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Today Mike met Dr. Hammesfahr for the first time while grandma got to sleep in. It is refreshing to hear from a medical professional the validation that brain injury/trauma can be treated. It seems like in our country the mainstay focus is on preventing further complications like seizures, hydrocephalus, etc. What about correcting the problem? If my liver or kidney are injured then procedures/medications are administered to improve their function. I guess I feel like we've seen several different neurologists and we've been to the local developmental clinic, and all we get out of the appointments is that Drew has a fantastic smile. We are also told to continue with physical therapy, occupational therapy, and speech therapy. Therapy has helped Drew tremendously, but what about the source of the problem? What about his brain? Part of the issue is obviously the complexity of the brain, but I feel one of our biggest barriers is the bias...that it can't be healed.
We also have met success because Dr. Hammesfahr has addressed the stem cell therapy Drew had received in China. All of Drew's doctors back home will not address this with us or talk about it. It's documented in his file and that's it. It's like a breath of fresh air or like a mentos commercial when we are able to discuss it with him.
Today we learned a lot. Dr. H feels that there are a selected few types of "therapies" that will help Drew reach speech and motor milestones. He listed vasodilation, growth hormone therapy, and hyperbarics (HBOT). Currently, we are starting up vasodilation with Dr. H this week; however, it will take many years. He talked a fair amount about growth hormone therapy. Dr. H explained that children like Drew with brain injury do not produce enough growth hormones. Growth hormones are essential to kids like Drew because they provide the body with a natural source of stem cells. He told us to make an appointment with a pediatric endocrinologist and have blood samples drawn. He did say this may be inaccurate because the body expels growth hormone in short bursts over a 15 minute time window. In other words, it may be impossible to get an accurate reading. A patient could also have a 24- hour urine sample collected. However, he felt that due to Drew's diagnosis, it's obvious his body is not producing enough growth hormone so the doctor would probably just prescribe growth hormone replacements. Dr. H also mentioned you have to be careful with this because having a constant level of growth hormone via injections could lead to cancer. Don't worry, I'll be asking more questions on this because it's completely new to me.
The last therapy he mentioned that Drew should try is hyperbarics. He did mention that in 10% of the population, HBOT can have adverse effects meaning instead of improvements a person can decline. Dr. H said that it would be subtle like perhaps a change in tone, personality, or even as small as not being as ticklish. This information is a tad bit scary to me so i'll be sure to do my research on the facility so that we'll have trained professionals guide us.
Dr. H also mentioned that hyperbarics is useful in conjunction with vasodilation. Vasodilators improve blood flow but they cannot assist with improving blood flow past scar tissue in the blood vessel. However, HBOT will help heal the scar tissue, therefore allowing the vasodilators to reach areas past the scar tissue. This means that more oxygen-rich blood will be able to flow through areas more easily than before. Does that make sense to everyone????
We also picked up a new medication today from the Nature Food's Market. It's called Vinpocetine. He's going to talk about it when we see him on Monday and possibly start Drew on it. He said that it's actually a prescription drug in Canada and Europe. For some reason you can buy it over-the-counter here, he explained why, but I think my brain was on overdrive. The bottle states, "Vinpocetine enhances brain metabolism by improving utilization of oxygen. Also, Vinpocetine increases the synthesis of several neurotransmitters that affect such critical brain functions as memory recall, focus and mood." Mother then stated "maybe I should take one with my gin & tonic every night."
As far as the topical Nitrate, we are to continue administering the teeny, tiny amount three times per day. If we're going to be out in the heat during the day, he definitely told us to skip the afternoon dose. He mentioned something about the heat activating it anyways. As far as any improvements, we haven't seen any yet folks. We will keep you posted. Tomorrow depending on the weather/temp. we may drive over to Busch Gardens.
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I'm sure Dr. H will probably also have you start Drew on CALM a magnesium supplement.
Hope everything goes well! Say "hello" to Dr. H from Sierra and me. :-)