Dr. Hao Day 2

#2 here (posted by #1 because we're having technical difficulties).

I flew into Albuquerque this morning and walked into Dr. Hao’s office just as daddy was going in for his second appointment. The advances he made on Monday seemed to have slipped back and it took a little extra work to get him back to where he was yesterday. Eventually, he was able to count from 1-10 and then from 10-1 and say his full birth date. Today he received 7 needles in his head (these seem to hurt a bit), 1 in his ear (we call this the “mood” needle and makes daddy visibly relax the longer it stays in), 1 in the hand, 1 in the crook of the elbow and 1 quickly jabbed under his tongue. Dr. Hao told us that there is a nerve that runs from under the tongue to the brain that will help with speech. So we’re praying for continued improvement in that area. We ALL know that Rick Thayer is a talker. We’d love to see him be able to communicate easily again!

By this evening we decided that his two biggest wins for the day were his swallowing and more mobility in his right knee. First the swallowing, the verdict is still out on this, but mom says daddy would choke several times a day when drinking or eating. Since treatment started we have only heard him choke once (Note from #1: this was during the first day's treatment so arguably doesn't count). We’re waiting a couple more days to verify this improvement. Next, the mobility in his right knee. This evening we practiced marching. He has never been able to do high knees before so we are ecstatic to see this improvement and cannot wait to show Dr. Hao tomorrow!

Here are some of the other “wins” for the day:

• While the needles were inserted in his scalp he said he could "feel" something in his brain. We have no clue what that means, but it sounds promising!

• Dr. Hao said his hand was a little more relaxed. Mom and I agreed with that assessment as we worked with stretching and moving his hand tonight. As an added bonus we get to “beat” on daddy’s arm, shoulder and wrist to help loosen up the muscles. I think mom might like this a little to much - pay backs for all his sassiness.

• When asked if he feels the acupuncture is working he answers with a strong, “yes, sir” (this is one of his favorite phrases whether you are a ma’am or a sir).

• When asked what area he thinks is the most improved, he answers “words”.

• When asked what the second most improved area is he answers “leg”.

• A couple of the 2-4 word phrases we heard today were “I need more coffee” and “Yeah, wears you out” (statement made after mom commented on how exercising his leg can make him tired).

As we were winding down I read daddy all the comments of prayer and encouragement left by YOU on our Facebook feeds. He loved it! He is so encouraged by your prayers and supports! Keep the messages coming - they are being passed along!

Prayerful, excited and expectant for Day 3!

Dr. Hao Day 1

Preliminary observations suggest that scalp acupuncture will produce some positive results for our stroke survivor.

Our first appointment was scheduled for Monday March 20 at 9:15 AM, so of course we arrived 30 minutes early. Dr. Hao's office didn't ask for any information in advance; his plan of action is based on the preliminary interview and assessment. He spent about 30 minutes asking questions and having Daddy move to determine what parts of his brain were affected by the stroke. He concluded that the biggest obstacle would be muscle atrophy (funny that it wasn't his brain's inability to move his body parts in the first place!), that his cognition/understanding is good, and that he has a harder time with numbers than words.

To give us a baseline, he had Daddy try several times to say his birth date, and count up and down from ten and took a lot of video. Then he mapped Daddy's head to identify needling targets (i.e., the areas of the brain that control swallowing, speaking, walking, etc.), and started sticking (note: hyperlinks are to videos that are too big to upload to the blog).

Daddy had a lot of tingling, his eyes were wide open most of the time, but no pain that we could tell.

Every five minutes or so Dr. Hao would spin the needles to create some friction (scalp acupuncturists with less experience would hook the needles up to an electric current instead), and have Daddy work on a few things to see if any connections were being made. There were several positive observations:

1. He walked by lifting his knees instead of swinging his hips to get the leg around. We definitely saw a gait change, and mom said several times she hadn't seen him bend his right knee to walk since his stroke.
2. His right arm was less tight, more relaxed, and he could lift it with less effort and higher (just above the head where he usually maxes out around the nose).
3. By the time we left he'd successfully recited his birth date (month, day and year) a few times, something he wasn't able to get out before the needling. He was also able to count up and down from ten without trouble (we had to prompt him before several times and he'd skipped a few numbers).
4. About three minutes after the needles went in, Daddy started moving his mouth around like something was bugging him and pulled out a pill that was stuck in his cheek (mom had given him his meds about an hour before). It could have been a coincidence but we're wondering if he didn't get some feeling back in his face.

Each observation by itself wouldn't have been noteworthy, but seeing them together suggest we made some progress. There were a few more things in the afternoon I haven't seen or heard from him since the stroke (though it could be that I was being acutely aware!):

• Twice he used small, 2-4 word phrases to communicate. I can't remember him ever speaking more than one word at a time unprompted
• He self-corrected his mispronunciation of a word
• I quizzed him on lists of family names (name your daughters, grand kids, son-in-laws, siblings, etc.), out of 15 names he had trouble with two (I won't tell you whose names but it wasn't mine!)

