating like they should.
Sorry for the Information overload, but now it's all written down and here for you and us later on.
Info on Brainmapping click:
HEREThe Doctor Joseph went to see click:
HERE
