Very early on we realised there was no 'cure' to brain injury - especially Richard's kind of injury where it was so severe he couldn't even swallow, communicate, lift his head, sit or walk.
In our search for therapies or 'solutions' which could render help or offer some improvement to Richard's condition, we came across many different kinds of therapy but we had to take into consideration our family make up before taking on each therapy. Factors which we had to consider were financial, caregiver's time, support of the other family members in giving their time and effort, whether the therapy was 'do-able' in the context of our family, what kind of 'results' the therapy would yield, the time frame we would be required to carry out the therapy.
Over the past 6 years, we have tried Glenn Doman's What To Do course in Philadelphia, Hyperbaric oxygen, Foot reflexology, Acupuncture, Advanced Biometric Rehabilitation (ABR), Stem Cell Therapy in China and in his school for the Special Needs children he does Physical, Occupational, Speech and Music therapy.
Of these 'therapies', we continue with ABR, foot reflexology, acupuncture and attending school 3 times a week and of course, a lot of homework ie we do @ home what we have learned from these courses because the more hours we put in, the better the results.
It's been a slow process but the 'recovery' or improvement has been 'great'. There is no measurement of improvement. How does one quantify improvement? How can the improvements be considered 'great'? When they become visible... not only to family members but to outsiders who rarely see him.
There is NO "QUICK FIX" to brain injury and after one accepts that fact, we just strive for slow steady continuous improvement to his condition.
Saturday, December 19, 2009
Saturday, December 12, 2009
Introducing Richard
Richard an 8 year old boy was born a normal child but @ 2yrs old, he suffered severe ilieoileal intussuseption with hypertensive shock and cardiovascular collapse leading to multiorgan dysfunction. This led to severe anoxic brain injury and resulted in severe generalised spaticity and global developmental delay.
His condition was not detected by the general practitioner and he collapsed @ home 2 days later. (In layman's terms, his intestines were stuck due to a growth which if detected earlier could have been operated upon and today he'd be a normal boy).
On 15 dec 2003, he was brought to the Gleneagles hospital in a comatose state, was resusticated on 2 occasions.An emergency laparotomy was done to remove the gangrenous distal ileum and Meckel's diverticulum.
However, a week later on 23 dec 2003, a second episode of ilieal perforation required a repeat laparotomy.He suffered further complications of sepsis, lung collapse and was in coma for ~ 2 weeks.
When the second attempt @ extubation on 6 jan 2004 was carried out, he was transferred out of Gleneagles that same morning to the National University Hospital where he spent another 3 months in pediatric intensive care.
He had to leave Gleneagles because the medical costs had wiped out all medical cover and additional costs there were crippling.
By God's grace, he has gained in strength these past 6 years.
His condition was not detected by the general practitioner and he collapsed @ home 2 days later. (In layman's terms, his intestines were stuck due to a growth which if detected earlier could have been operated upon and today he'd be a normal boy).
On 15 dec 2003, he was brought to the Gleneagles hospital in a comatose state, was resusticated on 2 occasions.An emergency laparotomy was done to remove the gangrenous distal ileum and Meckel's diverticulum.
However, a week later on 23 dec 2003, a second episode of ilieal perforation required a repeat laparotomy.He suffered further complications of sepsis, lung collapse and was in coma for ~ 2 weeks.
When the second attempt @ extubation on 6 jan 2004 was carried out, he was transferred out of Gleneagles that same morning to the National University Hospital where he spent another 3 months in pediatric intensive care.
He had to leave Gleneagles because the medical costs had wiped out all medical cover and additional costs there were crippling.
By God's grace, he has gained in strength these past 6 years.
Thursday, December 10, 2009
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