The jury is still out but mom and I were happy to see ANY improvement; the day exceeded my personal expectation. If we have similar results for appointments 2-4, that will certainly be something.

Thanks for the continued positive thoughts and prayers. No. 2 has taken over and will accompany mom and dad the rest of the week, you'll likely be hearing from her next!

-#1

Road Trip!

We are taking a trip. To New Mexico. So someone can stick needles in Daddy’s head. And fix his brain.

With Santa Fe as our destination we headed out in parallel to Historic Route 66 (which Daddy pointed out several times along the way). We saw windmills for miles, ate at an Oklahoma-Discovery-famous eatery and got in a few sights in Santa Fe upon our arrival. We topped it off with wine, cheese and chocolate on the patio, a good primer to what will hopefully be a successful week.

Friends and co-workers of #2 tipped us off to scalp acupuncture after seeing some amazing results of their own. The relatively new form of treatment combines the ancient form of medicine with western knowledge of the brain. That is, new developments have created a pretty good map of the brain and what parts control different functions (e.g., speech, movement, cognitive thinking, etc.); acupuncturists use that map to target “needling,” which has proven effective for treating nervous system disorders. (Many apologies to all acupuncturists and neurologists for my overly simplistic and likely inaccurate recitation.)

Jason and Linda Hao are leading experts on scalp acupuncture, and have a clinic in Albuquerque and Santa Fe. Their book Chinese Scalp Acupuncture was published as a practitioner guide, but provides some good reading for those researching the technique. According to the publication, studies have shown that scalp acupuncture yields at least some improvement for stroke survivors living with aphasia (in 93% of 109 cases) and paralysis (in 95% of 20,923 cases). While Daddy has a few things working against him (his type of speaking affliction, and lapsed time since the stroke occurred), the case studies presented engendered enough excitement, optimism and curiosity to get him in a car for twenty hours over the course of a week.

The number one hope from mom is that we see some improvement in Daddy’s swallowing. He’s at high risk for pneumonia, and has already had a few trips to the hospital stemming from his brain’s inability to tell his esophagus to put food and liquid down the right tube. Daddy’s priority is to walk better, which will inevitably lead to that new PR.

Here’s our baseline:

• He has almost no movement in the right hand, but decent command of that shoulder (he can lift his hand to about head level)
• He can walk unassisted (though almost always uses a cane), but is deliberate (i.e., slow) and often drags the right leg a bit (friends have clocked his quarter mile walk so we’ll have to get those digits to compare)
• He speaks in single words, but can usually find the one to get a point across. Challenges create themselves when we can’t ascertain what he means based on that one word. While cognition is good, he isn’t able to communicate through writing or hand gestures any easier (though sometimes it helps).

Daddy has four appointments this week; he doesn’t seem disturbed at all by the needle part and is in good spirits. I’ll report back after tomorrow’s session with pinhead photos and hopefully positive news!

-#1

Strokeversary

I remember one year ago today like it was yesterday. I was working from home in Virginia, sitting at my desk when my mom called, “your daddy just had a major stroke”. My first thought was wishing I'd called him the day before. He’d been in the hospital that week while medical staff ran tests for what we now know were minor strokes. I knew he wouldn’t want people to make a big deal out of his circumstance so I’d instead gotten updates from the family. I said as much to my mom when I thought out loud about whether I should fly home. “Crystal, this is a big deal.”

The next few days we spent in the hospital, preparing to make impossible decisions in the event Daddy’s brain swelled too much, analyzing pictures of his damaged brain, watching him go without food and water for several days and coming to the realization that things would forever be different.

In that first week we also celebrated major victories: knowing Daddy would survive after the swelling peaked and started to subside, seeing him up and “walking”, finally passing a swallow test so he could eat and drink, getting “accepted” to a fantastic rehabilitation center to start his recovery.

One year ago today Daddy survived a major stroke. Every day since then he’s been relearning. Today he’s functionally independent, walks (slowly and with a cane), and can get most of his thoughts across through speech and hand gestures.

Today we celebrated not only his survival, but how far he’s come. And how far he’ll go.

-#1

Celebrating All Things – Big & Small!

Our family is extremely excited to welcome our newest member, Emma Jayne Maguire, born August 15 at 7lbs 14oz, 20.5 inches. No. 1 and grand baby 1.2 are doing great. Mom (Kathy) was able to take a much-needed "break" and spent the last week with the Maguires in Virginia. 

Mom is heading home tonight and said she is ready to see daddy! Thank you to Elmo and #3 for holding down the fort last week while she was gone. 

Shortly after Daddy survived his stroke, therapists encouraged us to celebrate the small accomplishments  – even if it’s just toe movement. We are learning the truth in that statement and are excited to share some of those “wins”!

