Never, EVER put a plastic bag over your face! Your mom said it to you, my mom said it to me, and I stress it frequently to Eli. Yet, I do it to Noah forty times a day.
In my defense, it is not a typical plastic bag, and it does have an air hole. We put it on for one minute and have a break of four minutes in-between. In my greater defense, it has increase Noah's chest size, improved his overall physiology, and increases -- yes, increases -- the amount of oxygen to Noah's brain.
You see, your body regulates carbon dioxide to tell if it is getting enough oxygen. When carbon dioxide (not to be confused with carbon monoxide -- the stuff from car exhaust) increases, your brain tells your body to breath faster and deeper (which I'll talk more about another time). Your brain also sends signals to dilate your blood vessels -- make them bigger. In a brain like Noah's that is missing areas, it is also missing blood vessels -- especially the tiny capillaries -- that used to deliver blood (and therefore oxygen) to those areas. Enlarging (or dilating) the remaining vessels helps the brain to get oxygen it needs but otherwise would not receive in the needed amounts.
Remember that Noah is under the care of his pediatrician as well as a team of doctors that carefully monitor his blood work and other body systems to make sure that he is safe and the treatment is effective. And I don't let just anyone do this program with Noah.
So doing this program helps Noah's brain get more oxygen. It sounds good, but what does it really mean? I'll talk more about this next time.
By the way, the woman in the background is our dear friend Ann, oxygen enrichment specialist extraordinaire. We love Ann!
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