Happy Halloween!

Carson, Curtie & Jess many years ago!

Jess is doing fine. We have been doing the neuro feedback therapy on him and so far so good. We have even lowered the seizure medicine 200 mg. It's a little scary but Jess is so much more aware the lower the dose of medicine. He never liked feeling altered and always wanted to be "on top of his game".

I found a wonderful caregiver, Jaime, but unfortunately she is a busy girl and can only give us 6 hours a week. I talked her also into stopping by two mornings a week on her way to another client to help me get Jess dressed. We are very happy with any help we can get.

We also will get to have our therapists come to the house during the winter instead of me driving Jess 14 miles one way once or twice a day on snowy roads.

Brandie stopped by with her beautiful little baby girl, Riley. She is a wonderful mom and Jess lit up when he saw her. Congratulations, Brandie!

Have a Happy Halloween!

Home safe!

I know it has been too long since I updated Jess' website. We are home from MN and have been trying to get back to normal. We were gone a month and actually did pretty well traveling across country with our van pulling the toy hauler. We made a few side trips through Yellowstone, the Badlands and over the Beartooth Mountain pass (it was beautiful and scary). Jess weathered the ride and we tried not to go too much over 300 miles a day. We had to stop often to reposition him and get him out of his chair on to the back seat of the van which makes into a bed. We did enjoy being out on the road. We also really enjoyed visiting the kids and grandkids in Minneapolis. We did get do a few fun events such as a trip to the Minneapolis State Fair, to an apple farm, to a huge mall, to a beautiful city park and to a large motorhome sales lot. Dreaming, of course!

The doctor we spent two hours a day with was wonderful. He was so positive and truly hopes that the neurofeedback we did and continue to do with Jess will help. Here is an explanation of what neurofeedback is all about:

When studying brain activity, there are patterns of under-activation, over-activation or disturbed coordination, which have been found to be common to many kinds of symptoms as shown in brain imaging studies. These patterns often emerge with attention deficit disorders, anxiety disorders, autism spectrum disorders, seizures, and cases of depression and learning disabilities. Such behavioral patterns are created and maintained at deep neuropsychological levels. Neurofeedback EEG is a type of brainwave training that can be used to effect change in these patterns.

Neurofeedback (also known as neurotherapy) doesn't actively do anything to the brain - rather it seems to provoke the brain to just do something different, and to recover its natural flexibility of functioning. The brain finds its own path to optimal self-regulation. Neurofeedback is safe and its effects are long-lasting.

In simple terms, EEG neurofeedback therapy is a method to retrain a person's brainwave pattern through the use of sophisticated biofeedback machines. In addition, trained and skilled biofeedback therapists help the client to learn and practice the techniques that will help them to manage and control their brain activity. This is done by showing the patient the displays on the biofeedback equipment, which is what translates the brainwave activity into charts and graphs, and in some instances light and sound feedback.

With neurofeedback EEG training and simple energy control techniques, people have been able to improve their health, sharpen their minds, and improve numerous health conditions, as well as enjoying increased joy and vitality. Biofeedback therapy can also promote high levels of wellness, can improve immune function, can help to reverse certain types of disease and illness, and can support peak performance.

Also called electroencephalographic biofeedback, it makes use of computerized electronic measurement devices, or electrodes, that are placed on the surface of the head in order to monitor brainwave activity. The computer then "feeds back" important information relevant to the activity of the brain and the condition that the person wants to improve.

Neurofeedback EEG electrotherapy can thereby restore homeostasis in the person's system in a relatively short period of time. Many people report that they notice changes after their first treatment. However, for some people it takes repeated biofeedback therapy sessions to detect the desired improvements. In all cases, in order to enjoy lasting changes, the person should expect to go through ten to twenty sessions. This usually provides a sufficient amount of time to properly receive neurofeedback training, under the supervision of a biofeedback therapist, so that eventually they can control and manipulate their brainwave activity, even when there is no biofeedback device available to rely on for the real-time feedback.

Training the brain to function at its maximum potential through neurofeedback EEG treatments is quite similar to the way the physical body is trained, toned and maintained. But, instead of training muscles, the brain is being trained through exercises that develop the neural pathways. This in turn allows the brain to function better, in terms of concentration and focus.

We are using a program on Jess everyday for one hour and will increase to two hours when we get organized. We think Jess is having some side effects to the new seizure medicine Keppra that we have him on. It is so hard to know what to do and since Jess can't really tell us how it makes him feel we just have to go by his body language. I can't tell you how frustrating that can be. We do know that since he has been on seizure medicine it has changed his ability to respond and progress. Hopefully, we will be able to decrease and eliminate it soon.

Without school this year, we are working out a new schedule of therapy for Jess. He is still horseback riding two days per week thanks to the wonderful Sagebrush Arena. We still have John (OT) and Tracy (Speech) working on improving his abilities. We love them both. John and I were getting Jess into his standing sling before we left (he was even trying to take some steps) so we will try that again at least once a week. We also have Acupuncture and Cranial Sacral therapy once a week thanks to Joan, Beth, Denise and Jolinda (we thank and love you guys so much). Chris continues to stand Jess 3 -4 times per week and always wrestles with him and tries to make him laugh in between all the caregiving duties.

As for me, I am continually trying to organize everything, constantly communicating with insurances, transporting, taking him for walks, cleaning, reading to, talking to, laughing and crying with Jess. I hope to start doing some art therapy on the computer with him using a joystick this week and we always do music therapy, eye tracking, range of motion and have him listen to some good inspirational tapes. I never take my eyes off of him for very long. I care for Jess most of the week while Chris works and we both do the nights and weekends. Chris tries to give me a break as often as he can. It is ongoing, exhausting, rewarding, heartbreaking and we are constantly entering the unknown. But, we just have to keep going!

We are still looking for a caregiver and companion as I mentioned a few blogs ago. We are selling tasty healthy chocolate as a side job. If you are interested, check out our website http://mxi.myvoffice.com/pammatey/index.cfm. And, of course, we are now gearing up for winter. We have already got a little snow in the last week and I am sure I am not ready! Thanks for checking in...enjoy the fall.