Daddy has started moving his right hand! Over the last few days we have seen him use his fingers to squeeze a ball or someone’s hand. We are excited to celebrate this win!

 

Next, daddy was apparently feeling adventurous this week and decided to forego the chairlift. He was able to make a successful trip up and back down the staircase unassisted. Daddy and daughters 2 & 3 were all quite impressed.

Thank you so much for all the prayers over these last few months. Here are some specific areas that could use bold prayers moving forward:

·      Daddy’s Heart – he’s operating off one of his three major arteries and his heart ejection rate is at 25% (normal range is 50% – 85%). Please pray that the medication he is on will strengthen the remaining artery and heart muscle and that his ejection rate will increase to at least 50%.

·      Speech - we continue to see small improvements. While his vocab is limited, Daddy is able to get his point across through small words and gestures. Prayers will be that his speech will come back instantaneously, we know he will have a lot to say!

·      Clean Eating – Lots of prayers here! I’m a firm believer that we can do what we can do, and God will do what only He can do. We can ensure Daddy eats clean so that his heart gets the nutrition it needs to get stronger.  So, the daughters are coordinating healthy meals. We’d love to give daddy some variety so please send your favorite healthy recipes toJessica.geras@lifechurch.tv. 

Daddy's next cardiology appointment is on September 8^th. We’ll keep you updated!

#2 

Fight the Good Fight

This morning Daddy had his heart catheter done to find out more information on what is going on with his heart. The test confirmed that he has had 2 heart attacks completely blocking 2 out of 3 of the major arteries in his heart. The Circumflex artery is the only functioning artery but it is a large artery and completely clear of any blockage. His ejection (blood being pumped out of the heart) is at about 25-35% right now (normal being 55-85% for his age). We were hoping that during the catheter they would be able to repair some of the blocked arteries by angioplasty (ballooning and stinting) but the Dr. T said they were damaged beyond repair and the angioplasty would have been pointless. Any type of open heart surgery at this point would be unsuccessful as well.

As far as the cause, Dr. T says the blocked arteries are from cholesterol. Between an unhealthy (I'd call it semi-unhealthy) diet and genetics. The blockage probably started a few years ago and has progressively gotten worse. Daddy has noticed a decrease in his energy (mostly while running) but blamed it on his blood pressure medicine and his age, so we had no reason to question the cause. That's why you have had decreased sightings of him running the streets of Nowata in the last couple of years.

The game plan from here is to up his dose of Carvedilol (beta blocker that makes the heart pump more effectively) to see if that will increase the ejection rate in his heart. In 3 months the doctors will reevaluate, and if the ejection rate hasn't increased then he will be eligible for a defibrillator. In a month he will have blood work done to check his cholesterol and possibly another echo to see how he's doing. I'm sure he's excited about his new diet that mom will be putting him on immediately. :)

With 3/4 of a brain and 1/3 of a heart functioning, he is still our tough, witty and stubborn Daddy and we have full confidence that he will continue to fight the good fight.

#3

One Tough Cookie

Daddy has been working hard at rehab on Mondays and Thursdays and at home the other days of the week with family members. Special thanks to Uncle Gary, Uncle Larry (aka Spook), Aunt Lisa and Chris Ann (family friend) who spend time at the house with daddy so mom can go to work. Each of them put in extra time and work with daddy on his speech and physical therapy. We know it is making a difference and we are SO thankful for each of you!

Daddy is quite steady and self-sufficient using his cane to get around this house. He has a library of words (that may or may not be used at the right time or in the right context) and can be quite chatty at times. His favorites currently are, “I don’t know,” “I don’t care,” and always our favorite “Gah.” I’m pretty sure he also called me a b*tch the other day while I was trying to turn up the tv for him. I laughed at him, he laughed at himself and then we went on watching golf.

Daddy had an echo last week, which was prescribed during his latest stay at Jane Philips hospital in Bartlesville. They saw some slight irregularities in his heart and wanted him to see a cardiologist. We went in to get the results today and found out that in the last 30 days daddy has had multiple injuries to his heart (heart attacks) which leads the cardiologist to believe that there is a significant blockage in his heart. While Dr. T is fairly confident that the stroke didn't bring on the heart attack (or vice versa), the cause could be the same. Daddy will go in for an angiogram on August 6th and we will find out more information. Dr. T feels that waiting a couple weeks will be fine since daddy is showing no symptoms of having chest pains, shortness or breath or blue coloring. Dr. T asked daddy several times if he had experience chest pains or tightness over the last couple of weeks, and daddy gave a confident “no”. Dr. T said there is such a thing as a “silent” attack where the person cannot feel any symptoms. At the end of the day, we know without a doubt, that we have one tough daddy who defies the odds and beats strokes and now heart attacks!

We appreciate continual prayers and are believing boldly for complete healing in daddy’s body. I fully believe God is not done with him on this earth yet!

          #2