Biofeedback

Hello from Philly!! We have arrived safely, and the plane ride made the trip much, much easier on Noah. Not to mention Noah loved the take off and the landing! He has been less tired and has been eating well -- which is a very big deal for him!

So the first picture is of Noah getting a nice little back rub from Grandmama, and the smile is from me asking him, "Are you spoiled rotten?" The next picture is of me straightening Noah's spine, and the marks on his back are showing how to do this and outlining where we need to rub the muscles.

Our first two days with the Drs. have gone well, also. We have not done evaluation yet (that happens on Monday), but we are excited for what they have to say so far. The Drs. feel that we really need to work on getting Noah's physiology (his physical health) in good order before he can make as much progress with his physical program. He continues to have low iron, which may be due to the fact that his muscles are rigid. By keeping his muscles tight at all times, he uses more energy, and therefore iron, making it impossible to get enough in his diet. Then he uses even more iron doing his walking and crawling.

We are also going to have to get some testing done to be sure that Noah doesn't have any kind of stomach ulcers that could be bleeding (due to his severe reflux) -- that could also contribute to low iron, though extremely rare in a child his age. They also want to explore "mechanical" problems that could be causing his reflux (things to do with muscle and tissue as opposed to the brain -- like a hernia) I love the fact that they use a combination of traditional medicine and alternative medicine to get the best treatment -- isn't that the way it should be?

Anyway, it looks like we will probably have two days of physical program followed by a day off physical program to give him more rest and hopefully increase his iron. We are also learning a number of "message" techniques to help him better hold himself in a sitting position as well as working with his glutes and legs to help him achieve a proper standing position. We will also be hanging Noah upside down by his feet for short periods of time to better help his hip (they told us about a girl they saw recently who actually started falling asleep in this position).

Last, but certainly not least (probably even more important), we will be using our Myotrac device which measures the electrical current coming out of the muscle to do respiratory biofeedback. What that means is we will hook electrodes to the muscles that control breathing to teach him how to take deeper, slower breaths, and also to breath through his nose instead of his mouth.

Now we will spend the weekend working on these new techniques and the Drs. will tell us on Monday how they might need tweaking according to Noah's specific needs. We will also do the evaluation that day as well. On Tuesday and Wednesday, Noah will be seeing a Dr. from China who will do an allergy clearance and a heavy metal detoxification (I'd explain more, but being as alternative medicine as you can get, I don't know how). All I know is if it produces results, that's what really matters.

Thursday and Friday we will be going over the new program that we will be dong the next six months.

I must say that I am really looking forward to this weekend. We will be doing a lot of program things, but there will also be a good bit of time to visit the quaint little town of Chestnut Hill, which is a little like going back in time, but still having Starbucks and Talbot's. We are one block off the main drag and directly next to a park. Don't you feel sorry for us?

Oh, and please be in prayer for a safe journey for Drew, my dad, and Eli, who will be driving most of the day Sunday to meet us here (and Dad was wanting me to pray for a Furman victory so Drew would be a more pleasant traveling companion).