Dr. Hao Day 4

On Thursday, we visited Dr. Hao for our fourth and final appointmet before making the 12-hour journey back to Oklahoma. Daddy received a record 8 needles in his head, which again, caused a “tingling” sensation in his brain. Something is going on in there!

The final family consensus from this trip is that we’ve seen improvement in the following areas:

Speech - Daddy is able to recall words and numbers with more ease and we’ve seen the ability for him to string multiple words together increase. 

Walking -  Daddy is bending his right knee which is creating a more natural stride. There is a lot less flinging of his leg using his hip. Appt #1 Walking Video vs. Appt #4 Walking Video. (the difference might seem slight, but it's there!)

Arm/Hand - We’ve seen quite a bit of the loosening of the muscles in his arm and hand. He now has the ability to raise his arm above his head, where previously he max out at his nose. Appt #2 Arm Video vs. Appt #4 Arm Video.

Swallowing - Mom says she can still hear daddy make a hiccup type noise when he eats, but he has not choked on food or drink since the first appointment! This is a huge win since his issues with swallowing has landed him in the hospital more than once.

We received a list of physical therapy homework for daddy to do each day. Dr. Hao let us know that there are nerves firing in his brain again. These connections mean we can see some real improvements with physical therapy, where previously he had plateaued. We’re enlisting some help of Nowata friends to make sure daddy keeps up his exercise regimen. 

Mom and dad will be making the trek back to New Mexico in July for two weeks worth of appointments. We’re excited and expectant for daddy’s healing and what God has planned for him in the future.  Mom let me know that daddy asked to go to their church in Bartlesville this morning, which he hasn’t been to in over a year - he definitely must be feeling better! Thanks again for your prayers and encouragement - they mean a lot to daddy and our family!

#2

Dr. Hao Day 3

Dr. Hao said we're looking at 20-30 appointments to get daddy where he thinks he can take him. We're leaving tomorrow with appointment #4 under our belt and a return trip planned in a couple of months. Dr. Hao explained that each appointment will accumulate and build on each other. This visit was an overall treatment to find out daddy’s baseline and prognosis for success. Dr. Hao believes it’s promising and even was bold enough to tell daddy that he was going to get him running again. Wouldn’t that be something! Future trips and appointments will be more concentrated on specific areas i.e. arms, legs, swallow and speech.

Daddy's homework when he gets home is to continue physical exercise. Specifically, raising his arms up and over his head while laying down, bending his knee to his chest and slowly pushing it back out and walking while bending his right knee instead of swinging his leg forward from his hip. (Click each link to see a video of daddy working on his exercises). Believe it or not, daddy’s a little stubborn when it comes to mom working with him on his exercises, so if any of you Nowata folk want to help “encourage” the daily exercises that would be great! I asked daddy if he had more feeling in his face, arm and/or leg and his answer to all three was “yes”!

Another area we are working on is to get rid of his automatic responses, “yes, sir” and “good to see you”. The goal would be to make him stop and think before he responds and helping him say an alternative sentence. This will help his brain get rid of this bad habit and create new pathways for his speech. 

Dr. Hao is happy with his progress so far and so are we! Daddy can tell there is a difference in his body and still says his speech is what he feels is most improved. We even had another full day without choking! Looks like there may be significant improvement in his swallow. Thanks again for all your prayers and words of encouragement. He loved listening to your comments again today. We’ll go to his last appointment tomorrow at 9:15am and start the 10-12 hour return trip home shortly after. My sweet baby (#2.1) is having ear tubes put in bright and early Friday morning, so we’re having to push it to get back in one day. Prayers for a successful appointment #4, a safe trip home and for little Kolt’s surgery Friday morning would be greatly appreciated! 

#2

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